The controversy over Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics’ recalled metal-on-metal hip implants hit courts in Ireland for the 1st time this week.
Irene Pierson, who had both hips replaced with DePuy implants, filed a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, DePuy and Ireland’s Health Service Executive, a regulatory body responsible for overseeing public healthcare and social services.
Pierson had her right hip fitted with a DePuy implant in March 2007 and her left hip in September 2008, and claims that the implants were "not of merchantable quality, and have both commenced to malfunction," the Kildare Nationalist reported.
Ireland’s High Court granted Pierson approval to serve the defendants, marking what local reports called the 1st Irish lawsuit in the metal-on-metal hip dispute, a worldwide controversy that has threatened to snarl fellow MoM hip makers.
The Irish lawsuit and others that are expected to follow against DePuy join U.S. actions in which plaintiffs allege that the Johnson & Johnson and DePuy were aware of complications arising from its ASR metal-on-metal hip implants, but failed to warn physicians.
Warsaw, Ind.-based DePuy Orthopedics pulled its ASR XL Acetabular and ASR Hip Resurfacing systems off the market in August 2010 after receiving reports that a higher-than-normal number of patients required surgeries to correct or remove defective implants.
Lawsuits have piled up all over the U.S., including a multi-district litigation consolidated in the Lone Star State under Judge James Kinkeade.
The first of roughly 2,000 cases filed in state courts were settled out of court in July for a reported $600,000, when more cases were added to the MDL case gathering suits filed over another DePuy metal-on-metal hip implant, the Pinnacle.
Metal-on-metal hips as a class have become a magnet for lawsuits, even for devices that have not been recalled, such as Biomet’s M2A Magnum MoM hips and Smith & Nephew’s (FTSE:SN, NYSE:SNN) Birmingham hip resurfacing systems.
JNJ shares were up 1.1% to $69.45 as of about 2:45 p.m. today.
