Stryker Hip Replacement Lawsuit Heads to Mediation in Pennsylvania

Published on June 27, 2017 by Sandy Liebhard

Parties to a Stryker hip replacement lawsuit have agreed to mediation, after a Pennsylvania federal judge dismissed most of the Plaintiff’s claims, save a single charge of negligent failure to warn.

According to the complaint, Gary Webb received Stryker hip components during a left total hip replacement in April 2012. He subsequently developed a wound infection, requiring removal of the artificial hip, insertion of an antibiotic cement spacer, a trochanteric osteotomy, and insertion of three cerclage cables around the osteotomy.  Mr. Webb underwent revision surgery in June 2013, after he was diagnosed periprosthetic fracture around the cerclage cable. At that time, the cables and spacer were removed and he received a total hip replacement with cable plate.

According to HarrisMartin.com, Mr. Webb initially filed his lawsuit in Pennsylvania’s Beaver County Common Pleas Court. However, the case was removed to the U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania, by the Defendants last November. That same month, the lawsuit’s strict liability allegations were dismissed with prejudice, while claims for negligent design and manufacturing were tossed without prejudice. While Mr. Webb did reassert the negligent design and manufacturing claims in an amended complaint, they were dismissed once again in April.

Stryker Hip Recalls & Settlements

The Pennsylvania case is just one of many product liability lawsuits involving Stryker’s hip replacement products now pending in U.S. courts. Earlier this year, consolidated litigations were established in Massachusetts federal court and New Jersey Superior Court for lawsuits involving Stryker’s LFIT CoCr V40 Femoral Heads. Stryker recalled certain LFIT V40 Femoral Heads last August, after they were associated with a high number of taper-lock failures.  The components are designed for use with several other hip implants manufactured by the company, including:

• Accolade TMZF Stems
• Accolade 2 Stems
• Meridian Stems
• Citation Stems

Stryker has also faced thousands of lawsuits involving Rejuvenate and ABG II hip stems, which were recalled in 2012 due to a high rate of fretting and corrosion at the modular-neck junction. More than two years after the recall, Stryker announced a $1 billion hip replacement settlement to resolve cases where plaintiffs had undergone revision surgery for a recall-related reason prior to November 3, 2014. Late last year, the settlement agreement was expanded to include Rejuvenate and ABG II recipients who underwent a recall-related revision prior to December 19, 2016.

The Stryker hip settlement provided eligible plaintiffs with gross base awards of $300,000 per failed implant, subject to deductions and enhancements based on the factors unique to each claim. The settlement also paid compensation to Rejuvenate and ABG II recipients who required revision but were medically unable to undergo the procedure.

In May, Stryker announced that 95% of eligible patients had registered for the expanded hip replacement settlement, saying that it expected to make most of the payments by the end of this year.