On November 24, 2015, an Atlanta, Ga jury found in favor of the plaintiff and against Wright Medical Technology, Inc. in the first bellwether trial in the Multi-District Litigation involving the allegedly defective metal hip Wright Conserve Implant Systems.  The jury found the product to be defective, and awarded the plaintiff $1 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages.

After the verdict, the attorneys for Wright filed a Motion for New Trial, challenging, among other things, the amount of the jury verdict.  On April 5, 2016, the Judge issued a ruling upholding the jury’s verdict of compensatory damages of $1 million, but reduced the punitive damage verdict by 90% from $11 million to $1.1 million.

Currently, there are approximately 600 Wright Conserve cases pending in the MDL in Georgia, another 750 cases pending in California courts, and another 1,000 cases that have not been filed, where plaintiffs’ lawyers have entered into tolling agreements with the defense.  The next bellwether trials are scheduled for October, 2016.

Phoenix, Arizona mass tort product liability attorney Stephen I. Leshner has handled over 100 cases involving defective hip replacement systems, including the current cases against Wright Medical Technology, Inc., and has over 40 cases pending.  While there have been global settlements in the DePuy ASR, Zimmer, Stryker, and Smith & Nephew cases, no global settlements have been reached in cases involving DePuy Pinnacle (over 8,000 pending cases) and Wright, which are in the bellwether trial process.  If you or someone close to you has been injured as a result of any defective metal-on-metal hip, which required the surgical removal and replacement of the hip replacement system or its components, please contact Steve Leshner for a free consultation.