The federal court overseeing thousands of DePuy ASR hip lawsuits has offered tolling agreements to those patients who have not yet required revision surgery to remove and replace their ASR hip implant.

According to an order dated Oct. 30, U.S. District Judge David A. Katz of the Northern District of Ohio has directed such plaintiffs to inform the Court by Dec. 31 if they intend to continue with their case or voluntarily dismiss their metal on metal hip implant lawsuits.

ASR Hip Implant plaintiffs who opt for voluntarily dismissal would be able to refile their claim if they require revision of their ASR hip implant in the future. In return, DePuy Orthopaedics will enter into a tolling agreement which will suspend the statute of limitations governing the case.

Entering into such a tolling agreement may be a viable option for some non-revision plaintiffs, as they are not eligible to participate in the DePuy ASR settlement program announced by the court last year.

DePuy ASR Metal Hip Implant Lawsuits

According to court documents, the DePuy ASR hip recall was announced in August 2010, after data indicated that the metal-on-metal hip implants were failing at an unacceptably high rate within just five years of implantation.

Since then, thousands of hip replacement lawsuits were filed on behalf of individuals who allegedly suffered serious complications from ASR hip implants, most of which have been consolidated in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) established in the Northern District of Ohio.

However, those eligible to participate in the DePuy ASR settlement program were limited to DePuy ASR Hip Implant recipients who underwent revision surgery to replace their ASR implant due to a recall-related reason prior to Aug. 31, 2013.

DePuy ASR Hip Implant Complications

The ASR XL Acetabular System total hip replacement and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System all were designed to accommodate younger hip replacement patients by providing more flexibility and range of motion than existing hip replacement devices.

However, DePuy Orthopaedics withdrew its ASR XL Acetabular metal-on-metal hip replacement on Aug. 24, 2010 following approximately 300 complaints from people undergoing hip replacement.

The ASR hip replacement product is a metal-on-metal device believed to have a design flaw that has resulted in many patients needing follow-up hip revision surgery to replace the device soon after implant. The ASR is considered by a number of orthopedic experts to be a defective product.

The ASR Hip Implant lawsuits allege negligent design and promotion of a defective product. According to the New York Times, DePuy Orthopedics introduced their metal-on-metal hip implant without adequately testing and researching the device.

Although the ASR was approved for use by the FDA in 2005, it was cleared through a regulatory pathway that did not require it to undergo clinical trials.

Some patients who were implanted with the DePuy ASR hip implant have developed aseptic lymphocyte dominated vasculitis associated lesion (ALVAL), which is an adverse tissue reaction to metal particles and ions, and a pseudotumor, a soft tissue mass that may be the result of a toxic reaction to an excess of particulate metal wear debris.