Medical device manufacturer Stryker has achieved a settlement with four of 10 scheduled plaintiffs regarding hip replacement complications caused by the company’s Rejuvenate metal hip implant. The Stryker settlement offers are part of multi-county litigation centralized in New Jersey. Dozens more Stryker settlement offers may be coming.

According to a case management order filed Dec. 16, 2013, plaintiffs Mergel, Seely, Seeman and Dixon agreed to confidential settlement terms regarding their metal-on-metal hip implant failure lawsuits and three more are expected to begin mediation in January 2014. Earlier news reports indicated the company would set aside at least several hundred million dollars to pay for any potential Stryker hip settlements in the New Jersey court system and concomitant litigation in federal court.

New Jersey Superior Court Judge Brian R. Martinotti indicated in the latest case management order that from a pool of 42 lawsuits including plaintiffs alleging Rejuvenate hip replacement complications or those of related devices, 10 would be selected for mediation from cases filed in 2013. An additional five cases may be added to the list if the alleged victims are at least 80 years of age. In nearly all of the cases, patients alleged that due to the construction of the hip implants, the area around the implant site became inflamed and resulted in hip implant failure. Many have required revision surgery to repair the damage.

There is still the prospect of a bellwether trial in the multi-county litigation and that possibility will be discussed before Judge Martinotti at a January 2014 status conference. In the interim, there are still pre-trial motions and procedures including discovery and potential depositions of staff from the medical device manufacturer.

There is also federal litigation centralized in U.S. District Court and the two jurists are in communication, but there have not been discussions regarding mediation of those metal-on-metal hip implant failure lawsuits. According to the Bergen Record, there are at least 600 cases pending in state court in New Jersey with the potential for many more. Competitor DePuy has already agreed to settle roughly 8,000 cases at a cost of $2.5 billion, or an average of more than $300,000 per plaintiff.

The multi-county litigation is In Re: Stryker Rejuvenate Hip Stem and ABG II Modular Hip Stem Litigation, Case No. 296, in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Bergen County Division.

Similar metal on metal hip implant lawsuits filed in federal court have been consolidated into In Re: Stryker Rejuvenate and ABG II Hip Implants Product Liability Litigation, MDL No. 241, in the U.S District Court, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Help for Hip Replacement Injury Victims

If you or a loved received a metal on metal hip implant after January 1, 2009, and went to experience hip replacement complications such as dislocated hip, metal poisoning, cancer, tissue death, pain or other injury, there’s still time to take legal action against the device manufacturer. These companies have already paid out millions of dollars to victims. Don’t delay – see if you qualify to pursue compensation to cover your medical bills, pain and suffering and other damages at the Metal on Metal Hip Replacement Class Action Lawsuit Investigation.