DePuy Pinnacle $502 Million Second-Largest Jury Award in US History

Dallas, TXWith two down and some 8,000 trials left to litigate, the massive $500 million jury verdict against Johnson & Johnson and DePuy over its failed metal-on-metal Pinnacle hips is not just a huge win for plaintiffs, but a hint of deep financial hits to come for the pharmaceutical giant over its defective hip implants.

The scoreboard, for anyone keeping track, is a 1-1 tie after two trials: J&J won the first jury trial in 2014, with the most recent jury trial going to the plaintiffs.

However, it’s the size of the award that sets a definitive tone. A total of $142 million in actual, compensatory damages was awarded to a handful of plaintiffs, together with $360 million in punitive damages for a grand total of $502 million. That’s the second-largest jury award in US history so far, dwarfed only by the patent-infringement claim by Virnetx Holding Corp. against Apple Inc. That award, handed down by a jury in Texas federal court this past February, was worth $624.6 million.

The DePuy Pinnacle hip implants were developed using metal-on-metal technology, thought to be an improvement over more traditional materials such as porcelain historically used for implants. Introduced to the market in 2000, some 170,000 DePuy Pinnacle hips were implanted into patients before DePuy and Johnson & Johnson pulled them from the market amidst a flurry of failures and adverse event reports.

The key appeared to be the chromium and cobalt alloys used in the manufacture of the devices. Not only were the metal devices found to cast off minute particles of metal into surrounding tissue that fostered inflammation and infection, but the alloys also found their way into the bloodstream, causing metallurgical toxicity - a definitive health hazard.

According to a report in Bloomberg (3/17/16), the five plaintiffs in the most recent DePuy Pinnacle case are Margaret Aoki, Jay Christopher, Donald Greer, Richard Klusmann and Robert Peterson. All five suffered grievous failures of their Pinnacle Ultamet hips, and all five had to have them surgically removed and replaced with other products.

Revision surgery is usually more complex than the initial implant procedure, with a higher risk for complications and additional time for healing and rehabilitation. The healing process is known to take longer as a patient ages. One of the plaintiffs, Greer, is a plastic surgeon from Chicago and is 79 years old.

It comes as little surprise that J&J plans to appeal the verdict, indicating that in its view the grounds for appeal are strong. The company also stands behind its product. A DePuy spokeswoman said the company “acted appropriately and responsibly in the design and testing” of the devices, said Mindy Tinsley, in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg. “The product is backed by a strong record of safety and effectiveness in reducing pain and restoring mobility for patients.”

However, plaintiffs and their failed DePuy Pinnacle hip implant attorneys don’t buy that argument, and note that the jury in this most recent DePuy trial didn’t buy it either. It was alleged that Johnson & Johnson aggressively marketed the Pinnacle implants globally, paid kickbacks and bribes overseas, paid doctors in the United States millions to speak positively about the implants, and touted the safety and efficacy of the implants to consumers and the health care community - all the while having full knowledge of the problems and issues with the device, or so it is alleged.

The case is In re: DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. Pinnacle Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, 11-md-02244, US District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas).