The Ohio multidistrict litigation court case for the faulty DePuy ASR hip replacements has been delayed once again and is now rescheduled to start on September 24th.
U.S. District Judge David A. Katz rescheduled the start of the first court case for the faulty DePuy ASR hip replacements to September 24th to allow both parties additional time for discovery and the consideration of other legal matters after the substitution of Ann McCracken in place of the original plaintiff, Faye Dorney-Madgitz.
The reason for the substitution is still unclear and McCracken -v- DePuy was originally scheduled to be the second of the ‘bellwether’ court cases to be heard in a series of Federal cases which will determine how juries will perceive the relative strengths and weaknesses of each case. It is not yet known whether Dorney-Madgitz -v- DePuy is still intender to be heard as a bellwether case, or when that might be.
Ann McCracken made her DePuy injury compensation claim in March 2011; alleging that she suffered a dislocated hip due to metallosis from the DePuy implant damaging the soft tissues around her hip. Ann received her DePuy ASR metal-on-metal hip replacement system in August 2009, but had to undergo revision surgery in January 2011 after her hip dislocated.
The 57-year-old single mother from Rochester in New York claims that when her orthopaedic surgeon removed her DePuy ASR XL Acetabular Hip Replacement System he saw evidence of metallosis which had killed healthy tissue around the implant.
Ann had to undergo further surgery in October 2011 to insert a device restricting the movement of her hip, which has decreased her mobility still further and which will result in her present hip replacement system wearing out quicker than normal – resulting in more operations in the future.
Ann´s case is also to be decided without the DePuy hip replacement recall of August 2010 being referred to in court, after Judge Katz ruled that Ann´s injury “began with the initial implementation” and agreed that, to mention the recall during the court case for the faulty DePuy ASR hip replacements, might deter other companies from voluntarily withdrawing potentially harmful medical devices in the future.
The relative strengths and weaknesses of the plaintiffs´ claims and DePuy Orthopaedic´s defence will be evaluated during the first court cases of the multidistrict litigation, to see if an acceptable yardstick can be determined for the settlement of the other 7,800 claims attached to this court case for the faulty DePuy ASR hip replacements.
If no yardstick can be established – or negative verdicts are delivered by the jurors – the outstanding claims will be referred back to the U.S. District Courts in which they were originally filed, and each will have to be heard individually. This would also be the case in Ireland, where plaintiffs who have served notice of cases against Johnson & Johnson, DePuy Orthopaedics and the Health Service Executive may have to pursue legal action to resolve each court case for the faulty DePuy ASR hip replacements.