Zimmer NexGen Lawsuit Attorneys Engaged in a Game of Cat and Mouse

Chicago, ILVarious strategies are employed by both sides in a typical lawsuit in an effort to further the fortunes of the various antagonists. This includes those advancing the case of the plaintiff, and those defending the position of the defendant. With one Zimmer NexGen lawsuit currently underway in federal court in Illinois, attorneys acting for Zimmer attempted to have colleagues representing various plaintiffs in three lawsuits tucked within multidistrict litigation sanctioned.

The allegations made by Zimmer surrounded a claim that attorneys for the plaintiffs had failed to provide and produce expert reports. Zimmer also accused the plaintiffs’ attorneys of failing to report to Zimmer that they did not intend to take the three cases to trial.

Attorneys representing the plaintiffs claim that’s a bunch of baloney.

A vast collection of lawsuits alleging Zimmer NexGen Knee Replacement failure have been consolidated into multidistrict litigation. The NexGen knee is an artificial knee that has proven problematic in many patients, alleged to have failed prematurely and promoted pain and suffering when such failures are alleged to have occurred. Some, but not all of the various components inherent with the Zimmer NexGen knee system have been the subject of a Zimmer knee replacement recall.

In its motion, Zimmer noted that attorneys representing plaintiffs Mertha Shoat, Ronnie Davis and Debra Teague had missed a July 15 deadline for producing expert reports without providing advance notice that a deadline was going to be missed, or required an extension. Zimmer claims that such “repeated abandonment of Zimmer case picks has unreasonable and vexatiously multiplied these MDL proceedings and justifies sanctions,” according to Zimmer’s motion.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the NexGen lawsuit are having none of it, referring to Zimmer’s positon as “a regrettable scare tactic.

“Rather than face the music in the bellwether trial process, Zimmer ran scared and selected cases they knew were not triable,” said an attorney representing the plaintiffs. “They were even warned of that by plaintiffs’ counsel at the outset. Instead of getting to the truth, Zimmer ran up costs and time at their own peril. Now they’re seeking relief for their own contrived crisis. What’s really sanctionable is their conduct here.”

Zimmer is asking the plaintiffs’ attorneys to reimburse Zimmer for costs, expenses and attorneys’ fees related to the preparation and defense of the three cases for trial.

Plaintiffs in the MDL were centralized in August 2011. The case is In re: Zimmer NexGen Knee Implant Products Liability Litigation, number 2272, in the US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.