Jury Finds Against Johnson & Johnson in Pinnacle Hip Trial Awarding Almost $500 Million

• March 20, 2016
• Verdicts and Settlements, Hip Replacements

March 17, 2016, A federal jury in Dallas awarded a $497.6 million verdict to five people over the defective Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants manufactured by DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. and Johnson & Johnson.

The verdict was delivered before Judge Ed Kinkeade of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

All five plaintiffs, who suffer from debilitating physical conditions including inflammation around the hip joint tissue, bone erosion and metallosis, were implanted with the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip replacement systems. All five alleged design flaws caused the devices to fail more frequently leading to their current health problems.

After a 2-month trial, jurors spent four days in deliberations before finding the Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants were defectively designed and that the companies failed to warn patients about the risks. According to Law360, the jury awarded $360 million in punitive damages and $140 million in compensatory damages.

J&J plans to appeal the verdict stating that appeals courts often reduce massive personal-injury verdicts and that Texas law limits the amount of punitive damages that can be awarded to plaintiffs.

Bellwether Trials for Pinnacle Hip Implant

This is the second bellwether trial for the Pinnacle Multidistrict Litigation.

A bellwether trial is intended to test the legal issues and whether juries will award damages and, if so, how much. The verdicts in these early bellwether trials are not binding on the rest of the litigation; however, they help gauge the value of the remaining claims.

Currently, more than 8,000 Pinnacle lawsuits have been consolidated in the MDL.

In October 2014, the first bellwether trial resulted in a verdict in which J&J was cleared of liability.

Pinnacle Hip Implant

The Pinnacle metal-on-metal system was manufactured from 2001 to 2012 before DePuy stopped selling the devices in 2013. Although the Pinnacle devices have never been recalled, DePuy recalled other metal-on-metal hip implants that were sold under the ASR brand name to approximately 35,000 patients.

Legal Expertise for Hip Replacement Litigation

Nash & Franciskato, a leading national law firm in the area of hip replacement litigation, helps people like you stand up to companies like Johnson & Johnson and DePuy Orthopaedics. Our attorneys have extensive experience handling hip replacement lawsuits, obtaining over $50 million in collective settlements involving defective knee and hip replacements.

Contact the Nash & Franciskato Law Firm if you have the Pinnacle hip implant. One of our knowledgeable hip replacement attorneys will contact you right away for a free, no-obligation case evaluation.

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Past results afford no guarantee of future results and each case is different and is judged on its own merits. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.

Access the entire Pinnacle trial verdict form, which includes juror instructions, definitions and explanations of the questions, and more.

Cases are:

• Aoki v. Johnson & Johnson Services, et al., No. 3:13-cv-01071
• Christopher, et al. v. Johnson & Johnson Services Inc., et al., No. 3:14-cv-01994
• Greer v. DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., et al., No. 3:12-cv-1672
• Klusman, et al. v. DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., et al., No. 3:11-cv-02800
• Peterson, et al. v. Johnson & Johnson Services Inc., et al., No. 3:11-cv-01941