A Canadian judge certified a class action lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson‘s (NYSE:JNJ) DePuy Orthopaedics subsidiary, maker of the recalled ASR metal-on-metal hip implants that are already at the center of a large-scale litigations in the U.S.
Patients in the lawsuit, filed in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice, are asking for damages for all patients implanted with DePuy’s ASR hips, to cover medical monitoring and emotional distress.
The complaint may include as many as 4,000 Canadian patients, according to LawyersAndSettlements.com.
DePuy has been mired in lawsuits around the world, including a some bellwether U.S. trials slated to begin soon. The 1st trial over the DePuy ASR implant settled in August 2012 before it could go to trial. In March, a jury awarded another plaintiff, Loren Kransky, $8.3 million after deciding that the device was defectively designed (California Judge J. Stephen Czuleger rejected DePuy’s request for a new trial in May). In April, an Illinois state jury found for DePuy in Carol Strum vs. DePuy Orthopaedics & Premier Orthopaedic Sales.
The medical device maker in August 2010 recalled its ASR XL acetabular hip implant and resurfacing system after finding a higher-than-expected rate of revision surgeries. An internal review in 2011 found that 37% of DePuy’s ASR hip implants would require revision or replacement in less than 4.6 years. Some lawsuits have claimed that DePuy knew of defects in the implants, and that the company knowingly sold a defective product.
The 1st bellwether trial in the multi-district litigation against DePuy, consolidated under Judge David Katz of the U.S. District Court for Northern Ohio, is slated to begin next week.
