The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML)
has ordered that all personal injury lawsuits involving Zimmer NexGen knee
implant components currently pending in federal courts throughout the U.S. be
consolidated in a multidistrict litigation and transferred to U.S. District
Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The
multidistrict litigation process, more commonly referred to as the Zimmer
NexGen MDL, is often confused with a class action lawsuit against Zimmer. While
the MDL and a Zimmer NexGen knee class action lawsuit have many similarities
during pretrial proceedings, each claim remains an individual lawsuit, where
the plaintiff must establish that their injuries were caused by Zimmer knee problems and each claim will be decided individually be a jury.
In opposing the MDL consolidation, Zimmer had argued that the
involved NexGen components are “quite distinct, and thus discovery would not
significantly overlap among the actions.’ However, the JPML did not find the
device maker’s arguments persuasive, stating its review of the record indicated
that the distinctiveness of the various components is not as clear-cut as
Zimmer contends. The panel stated in its ruling that it has ordered
centralization in other dockets that involved multiple devices, including Medtronic
and Guidant implantable defibrillator lawsuits. The panel also found Zimmer’s
claims of how different the devices were to be dubious. They cited plaintiff’s
evidence in the ruling of similarities between the language used to describe
the devices and the procedures to implant them which were used by Zimmer in
seeking FDA approval to release them on the market.
Zimmer Knee Recall Unmoved By Study Results
In March 2010, a former Zimmer consultant presented
data that reviewed the two year results of 108 knee replacements involving the
Zimmer NexGen CR-Flex Porous. The research found that about 9% resulted in the
need for revision surgery within two years and that 36% showed signs that the
replacement knee was loosening. Although the consultant called for Zimmer to
recall the NexGen knee replacement parts, the company dismissed the concerns
and attempted to place the blame for the problems on the prominent orthopedics
surgeon's surgical technique. Zimmer allegedly downplayed and understated the risk
of Zimmer NexGen knee problems.
