The DePuy Pinnacle hip replacement lawsuit bellwether trials are set to begin next month and help pave the path for the trials for thousands of pending DePuy hip implant lawsuits.

The majority of these hip implant lawsuits have similar allegations concerning consumer reported problems with the DePuy metal-on-metal hip replacements and the bellwether cases will allow both legal parties to gauge how a jury may respond to evidence and testimony likely to be repeated throughout the majority of the cases.

A major issue cited in DePuy hip replacement lawsuits is that DePuy allegedly knowingly sold defective and dangerous implant products. The DePuy Pinnacle implants allegedly have a design defect that causes the product to fail within a few years, when a typical hip implant is expected to last 15-20 years. The majority of plaintiffs also claim that as the DePuy metal-on-metal hip implant parts rub against each other, microscopic metal debris is released, which allegedly results in the hip implants loosening and increases the product’s risk of failure.

Over 6,400 product liability lawsuits have been consolidated in the multidistrict litigation In re: DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., ASR Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation MDL No. 2197. The MDL and the pretrial proceedings will be presided over by U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade in the Northern District of Texas.

The first bellwether trial involving plaintiffs Kathleen Herlihy-Paoli and Toni M. Lay will begin on Sept. 1 with three additional bellwether cases on Nov. 3, with the final three bellwether hip replacement lawsuits set to be heard on Jan. 12.

Background on DePuy Orthopaedics Inc.

In 1998, Johnson & Johnson acquired DePuy Orthopaedics, a company that specializes in design and manufacturing orthopedic and neurosurgery products. DePuy products are used by clinics and hospitals nationwide. DePuy is facing close to 11,000 hip implant lawsuits with allegations about the high failure rates of various hip replacement system models, including the Pinnacle Acetabular Cup Implant.

The Pinnacle Acetabular Cup hip replacement system has been a popular metal-on-metal hip implant since its introduction in 2001. DePuy marketed its product as a hip implant providing pain relief and smooth range of motion for damaged and diseased hip joints. In the Pinnacle Acetabular Cup advertising and marketing, the hip implant was described as “[u]niquely designed to meet the demands of active patients like you” and was advertised with pictures of a young woman trying on sneakers.

Since 2001, DePuy Orthopaedic has sold 150,000 Pinnacle Acetabular Cup Systems, of which 99 percent are still in use. In the midst of this marketing success, however, the FDA received over 1,300 reports of severe failures and adverse complications about the Pinnacle metal hip implant. Several hip replacement lawsuits filed against DePuy allege that the company was aware of the high failure rate of its product since before 2006. The hip implant lawsuits also allege that DePuy was aware of the possibility of patients with a failed Pinnacle hip system developing metallosis, biological toxicity, and other side effects.

In general, metal-on-metal hip lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.

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