$1B Settlement Reached in Stryker Hip Implant Mass Tort

Thousands of plaintiffs in New Jersey and around the country who had surgery to remove failed hip implants settled their claims November 3 in a deal that is expected to pay out more than $1 billion. It was reached after four months of negotiations with Stryker mediated by retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Diane Welsh, a JAMS mediator based in Philadelphia.

The global settlement with Howmedica Osteonics Corporation, a Mahwah, N.J., corporation that does business as Stryker Orthopaedics, resolves the claims of about 3,000 individuals who were implanted with Stryker Rejuvenate and ABG II Modular hip stems. Stryker agreed to a base payment of $300,000 to compensate plaintiffs who had to have a Rejuvenate or an ABG II hip implant device surgically removed before November 3, according to counsel. The payment will be doubled for plaintiffs who had devices removed from both hips, the attorneys said, and there will be additional payments for complications arising from the removal surgeries.

Between December 2013 and June 2014, Judge Welsh successfully mediated more than 20 bellwether cases that were filed in state court in New Jersey. She then successfully mediated the global settlement agreement for the federal Multi-District Litigation and the New Jersey litigation covering approximately 4,000 cases and is also open to claimants who have not yet filed suit.  Judge Welsh will now serve as the Claims Administrator to ensure that the settlement is carried out in accordance of the settlement agreement and she will decide appeals from claimants who are denied.

For additional coverage, please click here for coverage in the New Jersey Law Journal or here for Bloomberg coverage.