2.  Ending days of deliberation over culpability questions,
the jury found DePuy Orthopaedics, a subsidiary of
Johnson & Johnson, negligent in designing the ASR
hip replacement systems and as a result ordered it to
pay the plaintiff, Loren Kransky, damages amounting
to $8.333 million, media reports say. The trial
commenced in January this year after preliminary
negotiations were completed which saw four causes of
action dismissed in the case which has become
known as the California ASR hip trial.

3.  Loren Kransky, a former Montana State prison guard,
underwent a hip replacement surgery in 2007 and
immediately after the procedure, started to experience
adverse effects such as chronic pain and difficulty in
walking. Minute metal debris composed of chromium
and cobalt entered his bloodstream after the hip
implant components allegedly dislocated. This
resulted to metallosis which caused damage to the
surrounding tissues and bones, severe pain, and
infections. In 2012, Loren Kransky was forced to
undergo hip revision surgery in order to ease the pain
and suffering.

4.  The original lawsuit asked for $5.3 million in
compensatory damages and $179 million for
punitive damages for the 10 causes of action filed
by the plaintiff. Lawyers during the trial argued
that not only were the designs defective, DePuy
also failed to properly test the devices before
making it available to the market and that
complaints about hip implant failures were kept
away from orthopedic surgeons.

5.  The jury, in its verdict, found DePuy negligent in
designing the hip implants but did not find the
company guilty of not properly warning consumers
of the risks involved with the ASR hip system. This
may have saved DePuy from paying millions of
dollars as punitive damages. Only compensatory
damages were awarded to Kransky amounting to
$338,136 for his medical expenses and $8 million
for the pain and emotional suffering.

6.  Even if an appeal is expected to be elevated by
DePuy, this victory has been very welcomed by
the other hip implant recipients who were
allegedly injured by these devices. The number of
hip implant recipients who have filed their lawsuits
have exceeded 10,000, with many more expected
to come forward to file their complaints.

7.  Over 93,000 patients in the United States alone
were implanted with the ASR metal-on-metal hip
replacement systems since its introduction in 2005
until it was recalled in 2010. A failure rate of
almost 50 percent after six years has been
reported in the US and other countries. This
product liability suit may certainly become one of
the biggest in history considering that
complainants may total over 40,000.

8.  Reference:

reuters.com/article/2013/03/08/us-jj-trial-hips-
idUSBRE92711P20130308
blogs.findlaw.com/injured/2013/03/1st-jj-depuy-
hip-implant-award-83m.html?=features