In the second in a series of bellwether hip replacement lawsuits, Johnson & Johnson suffered a major blow in the multidistrict litigation (MDL) over its DePuy Orthopaedics’ Pinnacle metal hip implants.

The jury awarded the plaintiff party $498 million, reportedly due to the rare scope of evidence allowed in the trial.

The attorneys involved stated that the outcome of the verdict was made possible due to the flexible policies regarding evidence that allowed the patients to present in Texas federal court.

The consolidated trial involved five patients, who allegedly suffered metallosis after having the Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System metal hip implants inserted. Johnson & Johnson had reportedly filed nearly a dozen mistrial motions to fight the court’s decision, calling it “highly prejudicial and inadmissible” due to pieces of evidence unrelated to the claims.

The attorneys argue however, that courts will usually allow a wide range of evidence regarding a corporate defendant especially relating to evidence pertaining to litigation revolving around a different device.

The defendants’ attorneys, state that it is difficult to determine the reason for the judge’s decision to allow the evidence scope to begin with, and that it made things increasingly difficult for Johnson & Johnson representatives.

Overview of the Metal Hip Implants Allegations

Some of the evidence the jury was allowed to examine, included other legal issues Johnson & Johnson’ DePuy unit were facing including a $84.7 million deferred prosecution agreement over knee implants. The court even allowed the patients to make references to the current vaginal mesh litigation against Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon Inc. unit.

Johnson & Johnson argued that these evidence pieces had nothing to do with the Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System metal hip implants. However, the plaintiffs argued that in at least one of the cases of the metal hip implants, the revising surgeon was a paid consultant for Johnson & Johnson that had served in similar programs.

Overall, the plaintiffs argued that it was problems in the general oversight of the problems Johnson & Johnson had been having for years regarding its marketing and manufacturing policies. At this point, Johnson & Johnson is planning to appeal the verdict with its attorneys stating that the verdict had been overtly unfair.

The Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System hip replacement lawsuits were consolidated in May 2011, when the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized three actions and identified 54 other potential actions. There are now over 8,000 lawsuits in the MDL, involving severe allegations against Johnson & Johnson popular metal hip implants.

The MDL led to the second bellwether trial to have five consolidated plaintiffs due to their similar allegations, allowing for the large scope of evidence. The hip replacement lawsuits consolidated for trial in the U.S. District Court of Northern Texas are Cases No. 3:13-cv-01071, 3:14-cv-01994, 3:12-cv-1672, 3:11-cv-02800, and 3:11-cv-01941.

Potential claimants who suffered complications from metal hip implants may be eligible to file legal action against the manufacturing companies.

The Johnson & Johnson Depuy Metal Hip Implants MDL is In re: DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. Pinnacle Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2244, in the U.S. District Court of Texas.