A federal appeals court has reinstated a personal-injury lawsuit against Zimmer Biomet (NYSE:ZBH) over a metal-on-metal hip prosthesis implanted in 2011.
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals revived the lawsuit that a Pennsylvania U.S. District Court judge dismissed in August 2018 because it missed the statute of limitations, according to an article by Law 360.
Plaintiff Marilyn Adams filed the suit in 2017, two years after having had revision surgery to replace the Zimmer hip with a ceramic device. Adams claimed to suffer pain and complications for years after the original implant. She underwent a second surgery in 2015 to replace the prosthesis with a ceramic device. Adams claims that the metals used in the first prosthesis, alongside “an unreasonably dangerous design” resulted in significant health complications, including metallosis.
Judge Edward Smith had ruled the suit was filed too late because of the period of time the plaintiff knew of issues with the hip, alongside the decision to undergo a second surgery. Now the appeals court says a jury should decide whether the suit was filed too late under the law, the Law360 article said.
