Stryker Hip Lawsuit Settlement Announced in Nationwide LFIT Femoral Head Litigation

Published on November 5, 2018 by Sandy Liebhard

Stryker Corp. has agreed to settle all pending hip replacement lawsuits involving its LFIT CoCr V40 femoral heads and related components.

Stryker Hip Lawsuit Discovery Stayed Through July 2019

The hip replacement settlement was announced Friday in the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, where all such federal claims have been consolidated in a multidistrict litigation. An Order issued by Court that same day stayed discovery in all pending cases through July 31, 2019, “so walk-away rights or settlements can be confirmed.”

The terms of the Stryker hip settlement are confidential. Media reports suggest that the agreement covers recalled and unrecalled LFIT V40 femoral heads, as well as modular hip stems compatible with those components, including Accolade TMZF, Accolade 2, Citation, Meridian and Rejuvenate.

In addition to the Stryker hip lawsuits pending in Massachusetts, the settlement will also cover similar claims filed in a multicounty litigation underway in New Jersey’s Bergen County Superior Court. The judge overseeing that proceeding recently extended discovery through July 31, 2019.

Plaintiffs who have filed LFIT V40 claims in any other jurisdiction will also be eligible to participate in the settlement.

LFIT CoCr V40 Femoral Heads: What’s the Problem?

Stryker’s LFIT CoCr V40 femoral heads are compatible with a variety of modular hip implant stems, including the:

• Accolade TMZF Femoral Stem
• Accolade II Femoral Stem
• Restoration Femoral Hip Stem
• Rejuvenate Monolithic Stem
• ABG II Monolithic Femoral Stem
• Hipstar Femoral Stem
• Citation TMZF HA Stem
• Meridian PA Femoral Stem

In August 2016, the company announced a hip replacement recall for certain LFIT V40 femoral heads manufactured prior to 2011, after the devices were associated with a high number of complaints regarding taper lock failure.

Earlier this year, Stryker issued another alert for LFIT V40 femoral heads, after the devices were associated with an unusually high number of complaints involving femoral head/hip stem disassociation.

Stryker hip lawsuit plaintiffs claim that the components’ allegedly defective design increases the likelihood that recipient will experience painful and debilitating complications, including:

• Dislocation
• Loosening of the implant
• Peri-Prosthetic fracture
• Leg length discrepancy
• Loss of mobility
• Inflammatory response
• Adverse local tissue reaction
• Need for revision surgery

Stryker Rejuvenate and ABG II Modular-Neck Hip Stem Settlement

This is the second major hip replacement settlement involving Stryker components since November 2014, when the company agreed to pay more than $1 billion to resolve thousands of product liability claims involving its Rejuvenate and ABG II Modular-Neck hip stems.

Those devices were recalled in in July 2012, after the metal stems were found to be subject to a high rate of fretting and corrosion at the modular-neck junction.

The initial settlement agreement only covered individuals who had undergone revision surgery for a recall-related reason prior to November 3, 2014. Two years later, however, Stryker agreed to expand the settlement to include Rejuvenate and ABG II recipients who underwent a recall-related revision procedure prior to December 19, 2016.