MDL Petition Filed to Consolidate Zimmer M/L Taper with Kinective Technology Hip Cases

Plaintiffs’ lawyers filed to form an MDL for the Zimmer M/L Taper with Kinectiv Technology and VerSys Femoral Head hip devices.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) is a special court that forms multidistrict litigations (MDLs), which are a consolidation of individually filed lawsuits from around the country into one federal court before one federal judge.

Plaintiffs want the Honorable Donovan W. Frank in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota to be the Judge for the MDL. The JPML will hear oral arguments on September 27, 2018, in San Francisco, California, and then issue its decision – to either form an MDL before this or some other judge or to deny the petition.

The Zimmer Kinectiv lawsuits allege that the Zimmer M/L Taper Hip Prosthesis and Zimmer VerSys Hip femoral head are defectively designed and unreasonably dangerous when used together. They assert many of the same claims that have been brought against other hip manufacturers, including that the devices corrode and cause a condition called metallosis.

Specifically, this medical device is alleged to present an unreasonable risk of pain, swelling, metallosis, adverse local tissue reaction, and trunnionosis. Over $2 million judgment was returned last year after a two-week trial in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

We recently wrote about other hip implants and revisions causing problems, including developments in the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing Device litigation. Stryker also recently expanded the recall of its LFIT V40 femoral head. Patients often have to have these devices removed, which requires another surgery.

Medical device litigation is difficult and requires knowledge of the law, industry standards, and the regulatory environment in which they operate and often deviate. At KBA Attorneys, we have litigated medical devices cases for many years and are here to help.