Jury Awards $8.3 Million in DePuy ASR Hip Implant Lawsuit

March 11, 2013 — A jury in California Superior Court, Los Angeles County, has ordered DePuy Orthopedics to pay $8.3 million to resolve the first of approximately 10,750 DePuy ASR hip lawsuits. The plaintiff, Loren “Bill” Kransky, a 65 year-old retired prison guard from Montana, was awarded $338,000 for medical expenses and $8 million for pain and suffering. The jury found that DePuy adequately warned about the side effects and will not have to pay punitive damages.

Kransky suffered from excessive metal poisoning (metallosis) as a result of the metal-on-metal hip implant grinding together. He also suffered from dislocations, chronic pain, and multiple revision surgeries. In the five week trial, Kransky’s attorney argued in closing statements, “This is not an imperfect hip, this is a public health disaster.”

DePuy recalled 93,000 of the ASR hip implants in 2010. At the time, the company found that 12% of the implants failed within five years. However, more recent studies have found that the failure-rate may be significantly higher. According to documents released early in Kransky’s trial in California, DePuy knew about problems with the ASR as early as 2008, but failed to issue a recall for two more years. In 2011, the company found that 37% of the devices failed within five years.

In a statement, DePuy officials said the jury “returned a mixed verdict” and they plan to appeal the jury’s decision. “We believe the ASR XL was properly designed, and DePuy’s actions concerning the product were appropriate and responsible.”

The second lawsuit in the ASR litigation is scheduled to begin today in state court in Chicago. The plaintiff, Carol Strum, is a 54 year-old nurse from Illinois, who was implanted with the ASR in 2008 and had it removed in 2011.

Cases filed in federal court in the United States have been organized in a Multi-District Litigation (MDL) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Those lawsuits are scheduled to begin in May 2013.

Do I have a Texas DePuy ASR Hip Implant Lawsuit?

Collen A. Clark is a true advocate for his clients and is passionate about helping Texans that have been injured or wronged.

Collen’s amazing success in the courtroom and well known dedication to his clients has earned him the recognition of his peers as one of The Top Trial Lawyers in Texas.”

The Clark Firm has assembled a team of trial lawyers with more than 100 years experience, participation in over 600 jury trials and $60 million in verdicts and/or settlements. Please use the form below to contact us for a free Texas DePuy ASR hip implant lawsuit review.