Jury Punishes Wright Medical With $11 Million Verdict Over Conserv Hip

Another metal-on-metal hip maker has lost a bellwether trial in a federal court.

After a two week trial, a federal jury in Atlanta awarded $11 million to Robyn Christiansen, a retired ski instructor implanted with an allegedly defective metal-on-metal hip implant made by Wright Medical Technology, Inc.

The jury, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, deliberated for three days and reached the verdict on November 25, 2015. The jury awarded Christiansen $1 million in compensatory damages and a whopping $10 million in punitive damages. Wright Medical’s senior vice president and chief communication officer, Julie Tracy, said the company disagrees with the verdict, and “are considering all of our post-trial options and expect that we will appeal the decision if it is permitted to stand.”

The metal-on-metal hip implant, the Conserv Plus, was found to be defective and the company was held liable for negligent misrepresentation about the device.

This was the first of more than 300 cases that are part of a multi-district litigation case before U.S. District Judge Bill Duffey in Atlanta. There are also hundreds of other cases against the company in a state court in Los Angeles.

Christiansen’s was implanted with the hip device in April 2006, but the device failed after six years. She was then forced to have the implant removed. During that procedure, her surgeon found fluid buildup, tissue necrosis and metallosis, requiring the removal of soft tissue damaged by metal debris, according to a statement from her legal team.

Christiansen’s case was one of ten selected to go through a mediation and trial program. When mediation failed, her case was picked to be the first one to go to trial.

Wright Medical sold its hip and knee implant business to China-based MicroPort Medical in 2013 for $290 million.

Metal-on-metal hips have been very controversial after foreign registries showed higher than normal failure rates. On May 6, 2011, the FDA ordered manufacturers of metal-on-metal hip devices to conduct postmarket surveillance.

Thousands of lawsuits have been filed around the country by patients who have alleged injury from their metal-on-metal hip implants made by various manufacturers. The multi-district cases, in addition to Wright Medical’s, include:

• Zimmer Holding’s Durom Hip Cup (290 filed cases)
• DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc.’s ASR Hip Implant (8, 858 filed cases)
• DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc.’s Pinnacle Hip Implant (5, 153 filed cases)
• Biomet, Inc.’s M2a Magnum Hip Implant (978 filed cases)

DePuy has reached a multi-billion dollar settlement with patients implanted with the ASR implant.