On April 16, 2013, a twelve person jury Cook County, Illinois jury rendered a verdict in favor of DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, in a lawsuit brought by Carol Strum for personal injuries. This is the second case to go to trial regarding the DePuy ASR XL metal-on-metal hip implant that was recalled back in August of 2010. The first case resulted in verdict against DePuy for over $8 million back in March of this year, while this case resulted in a verdict in favor of the hip manufacturer. Over 93,000 of the DePuy ASR XL hip implants were recalled in August of 2010 due to an extremely high failure rate. Over 10,000 lawsuits are pending in the U.S. against Johnson & Johnson and DePuy for injuries sustained as a result of this hip implant failure and the defective design of the medical implant.
The jury in this trial is reported to have deliberated for a little more than a day prior to returning its verdict. According to Bloomberg, the foreperson on the jury, Ameenah Muhammad-Williams, said that four jurors wanted to side with Strum, while the remaining eight jurors were in favor of DePuy. “Their case was not strong enough for all twelve of us to agree,” said Muhammad-Williams.
Carol Strum received the DePuy ASR XL implant in 2008 and it was subsequently replaced three years later. Defense attorneys argued at trial that the implant was not defectively designed, which they argued unsuccessfully in the first case, and that this particular patient, Strum, was over-sensitive to the implant. They further argued that Strum received no pain relief after the hip implant was replaced with another device. There estimated to be an additional 500 cases pending against DePuy in Illinois state court and thousands consolidated in the federal court system.
If you or someone you know have been injured by a defective product, contact the attorneys at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner by calling (713) 222-7211 or 713-222-7211.