The first bellwether trial over an ASR-related lawsuit has been moved to September following schedule changes, court officials said. The adjustment dates will affect disposition over the cases of Madgitz and McCracken. In December 2012 the first two bellwether ASR trials were chosen by the judicial panel under the Multi District Litigation scheme espoused by courts of law in the United States. On the same date trial schedules were set for the two complainants. Plaintiff Faye Dorney-Madgitz’ trial was set to commence on May 6, 2013 while second plaintiff Ann McCracken on July 8. However, on April 22, 2013, Judge Katz issued a pushback order moving the trial date from May 6 to June 3 2013; just three days after judge also rescheduled the trial for the first bellwether case from July 8, 2013 to September. And just when people are anticipating for the first bellwether trial to begin, another order has been issued by the presiding judge postponing the trial date that was supposedly scheduled on July 8 to September 9, 2013. So far this was the latest push-back order issued by Katz on May 7, 2013. Judge Katz first issued a push-back order to Dorney-Madgitz case on April 19, 2013 in which he also provided both parties a deadline to submit names of witnesses that each party will present in court. The deadline given was on July 3, 2013. Three days later, same order has been issued to the case of Ann McCracken vs DePuy Orthopaedics, in which they were given until early August to disclose their witnesses. The postponements of the two bellwether ASR trials will definitely create a huge impact to some pending lawsuits under the MDL. Before state level lawsuits were consolidated to a single proceeding under the MDL, two in 10,000 DePuy ASR cases went to trial in which jury declared two different verdicts. Plaintiff Kransky was awarded $8.3 million compensation for damages caused by the defective DePuy ASR. On the other hand, DePuy’s allegations during Strum’s trial stating that the device has passed FDA’s preliminary review made jury actualize a dissimilar decision in which DePuy was cleared from any liability against plaintiff. ASR XL Acetabular Sytem and ASR Hip Resurfacing System are two of DePuy’s manufactured products that were voluntarily recalled last 2010 due to rising complaints about its defective design. Studies show that patients have been experiencing pains in the hip and groin area, resulting to difficulty in doing physical activities. DePuy Orthopaedics is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson that designs, manufactures and markets medical devices for reconstructing damaged joints and repairing bone fractures. Following the verdict on Strum’s case, DePuy Inc. is optimistic that the decision will affect upcoming Depuy ASR trials under the MDL. But ASR hip lawyers still believe that pending lawsuits will still cause Johnson & Johnson to spend more not just millions but billions of dollars. To know more about it, visit depuyrecallnewscenter.com
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