Exactech Knee Lawsuit Trial Update

Santa Clara, CAThe first Exactech knee bellwether trials in multi-district litigation are slated for July and September 2025. At least 1,670 Exactech lawsuits are involved, blaming a packaging problem that caused hip, knee, shoulder and ankle implants to degrade and fail long before their time. Some patients required replacement surgery within a few years of receiving the implant.

The first two bellwether trial dates were rescheduled after both parties requested more time to prepare the claims to go before juries than was originally provided, which was prompted by an Exactech knee replacement recall in April 2024.

Exactech MDL

Although a settlement seems likely, according to the National Law Review, attorneys for both sides are carrying on and assuming that going to trial may be necessary. One lawyer said that, “The pending multidistrict litigation against Exactech involves multiple types of injuries and medical complications linked to apparent defects in Exactech’s ankle, hip, knee, and shoulder implant devices and their packaging. While thousands of plaintiffs have joined the litigation, Exactech has recalled hundreds of thousands of its devices—which means that numerous patients and families have yet to assert their legal rights.”

Attorneys filed lawsuits against Exactech soon after the company issued a recall in early 2022, which involved over 140,000 Optetrak, Optetrak Logic and Truliant knee replacement systems implanted in patients since 2004, and 15,000 components used in Exactech Vantage ankle replacements. By the end of 2022, centralized pretrial proceedings were established in the federal court system before U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis in the Eastern District of New York.

Plaintiffs claim that flaws in Exactech’s manufacturing processes, procedures, and safeguards caused it to sell dangerous and defective joint replacement devices. The National Law Review notes that, since product defect claims subject manufacturers to strict liability when proven, proof of negligence regarding the Exactech device is not required for the plaintiffs to succeed in the Exactech recall lawsuits. Because the company itself has admitted its devices are defective, that is strong evidence alone to establish plaintiffs’ right to compensation. 

Packaging Issue

Exactech has admitted its packaging problem allowed oxygen to reach the components long before they were placed in the body. The first devices to be recalled were due to “out-of-specification” vacuum sealed bags used with a plastic tibial insert component. Oxidation causes materials in the devices to breakdown before their time, leading to failure of patients’ joint replacements, bone damage, soft tissue damage, infections, and other serious health issues. Some patients have required corrective revision surgery

Exactech implant problems started in June 2021, when the medical technology company issued the first recall for its hip implant devices due to risks for “excessive and premature wear,” and the FDA categorized the recall as a Class II. And in its March 2023 safety communication, the FDA stated that the implants were packaged in bags that were missing one of the barrier layers that can protect the devices from oxidation, which can cause plastic components to degrade over time. The agency further advised health care providers not to implant any knee, ankle, and hip devices recalled by Exactech.