Following a unusual bellwether mediation, Stryker Corp. agreed to pay $1 billion to settle allegations of design defect and other claims stemming from the allegedly defective Stryker metal hip replacement product. What made the Stryker bellwether mediation so unusual was the fact that instead of proceeding with a series of bellwether trials, Stryker and the plaintiffs engaged in a series of negotiations over selected cases.

This Stryker metal hip replacement settlement is estimated to resolve 3,000 cases housed in New Jersey and Minnesota courts, as well as a handful of cases in other states, after nearly one year of mediation.

This Stryker metal hip implant settlement will also benefit patients who before Nov.3 were forced to undergo hip revision surgery allegedly due to the defective Stryker metal hip implant product, including the Stryker Rejuvenate and the ABG II, both of which allegedly have defective modular-neck stems.

Per the Stryker hip replacement settlement, the company has agreed to pay a $300,000 base payment in compensation to each qualifying plaintiff who underwent surgery before Nov. 3. This base pay will be doubled for those individuals who had to undergo hip revision surgery to remove Stryker metal hip implants from both hips and will also increase with additional payments should other complications arise after the hip implant removal surgeries.

This new style of bellwether trial negotiation may set a new trend for defending companies who may prefer to resolve lawsuits that have been consolidated in multidistrict litigation (MDL) instead taking on the costs of prolonged trials and court proceedings. In Stryker’s case, it is speculated that the medical device manufacturer was inclined to settle because both of the Stryker metal hip replacement models had been recalled for allegedly high failure rates in June 2012.

History of Stryker Metal Hip Replacements

The Stryker Rejuvenate and ABG II modular metal hip implants differ from traditional hip replacement products in that instead of having a single femoral component to attach to the hip tissue and ligature, the Stryker hip replacement systems feature modular neck stems with adjustable pieces. This unique design has distinguished the Stryker hip implants and made them quite popular in the orthopedic product market.

Over 20,000 patients received either model of Stryker hip replacements since 2010. Typically, hip implants are meant to last 15 to 20 years after implantation. However, the Stryker Rejuvenate and ABG II modular hip implants allegedly corroded and failed just two years of implantation.

As a result of the allegedly defective Stryker hip implant models and the subsequent recalls, many individuals chose to file Stryker hip implant lawsuits, most of which were later consolidated in the Stryker hip implant MDL.

Stryker Metal Hip Replacement Lawsuit Bellwether Groups

As previously stated, the bellwether trial groups represent a sample of Stryker hip implant lawsuits with similar allegations as a part of the larger Stryker MDL. Four of the groups deal specifically with the Stryker Rejuvenate metal hip replacement and one is concerned with the ABG II hip implant.

Some criteria for individual plaintiff’s inclusion in any given bellwether group includes:

• A person who received a Stryker hip and has some pain, but no surgical intervention;
• A person with elevated metal levels in their blood;
• A person who suffered from complications and required a hip revision surgery to remove and replace the hip; or
• An individual who had two Stryker hips that failed and required revision.