ZIMMER AND NEXGEN GO ON TRIAL IN OCTOBER (Orthopedics This Week)
Zimmer recalls over 40,000 NexGen Total Knee Replacements
Lawyers in a chess match over the Zimmer NexGen Knee lawsuits
The first bellwether trial over Zimmer Holdings Inc.'s NexGen knee implant will start on October 13, 2015.
Over 1,300 lawsuits have been filed by patients implanted with knee. The device received FDA clearance in 1995 and more than 5 million implant procedures have been performed since then.
Lawsuit Consolidation
In 2011, the U.S. District Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decided to consolidate the lawsuits to decrease the chances of conflicting rulings with judges and duplicative discovery. Consolidation is also more convenient for the parties, witnesses, and court. The lawsuits were consolidated to Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer in the Northern District of Illinois.
Allegations surround the company’s lack of sufficient product testing, manufacturing and selling of faulty products.
Judge Pallmeyer identified six cases that will serve at the “initial tranche” of bellwether trials against Zimmer. Of these six, three were plaintiffs’ picks and the other three were chosen by Zimmer. Plaintiffs in these cas...
