Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay $500 million to five plaintiffs who were injured after using the company’s DePuy Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants.
Jurors deliberated for a week before deciding the metal-on-metal hip implants were defective and Johnson & Johnson failed to warn the public about the risks. Compensatory damages totaled $140 million, while $360 million was awarded in punitive damages.
Johnson & Johnson plans to appeal the decision.
As a result of Texas law limits, the punitive damages may be reduced. However, the purpose of punitive damages is to deter the defendant from engaging in similar conduct of that which brought on the lawsuit. Unfortunately, Johnson & Johnson has yet to learn from their mistakes as consumers continue to allege certain products and devices manufactured by the company have caused harm.
This is the second federal trial involving Pinnacle hip implants. There are more than 8,000 consolidated Pinnacle hip implant lawsuits in Texas federal court.
The plaintiffs in this case alleged that design flaws caused the hip implants to fail, which caused injuries like tissue death, bone erosion and metallosis, a condition recognized by high levels of metal in the bloodstream.
In 2013, DePuy stopped selling the metal-on-metal hip implants and paid $2.5 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits from the ASR model, a different metal-on-metal hip implant recalled in 2010.
The settlement is the third in just two months for Johnson & Johnson. In February, a Missouri family was awarded $72 million after a loved one’s ovarian cancer was linked to the company’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products.
On March 21, it was revealed that Johnson & Johnson had settled at least 70 cases involving the company’s power morcellator devices. The devices were found to have been spreading undetected cancer in women undergoing routine uterine fibroid removal.
Greg Coleman Law believes that companies like Johnson & Johnson need to be held responsible for their failure to protect and warn consumers about their product’s risks. If you or someone you love has been injured or fallen ill as a result of a defective medical device, contact our Knoxville personal injury attorneys for a free consultation.
Fill out a Free Case Evaluation or call (865) 247-0080.
