Settlement negotiations likely to follow early trials
Brooklyn, NYAs of May 2024, the trial dates for four bellwether trials in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York multidistrict Exactech litigation (MDL) have been set as follows:
A shoulder, knee or hip implant can greatly improve the quality of life for someone suffering from osteoarthritis when non-surgical remedies have not been effective. This is an issue you should discuss with your doctor.
But, as with any surgery, things can go wrong. One of the risks is hardware failure, which is what has occurred with Exactech implants. Exactech has a long history of legal problems even before the most recent shoulder recall. Patients in the current cases began filing product liability lawsuits in 2021 after Exactech’s warnings and recalls alerted them to the fact that a packaging error had compromised the integrity of the joint replacement devices.
The problem with Exactech’s hip prostheses, as with its knee and ankle implants, is traceable to a packaging defect dating back as far as 2004. The key fact is that the polyethylene components of Exactech implants must not be exposed to oxygen prior to surgery.
The recalled Exactech devices were packaged in non-standard vacuum bags that lacked an ethylene vinyl alcohol secondary oxygen barrier. This defective packaging exposed the polyethylene of the Exactech implants to oxygen and caused them to degrade before they were ever implanted in patients.
The average patient age for hip or knee replacement surgery is between 66 and 68, and most patients can expect to outlive their new joint. However, when a defective implant fails prematurely, the consequences can be painful and potentially crippling. These can include:
Revision Surgery. Many patients require painful and expensive revision surgeries to replace either all or part of the implant. The results are often not as good as the first time around;
Pain. The pain may be severe and consistent and may either be localized to the area of the implant or radiate to other parts of the body;
Swelling. The inflammation may indicate an infection or the continued degradation of the implant;
Decreased range of motion. A decreased range of motion may also cause severe pain. Long term decreased mobility may have serious health and quality of life consequences; and
Instability. The failure of the implant may cause the joint to give way, increasing the risk of falls or other injuries.
Perhaps even more serious, new revision surgeries may prolong recovery, increase pain even further, and subject patients to new risks of infection. Revision surgery rarely produces as satisfactory a repair as a successful first surgery.
Surgeons have implanted more than 143,000 potentially defective Exactech hip, knee and ankle devices. If these new joints fail early, thousands of people may experience serious complications.
Defective shoulder, knee and hip implant lawsuits
As of July 2024, there were 1,625 lawsuits pending in multidistrict litigation before the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York. So far, there have been no trials or approved settlements in MDL 3044.
In addition to these trials, however, there are:
595 state lawsuits consolidated and pending in Florida’s Eighth District Circuit Court; and
24 state lawsuits pending in Illinois
Although each of these cases may be tried separately, jury awards or settlement amounts in one lawsuit can be expected to affect the outcome in others.
Gradually, then suddenly
To patients who suffer from the effects of a defective implant, the progress of a medical device lawsuit may seem glacially slow. But where cases have been consolidated for pretrial proceedings, including discovery, pretrial motions, and the selection of bellwether cases, things may move along a little faster than they would otherwise.
The process generally accelerates considerably once the trials begin and especially once the first jury awards occur. That is when settlement negotiations begin in earnest. If experience is any guide, Exactech may attempt to reach some kind of global settlement agreement with plaintiffs or several settlements depending on the implant in question or whether the lawsuit is brought in federal or state courts. In any event, even though some of the bellwether lawsuits are not expected to begin until 2026, injured patients may see some recovery earlier.
The size of an award or settlement offer will depend on the nature of each individual’s injuries. Lawyers, however, have estimated that settlements may be as high as $300,000.
If you or a loved one have suffered losses in this case, please click the link below and your complaint will be sent to a drugs & medical lawyer who may evaluate your Defective Hip Implant claim at no cost or obligation.