The Future Of Zimmer Knee Lawsuits To Be Decided In Illinois

All federal lawsuits over problems with Zimmer NexGen recall have been consolidated for pretrial proceedings as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation, which will be centralized in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Following oral arguments last month, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation issued an order on Monday establishing the MDL, which will result in the transfer of dozens of Zimmer NexGen knee implant lawsuits currently pending in federal district courts throughout the United States. In addition, all future lawsuits will be transferred to the MDL as they are filed by Zimmer knee lawyer who are continuing to review claims for individuals throughout the country.

The NexGen MIS Tibial component is marketed and promoted as compatible with the LPS-Flex and CR-Flex femoral components and they are often used together. According to the motion, of the 28 cases now pending against Zimmer, many are a combination of a NexGen high-flex and NexGen MIS tibial. Zimmer obtained approval for the Zimmer NexGen recall components through the FDA’s controversial 510(k) approval process,
which is a fast-track to market approval that requires that you prove that the device you are releasing is “substantially equivalent” to one already on the market.

In rejecting Zimmer’s arguments against consolidation, 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 plaintiffs 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.An MDL allows lawsuits associated with a particular product to be coordinated under one judge for pretrial litigation to avoid duplicative discovery, inconsistent rulings and to conserve the resources of the parties, witnesses and the court. When lawsuits are consolidated as a multidistrict litigation, each retains its own identity. If the multidistrict litigation process does not resolve the cases, they are transferred back to the court where they originated for trial.