Wright Medical inks $90m settlement deal for metal-on-metal hip claims (MassDevice)
Wright Medical said this week it agreed on a comprehensive settlement deal to resolve remaining metal-on-metal hip claims not previously settled, looking to pay a maximum of $89.8 million.
A total of $35 million of the settlement will be funded from insurance proceeds, contingent on availability by Dec. 31, the Amsterdam-based company said.
Settlement payments will come in 3 tranches, the company said. In the 1st tranche, Wright will pay $7.9 million to settle 49 additional claims which could have been included in a previous master settlement agreement from last year, Wright said.
In the 2nd tranche, Wright will pay $5.1 million to settle 39 claims from the oldest claimants, by age.
The last, and largest tranche, will see the company paying $76.75 million to settle all remaining claims and up to 30 new claims, the company said in an SEC filing.
The company said it will fund the 3rd tranche in stages, with $45 million provided by June 30, 2018 and $31.75 million by Sept. 30, 2019, and will be contingent upon it receiving at least $35 million in new insurance payments by Dec. 31 this year.
The total settlement could be less, Wright added, but not more than the total it has provided. The company said it currently has approximately 629 claims pending and 710 claims that are ineligible. And additional 47 claims are pending in US courts, the company added.
Last November, Wright Medical saw shares climb nearly 4% after the orthopedics company said it inked a $240 million settlement for nearly 1,300 product liability lawsuits brought over its metal-on-metal hip implants.