Zimmer Attacks Plaintiffs’ Attorneys in NexGen Cases

Zimmer Holdings, Inc. is fighting back against plaintiffs’ attorneys who filed lawsuits on behalf of patients implanted with the company’s NexGen knees.

The company asked U.S. Federal District Judge Rebecca Pallmyer in Northern Illinois to sanction three attorneys for plaintiffs in the multi-district litigation overseen by the judge.

According to an August 28, 2014 article on the MassDevice website, the company wants Charles Johnson, Sheila Bossier and Karen Beyea-Schroeder to cover the company’s costs in preparing to try the cases as part of the bellwether process, according to court documents.

Zimmer had selected three cases—Shoat v. Zimmer, Davis v. Zimmer and Teague v. Zimmer—as potential bellwethers after five of its initial six selections were withdrawn for lack of merit, according to court documents. But after Zimmer began the discovery process for the suits, lawyers for the three plaintiffs said the cases wouldn’t stand up after all.

Cases Not Supported by Expert Report

The company alleges that when it’s attorneys inquired of plaintiffs’ attorneys whether they intended to serve case-specific expert reports, the individual plaintiffs’ attorneys responded by email, using the same language, stating that “[a]s the case has progressed it does not appear that it can be supported by a case specific expert report for a personal injury claim.”

“Plaintiffs’ attorneys abandoned 5 of Zimmer’s 6 1st-round case picks for trial after Zimmer had expended significant effort over months investigating them, ” Zimmer argued. “Now, once again, plaintiffs’ attorneys’ conduct in Teague, Davis and Shoat is tantamount to dismissal, again frustrating this court’s long-stated intent to alternate bellwether trials of both plaintiff and defense picks. Worse, plaintiffs’ attorneys never informed Zimmer that they did not intend to pursue these claims.”

“Instead, plaintiffs’ attorneys silently let the July 15, 2014, deadline for their case-specific expert reports pass without serving any reports, leaving Zimmer to piece together in the ensuing days the conclusions (1) that plaintiffs’ claims would not be supported by expert testimony and (2) that plaintiffs’ attorneys did not intend to take these cases to trial.”

Lawyer Attack Deja Vu

This isn’t the first time Zimmer has bitten back against attorneys representing patients suing the company over the NexGen knee.

Zimmer filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana on February 16, 2011 against three personal injury law firms the company says were, “making inaccurate and misleading statements about the Zimmer NexGen Knee System through letter writing, internet and television advertisements and websites that incorporate Zimmer’s name and brand.”

The lawyers issued retractions.

Note to Plaintiffs’ Bar: Zimmer is run by a smart lawyer. Do your homework.