In late September, a California judge decreased a jury’s ordered damages award of $4.5 million to $1 million in a metal hip implant lawsuit filed by a plaintiff who alleges he was implanted with a defective medical device manufactured by Wright Medical Technologies Inc.

The judge ruled that the award was “disproportionate to the evidence” presented in this Wright hip implant lawsuit, leading to his reduction of the original jury award.

Plaintiff Alan W. and his wife jointly filed this metal on metal hip implant lawsuit, and in June of this year a jury ruled in their favor, agreeing with Alan’s claim that the Wright medical product contained a manufacturing defect that caused harm to both him and his wife because of its effects on Alan’s health.

However, as of last month, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael B. Harwin reviewed the case and was of the opinion that the jury’s damages award was excessive, and he subsequently slashed the $4.5 million jury award to $1,025,000.

In his ruling, Judge Harwin stated: “The court is reducing the jury verdict amount, from $2 million for past pain and suffering to $500,000 and $2 million for future pain and suffering to $375,000 for Mr. Warner and the $500,000 the jury awarded to Mrs. Warner [for loss of consortium] to $150,000 . . . the court finds that there was insufficient basis in fact or evidence for the amounts awarded each plaintiff by the jury.”

Additionally, the judge denied Wright Medical’s motion for judgment despite the recent jury verdict, ruling “that the evidence presented by the plaintiff’s witnesses was more than credible than that presented by the defendant’s witnesses as to the issue of the manufacturing defect.”

However, on the same day Judge Harwin reduced the damages award, he granted the plaintiff’s motion for a new damages trial.

Wright Hip Implant Litigation

This Wright hip implant lawsuit was the first of nearly 1,200 pending cases against the medical device manufacturer regarding its allegedly defective Profemur metal hip implants.

Alan’s product liability lawsuit against Wright was filed in December 2011 alleges his Profemur metal on metal hip replacement, which should have lasted 15 to 20 years, failed three years after implantation.

The medical device’s failure caused Alan severe pain and necessitated hip revision surgery, meaning that not only did the he have to undergo extra medical procedures, but incurred hospital expenses that would not have occurred had the implant worked as advertised.

If you have a hip implant that failed unexpectedly, you may have legal claim and may be eligible to file a hip implant lawsuit or join a metal hip implant class action lawsuit.

The Wright Hip Implant Lawsuit is Case No. BC475958, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.