Judge Catherine C. Blake of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland appointed John W. Perry Jr. of Perry Dampf Dispute Resolutions as a special mediator to oversee the parties involved in the settlement of Smith & Nephew Birmingham Hip Resurfacing MDL docket. The mediator is expected to assist the parties in settlement of approximately 100 Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) and R3 Acetabular System cases that are pending in the hip replacement MDL.
More than 400 product liability lawsuits are pending against the manufacturer of BHR systems over allegations of failure to warn about the design defects of the metal-on-metal hip implant, which is prone to wear and tear, loosening, dislocation, and metallosis often requiring removal of the device. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) consolidated the hip implants lawsuits in the District of Maryland as a part of a federal MDL for coordinated pretrial proceedings.
In a similar hip implant litigation, lawsuits continue to be filed involving complications over Stryker Hip Replacement system centralized before U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani under MDL No. 2768 – in Re: Stryker LFIT V40 Femoral Head Products Liability Litigation.
