Jury awards no damages to plaintiff in second DePuy ASR case

DePuy Orthopaedics, a Johnson & Johnson company, is not liable for product damages, according to a jury’s ruling in the second case to go to trial in the series of lawsuits brought against the company for its ASR Hip System.

“DePuy’s actions concerning the product were appropriate and responsible, including the program to address patients’ medical costs related to the recall,” Lorie Gawreluk, a spokeswoman for DePuy, stated in a company press release.

The jury ruling on April 16 in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Ill., is a contrast to DePuy’s first trial, where a jury in Los Angeles awarded $8.3 million to the plaintiff in compensatory damages. That number was reduced to $8.26 million in April after both parties agreed $338,136.12 awarded for medical costs “should be reduced under Montana law to account for amounts payable by a collateral source,” according to a press release.

In the Los Angeles trial, the jury ruled the company’s ASR XL was defectively designed but rejected plaintiff Loren “Bill” Kransky’s claim that the company did not adequately warn of the risks associated with the implant.

The ASR prosthesis was recalled in August 2010 after the National Joint Registry for England and Wales reported 12% to 13% of patients’ hips treated with the prosthesis would require revision within 5 years.

The majority of DePuy ASR lawsuits are pending in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Ohio and the trials are slated to begin later this spring, according to court records. These cases are organized as a multi-district litigation.

Reference:
www.asrhipinfo.com