Judge in Ireland Orders 'Innovative' Solution in DePuy Cases
Posted
Jordan Fouts-
DUBLIN, Ireland – A High Court judge in Ireland has urged DePuy International and litigants in numerous hip implant cases to find “innovative ways” to resolve the cases rather than spend years in court, the Irish Times reported Thursday. Justice Kevin Cross asked all sides involved in the litigation to seek innovative means of resolution after he heard DePuy International plans to bring a motion before the court in two weeks offering an alternative dispute resolution, the paper says. There are 73 cases pending for hearing and approximately another 1,000 in total in Ireland, where an estimated 3,500 DePuy products have been used. The judge said it would take years to clear the cases individually. “Because of resources it will take a long time. I urge the parties to be as innovative as possible or we will be drawing our pensions or worse before they are all resolved,” he is quoted as saying. DePuy issued an international recall for all ASRXL and ASR hip implants, of which 95,000 were sold worldwide, the Times notes, adding that a higher proportion has been used in Ireland than in many other countries. DePuy’s Irish operation based in County Cork was established in 1997 to manufacture orthopaedic hips and knees. In the United States, where thousands more faulty hip claims were filed in court involving both the ASR and Pinnacle products, cases involving the ASR were consolidated in multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court for the northern District of Ohio. DePuy parent Johnson & Johnson agreed to settle close to 8,000 lawsuits for a total of $2.5 billion in November 2013. The Pinnacle cases were consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The Pinnacle claims continue to be litigated in federal court in Dallas, Texas.
