Posted by Marilyn McGoldrick on Oct 7, 2013 4:30:00 AM
Johnson & Johnson subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics has agreed to settle a DePuy ASR hip lawsuit before trial. The case would have been the first “bellwether” trial in a California state court consolidation of ASR cases. The Plaintiff, Mr. Robert Eugene Ottman, was set to begin presenting his case in two weeks in state court in San Francisco. The goal of the bellwether trial process is to give all interested parties a good indication of what is likely to happen in future trials. In this instance, the settlement of the Plaintiff’s’s case prior to trial is very encouraging. The details of the settlement are not yet available but have been confirmed in a statement by the Plaintiff’s lawyers.
Pretrial settlements are positive news for anyone injured by DePuy ASR hip replacement device. Trials are expensive and time consuming, and the waiting time for a trial date can go on for years. Being able to obtain a settlement that adequately compensates an injured party in a reasonable time period, without the expense and uncertainty of trial, is a benefit to the injured party.
The first Federal bellwether trial in the Depuy ASR defective hip litigation was scheduled to go forward in September but has since been postponed for 90 days in order to resolve a number of complex, pre-trial issues. The Federal cases are consolidated in what is referred to as an “MDL” or Multi-District Litigation. The Federal Depuy ASR MDL consolidates cases from all over the country for pretrial purposes only. If the cases do not resolve in the MDL, they will be remanded (sent back) to their original filing jurisdiction for trial or resolution.
Thornton Law Firm represents individuals injured by the defective Depuy ASR hip system across the country. While there have been no Federal trials yet, and only two state court cases tried to verdict (one resulting in an $8.3 million Plaintiff verdict andone defense verdict) the fact that there was a settlement in the case of the next bellwether trial is positive. It demonstrates that Johnson & Johnson may now be willing to consider settlement in some or all of the thousands of pending DePuy cases.
Thornton Law Firm has formed an expert team of highly experienced attorneys to represent individuals who have been injured or developed complications from DePuy’s ASR or Pinnacle hip implants. Please call Attorneys Marilyn McGoldrick, David Strouss or Dave McMorris at 888-491-9726 for a free evaluation of your legal rights against Johnson & Johnson.
