Many have been closely scrutinizing the evolvement of the DePuy lawsuits following the recall of their ASR XL Acetabular System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System in August. It may have come to their knowledge that the lawsuits filed against the company was consolidated under one federal court. Judge David A. Katz of the Northern District of Ohio in Toledo was assigned the MDL by the Unites States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.
Judge Katz held a meeting on January 3, 2011 for the purpose of assigning several leadership positions to various lawyers who have applied for them. These positions include Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee, Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, Science Committee, Discovery Committee, and Law and Motions Committee. There were other two roles, the Plaintiffs’ Liaison Counsel and Plaintiffs’ State Liaison Counsel, but chairs for them would be decided by the Executive Committee.
A Multidistrict Litigation differs from a class action lawsuit in the sense that compensation among each plaintiff vary. In class action suits, compensation is usually distributed evenly to plaintiffs who suffer the same or similar injuries. Like the Sulzer case which ocurred in 2002, the few people who have had revision surgeries were given $206,000 each as compensation. Those who have been affected but did not need a revision surgery were only granted $1000 each. Each lawsuit is maintained in an MDL and each also benefits from the efficient pretrial discovery.
There were already a hundred DePuy recall victims who have filed lawsuits against the orthopedic device manufacturer. If you have been affected by the recall, you should immediately speak with a lawyer who is experienced with cases like the DePuy lawsuits. For more information, please visit the hip replacement recall center.