On March 17, 2016, after a two month trial, a Dallas, Texas federal court jury awarded $142 million in actual damages and $360 million in punitive damages to a group of five (5) claimants who had defective Johnson & Johnson (J&J) DePuy Pinnacle hip replacements that needed surgical removal and replacement.  The jury awarded punitive damages because they concluded that J&J knew about the flaws in the Pinnacle hips but failed to warn doctors and their patients of the risks.

There are about 8,000 claims pending in the DePuy Pinnacle mass tort case, a number of which are currently represented by Phoenix Arizona personal injury attorney Stephen I. Leshner.   The claimant’s victory in the bellwether case comes after a defeat in a similar case in 2014.  In another case involving J&J, the company recalled 93,000 DePuy ASR hips, resulting in a $2.5 Billion settlement, which has been largely distributed.