According to Bloomberg News, Johnson & Johnson has agreed to settle the first three DePuy ASR defective hip replacement lawsuits for a sum of $600,000. Bloomberg reports that each of the plaintiffs will receive $200,000.
The three lawsuits had been scheduled for trial on December 3 in the Eighth Judicial District Court of Nevada. As many as 6,000 similar suits remain pending in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio. The first trials in that court are scheduled to begin in May and June of 2013. Another 2,000 defective hip replacement cases have been filed in courts in California, Maryland, Nevada, and other states.
Johnson & Johnson reportedly set aside $800 million to resolve the DePuy ASR hip claims. However, Eric Gordon, business professor at the University of Michigan, believes the company could ultimately pay as much as $2 billion to settle the claims. Gordon said “They’re looking at a giant number before it’s done because there are a giant number of cases.”
Plaintiffs allege that the metal-on-metal hip implants can result in dangerous levels of chromium and cobalt in the bloodstream, causing numerous serious health problems, including metallosis, pseudotumors, long-term heart, kidney, nerve and thyroid damage, pain, swelling, and dislocation.
For more information on this ongoing litigation, contact the Ohio Dupuy hip replacement lawyers at Clark, Perdue & List.
Source: Bloomberg, “J&J said to pay $600,000 to settle first suits over hips,” Jef Feeley and David Voreacos, August 21, 2012.