A couple from California says defects in the Pinnacle hip implant led to the wife’s hip replacement surgery failure.

Plaintiffs Joann and Bryan R. are bringing their claims against DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., Johnson & Johnson Corp., and their related companies.

The couple says these companies manufactured and sold the Pinnacle hip implant like the one Joann received in her right hip.

Joann says that in October 2005, she underwent a total right hip arthroplasty to address the pain associated with degenerative joint disease.

Her surgeon used a Pinnacle metal on metal hip implant manufactured by DePuy, she claims.

After that surgery, she says she began to experience more pain and increasing levels of chromium and cobalt within her body.

In October 2015, she had to undergo a second round of surgery to address her hip replacement surgery failure. Doctors removed her Pinnacle implant and replaced it.

Joann and Bryan now claim the complications she suffered and the need for revision surgery are attributable to the “defective design, warnings, construction and unreasonably dangerous character” of the Pinnacle implant she received in 2005.

Joann says that had she known about the risks associated with that device, she never would have agreed to have it implanted in her hip.

The couple’s hip implant lawsuit raises claims for strict liability for defective design, failure to warn, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, breach of warranty, and fraud.

As Joann’s spouse, Bryan is bringing a claim for loss of consortium, seeking compensation for the effect that Joann’s hip replacement surgery failure had on their marital relationship.

They seek an award of damages to compensate them for both economic and non-economic losses, including medical expenses, lost earnings, pain, and emotional distress.

Linking Defects to Hip Replacement Surgery Failure

According to this DePuy lawsuit, the Pinnacle hip implant system can be used with any of three different liners between the femoral head and the acetabular cup. One of these liners is the metal Ultamet XL, made of cobalt and chromium.

When used with the Ultamet XL liner, the Pinnacle implant system forces metal parts to rub against each other with the full weight of the human body, the plaintiffs say.

This causes metallic debris to wear off the implant’s parts, releasing metal into the patient’s surrounding tissue and bloodstream, they claim.

Joann and Bryan say this generation of metallic debris is responsible for the many cases of metal poisoning reported in association with the Pinnacle implant.

The defendants themselves have received over 1,300 adverse event reports related to the Pinnacle since it was introduced to the market in 2002, the couple claims.

Plaintiffs say that in just the first three months of 2011, the FDA received over 250 adverse event reports of complications associated with the Pinnacle implant.

These reports included cases of infection, inflammation, pseudotumors, necrotic tissue in and around the hip joint, and catastrophic hip replacement surgery failure.

The plaintiffs contend that by 2006, the defendants had received enough adverse event reports to known that the Pinnacle implant was defective enough to warrant a recall.

Nevertheless, they continued to market the Pinnacle, the plaintiffs say. They argue that DePuy actively concealed information about the alleged defects from patients and their doctors, misrepresenting the implant as a safe and effective medical device.

The Hip Replacement Surgery Failure Lawsuit is Case No. 3:16-cv-0210 and is part of the DePuy Metal Hip MDL In Re: DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. Pinnacle Device Implant Products Liability Litigation MDL No. 2244, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.