DePuy ASR Hip Failure Federal Trial Postponed

The first federal trial date involving the recalled DePuy ASR hip implant has been delayed again. The judge overseeing the litigation noted that the parties are experiencing problems in scheduling witness testimony.

Scope of the DePuy ASR Litigation

Currently there are more than 8,200 DePuy ASR lawsuits consolidated in the federal court system before U.S. District Judge Katz in the Northern District of Ohio. These cases are centralized as part of an MDL or multidistrict litigation.

What is a Bellwether Trial?

A few cases have been set for early trial dates, these are known as “bellwether” cases. The bellwether cases are designed to help the parties gauge how juries are likely to respond to evidence and testimony presented in the litigation.

The first federal DePuy ASR bellwether trial was scheduled to begin on September 9, involving a lawsuit filed by Fay Dorney-Madgitz and her husband Harvey Madgitz.  Two months before the trial was set to begin, a complaint filed by Ann McCracken was substituted as the case to be tried for the first first bellwether.

Judge Katz recently delayed the start of the case until September 24, indicating that additional time was needed for discovery. Last week, Judge Katz issued another order canceling this week’s trial, noting that trial will be reset to commence within the next ninety (90) days.

DePuy ASR Hip Failure and Recall Lawsuits

McCracken filed her lawsuit in March 2011, alleging that she received a DePuy ASR metal-on-metal hip replacement system in August 2009. Johnson and Johnson and its subsidiary, DePuy, announced a worldwide recall of the allegedly defective metal hip implant in August 2009.

Artificial hips are expected to last 15 to 20 years, McCracken claims that by January 2011, her implant had failed prematurely and to be removed.

DePuy August 2010 Worldwide Recall

In August 2010, a Depuy ASR hip recall was announced after the manufacturer admitted that a large number of the implants were failing prematurely.  According to experts, more than 90,000 implants had been sold worldwide prior to the recall.

DePuy ASR Verdicts

This year, a California state court jury awarded $8.3 million in damages and a second trial held in Illinois state court resulted in a defense verdict for the manufacturer.

The outcome of these bellwether trials are designed to facilitate settlement negotiations. If a DePuy ASR settlement is not reached, then these cases will be remanded back to the original U.S. District Courts for individual trials.