The first DePuy ASR hip replacement claim to be heard in court has resulted in an award of $8.3 million being made to a former prison officer.
The claim made by Loren Kransky (65) from South Dakota was brought forward ahead of the Multi District Litigation (MDL) due to be heard in Ohio in May, as the claimant is terminally ill from diabetes, heart disease and kidney cancer.
Solicitors at the Los Angeles Superior Court claimed that Kransky had to undergo a second hip replacement operation – causing him pain and suffering – due to high levels of chromium and cobalt in his bloodstream caused by metal-on-metal friction within his ASR XL Acetabular hip replacement system.
They claimed that Johnson and Johnson – the parent company of DePuy Orthopaedics – marketed the faulty hip replacement products knowing that the ASR systems were defective, effectively accusing them of fraud in addition to negligence which would have entitled Kransky to qualify for significant punitive damages.
Johnson and Johnson disputed that they knew the ASR hip replacements were faulty in 2007 – the year in which Kransky underwent his original hip replacement surgery – and contested Kransky´s claim for DePuy ASR hip replacement compensation on the grounds that Kransky´s pain and suffering was due to his pre-existing medical conditions.
The jury at the Los Angeles Superior Court found that Johnson and Johnson had not acted “with malice” by marketing their product in 2007, but agreed that the product was defective and awarded Kransky $8 million in settlement of his DePuy ASR hip replacement claim, with a further $338,000 to account for the medical expenses he has incurred to date.
Johnson and Johnson announced immediately after that the company intends to appeal the decision, as the precedent of $8 million in compensation for pain and suffering could be greatly inflated when claims for claimants who do not have a terminal illness are heard in the MDL action in Ohio.