On Monday, Superior Court Judge Brian R. Martinotti executed a global settlement program which included Stryker’s Rejuvenate and ABGII modular hip implants in Bergen County, New Jersey. It took an extensive four months of negotiations before retired United States Magistrate Judge Diane Welsh in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The settlement includes roughly 3,000 patients who had the modular Rejuvenate or ABGII implants and were forced to have revision surgery performed. Included in the settlement agreement is a gross base award of $300,000 per failed implant, as well as providing for additional compensation for patients who had complications during the revision surgery, in addition to including for any future surgeries caused by complications by the defective implants. The settlement also compensates individuals who qualify for revision surgery but are medically unable to proceed.
Stryker’s settlement payments, expected to be in excess of $1 billion, have no cap or fixed funds. Payments are expected to begin in the summer of 2015. Last year, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) agreed to pay at least $2.5 billion to settle lawsuits over its ASR metal-on-metal hip devices.
Stryker began selling the Rejuvenate hip system in 2009, and the ABGII hip system in 2010. Two years later, in June 2012, Stryker Orthopedics issued a voluntary recall of its modular Stryker Rejuvenate and ABGII hip stems, due to wearing and corrosion near the neck-stem junction of the implant. This caused the need for revision surgeries, as well as adverse tissue reactions, metallosis (release of metal ions into the tissue and blood stream) and necrosis. Stryker faced its first lawsuit in August 2012 after patients complained of pain, swelling, and metal debris from the devices. On January 15, 2013, the New Jersey Supreme Court designated the Stryker litigation as Multi-County litigation, assigning all of the individual cases to Judge Martinotti.
The deadline for eligible patients to submit their claim for payment under the settlement is March 2, 2015. However, patients with Stryker Rejuvenate or ABGII hip systems that failed and required revision surgery after November 3, 2014, are not eligible for this phase of the settlement; although they do retain their rights to pursue claims for compensation against Stryker.
If you have a Stryker Rejuvenate or ABGII modular hip implant, you may be entitled to compensation. For more information, contact a Gacovino Lake attorney at 1-800-246-HURT (4878), and feel free to stop by our website.
