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DePuy Pinnacle Hip Replacement Lawsuits back to trial in Texas. The DePuy Pinnacle hip replacement lawsuits are ramping up to the fourth bellwether trial involving the allegedly defective DePuy Pinnacle hip replacement system.

DePuy Pinnacle Hip Multidistrict Litigation

In May 2011, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized pretrial proceedings in the cases before Judge Kinkeade in the in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation.

The Texas federal court has more than 9,000 hip implant lawsuits, involving the DePuy Orthopaedics’ Pinnacle Hip Replacement system that utilizes the metal Ultamet liner.

The court’s upcoming bellwether trial is set to start September 5th and will involve product liability and personal injury claims filed on behalf of seven Pinnacle hip patients from New Jersey and New York.

What is the problem with the DePuy Pinnacle hip replacement system?

Injured hip plaintiffs claim that the all-metal design of the Pinnacle/Ultamet liner system causes the implant to release toxic cobalt and chromium metal ions that accumulate in the hip joint and the blood stream, causing severe adverse local tissue reactions and premature hip implant failure that need painful revision surgery to correct.

Why won’t DePuy announce a recall over its Pinnacle/Ultamet liner system?

This is not the first ride at the rodeo for Johnson and Johnson and its subsidiary DePuy, the makers of the Pinnacle/Ultamet liner system.

DePuy announced a global hip replacement recall for its ASR line of metal implants in August 2010, after worldwide reports of metallosis and premature hip failure. Johnson & Johnson in 2013 had agreed to pay at least $2.5 billion to settle more than 9,000 lawsuits over DePuy ASR hip replacements, which feature a metal-on-metal design that has been described as a “substantial equivalent” to the Pinnacle hip

Since the premature failure and metal toxicity rates are similar between the two implant designs, many folks now question why the company has not taken similar action in regards to the Pinnacle/Ultamet liner combination.

DePuy Pinnacle Verdicts

The first Pinnacle bellwether hip trial in 2014 ended with a win for the defense.

In the second bellwether trial in 2016, the five plaintiffs were awarded a total of $500 million. The jury award was reduced to $151 million, in order to comply with Texas law governing punitive damages.

In the third bellwether trial in 2017 the six damaged Pinnacle patients were awarded more than $1 billion. That judgment was later reduced to $543 million.

Metal-on-Metal Hip Implant Debacle

In 2013, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration warned that metal-on-metal hips were associated with higher rates of early failure compared to hips with alternative configurations.

The FDA launched a safety review of metal-on-metal hip replacements in 2011. Nearly two years later, the agency confirmed that exposure to metal ions released from the devices could cause an adverse local tissue reaction in the area around the joint, and possibly even enter the bloodstream and cause additional symptoms or illnesses elsewhere in the body.

Injured by a failed DePuy Pinnacle Metal Hip?

If you think you may have a DePuy Pinnacle Metal Hip and are experiencing pain caused by metal corrosion or have suffered a hip failure requiring full revision and emergency care, please call Dr. Shezad Malik Law Firm at 888-210-9693.

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