In an update on our previous posts concerning the first DePuy ASR hip implant case to go to a jury verdict, Kransky vs Depuy, the California jury just ordered DePuy and Johnson & Johnson to pay Mr. Kransky $8.38 Million in damages finding a design defect in the ASR hip device. No punitive damages were part of the award. It is believed that Johnson & Johnson will be appealing the verdict.
It took more than 6 weeks to complete the trial, and many months to prepare this case for trial in the fall and winter of 2012 by the California trial team. Mr. Kransky suffered from very high cobalt and chromium levels, and had good testimony from his hip replacement surgeon documenting significant metalosis caused by his ASR device that resulted in revision. Because this was the first DePuy ASR hip implant trial, the significance of getting a plaintiff’s verdict was critical. This was not a Bellwether case (a case representative of the average case) but rather was a case selected to go first because the claimant from Montana was ill from unrelated renal cancer. The next ASR hip implant trial is scheduled to begin on March 11, 2013 in Cook County, Illinois. That case is Strum vs Depuy, and it certainly will be of interest to see the outcome in it as well. The first Federal MDL trial begins on May 6, 2013 in Ohio. That case is Dorney–Madgitz vs. DePuy.
The verdict was broken down as follows:
$338,136 in damages for medical expenses
$8 million for physical pain and emotional suffering.
Bloomberg News has also reported the following on this trial:
