Stryker, plaintiffs to settle hip implant cases

A Massachusetts federal judge last week stayed the multi-district litigation brought over hip implants made by Stryker (NYSE:SYK) so that the company and lawyers representing thousands of plaintiffs can hash out a settlement.

Judge Indira Talwani of the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, who is overseeing one of the MDLs, stayed discovery through July 31, 2019, “so walk-away rights or settlements can be confirmed.”

Stryker told Talwani Nov. 2 that it and a pair of committees representing plaintiffs in the Bay State MDL and another in New Jersey “have reached a confidential settlement agreement to resolve the claims of certain eligible patients who had surgery to replace their LFITTM CoCr V40TM femoral head along with related hip system components,” according to court documents.

Although the filings do not indicate which other components are covered by the agreement, one of the plaintiff’s law firms reported that both recalled and unrecalled V40 heads, plus Stryker’s Accolade TMZF, Accolade 2, Citation, Meridian and Rejuvenate devices, are “believed” to be covered by the agreement.

In 2014, Stryker inked a more than $1 billion deal to settle thousands of product liability lawsuits over a pair of its recalled metal-on-metal hip Rejuvenate and ABGII devices. Stryker recalled the Rejuvenate and ABG II implants in July 2012.