Jury tells Johnson & Johnson to pay $8.3M over defective hip replacement (Daily Record)
LOS ANGELES — A jury Friday awarded $8.3 million to a former prison guard who accused Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Orthopaedics subsidiary of knowingly marketing a faulty hip implant that was later recalled.
Jurors found that the ASR XL implant was defectively designed and caused metal poisoning and other health problems suffered by Loren Kransky after he underwent surgery in 2007.
However, the panel rejected the 65-year-old’s claim that DePuy failed to adequately warn of the risks associated with the implant, and it didn’t find the company acted with malice, prohibiting Kransky from collecting any punitive damages.
The fraud and negligence suit is the first of nearly 11,000 similar cases involving an all-metal ball-and-socket hip joint that was pulled from the market two years ago to reach trial in the United States. Others like Kransky claim the implants have left them with crippling injuries or in need of other replacement surgeries.
Johnson & Johnson has set aside about $1 billion to cover costs of the recall and lawsuits.
Plaintiff’s attorney Doug Saeltzer said the verdict bodes we...
