Pinn Verdict 12/1/16

National Coverage

1. Friday Morning Briefing: 'Have a plan to kill everyone you meet'

   Dec 2, 2016 | Reuters

   By Derek Caney
   
   
   Relevant Portions Included: Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit was ordered by a federal jury to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who said they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants. The jurors found that the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants were defectively designed and that the companies failed to warn consumers about the risks. J&J, which faces more than 8,000 lawsuits over the hip implants, said in a statement it would immediately appeal the verdict.
2. AM Roundup: Trump Winnows SCOTUS List

   Dec 2, 2016 | Wall Street Journal

   By Jacob Gershman
   
   
   Relevant Portions Included: $1 billion Johnson & Johnson verdict: A federal jury in Dallas ordered Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who alleged they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants. [Reuters]
3. Early movers: SBUX, BIG, LULU, SQ, GCO, GPS, AAL, TWTR, JNJ & more

   Dec 2, 2016 | CNBC

   By Peter Schacknow
   
   
   Relevant Portions Included: Johnson & Johnson — J&J and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit plan to appeal a jury decision that it must pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who claimed to be injured by the unit's hip implants.
4. Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $1 billion settlement

   Dec 2, 2016 | CNN

   A federal jury in Dallas has ordered Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics to pay more than $1 billion to a group of plaintiffs over artificial hip replacements.
5. J&J ordered to pay $1bn in hip-replacement suit

   Dec 1, 2016 | Financial Times

   By Adam Samson
   
   
   A US jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay more than $1bn in damages in a case in which six plaintiffs claimed to have suffered medical issues as a result of the company’s hip implants.
6. (UPDATE) J&J Ordered to Pay More Than $1 Billion for Pinnacle Hip Device

   Dec 1, 2016 | Bloomberg

   By Jef Feeley and Tom Korosec
   
   
   Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay more than $1 billion to patients who claimed the company hid flaws in its Pinnacle artificial hips that had to be surgically removed, in J&J’s second loss linked to the products.
7. (UPDATE-2) Johnson & Johnson hit with over $1 billion verdict on hip implants

   Dec 1, 2016 | Reuters

   By Erica Teichert
   
   
   A federal jury in Dallas on Thursday ordered Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who said they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said. The jurors found that the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants were defectively designed and that the companies failed to warn consumers about the risks.
8. Judge Orders Johnson & Johnson to Pay $1 Billion Verdict (Video)

   Dec 1, 2016 | Reuters

   View clip here: http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/videos/judge-orders-johnson-and-johnson-to-pay-dollar1-billion-verdict/vp-AAl20vC
9. Nine stories you may have missed Thursday from the world of business

   Dec 1, 2016 | Boston Globe

   Brief mention in the Boston Globe's roundup of news. Relevant portion highlighted below.
10. Cures expected to pass Senate Wednesday

    Dec 5, 2016 | Politico

    By Brett Norman and Sarah Karlin Smith
    
    
    Brief link to the Law360 article in Politico's Prescription Pulse, a weekly briefing on pharmaceutical policy news. Relevant portion included below.

Trade Coverage

11. Pharmalot, Pharmalittle: Allergan CEO predicts Trump will be ‘vicious’ on drug pricing

    Dec 2, 2016 | STAT News

    By Ed Silverman
    
    
    Relevant Portions Included: A federal court jury in Dallas ordered Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics subsidiary to pay more than $1 billion in damages Thursday for “despicable and vile conduct” in selling Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants that they knew were seriously defective, the Dallas News reports. The trial was the third in a series of bellwether cases, and more than 8,900 lawsuits have been filed against Johnson & Johnson across the county.
12. Jury levels $1B verdict against J&J’s DePuy Ortho in Pinnacle hip bellwether

    Dec 2, 2016 | Mass Device

    By Fink Densford
    
    
    A federal jury in Dallas today ordered Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and its subsidiary DePuy Orthopedics to pay more than $1 billion to 6 plaintiffs claiming to be injured by its Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants, according to the plaintiffs lawyers.
13. Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay over $1bn in hip implants case

    Dec 2, 2016 | Medical Devices Business Review

    A federal jury in Dallas has ordered Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics to pay $1.04bn in compensatory and punitive damages to patients who were injured by the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants.
14. J&J hit by $1bn hip implant lawsuit

    Dec 2, 2016 | Pharmafile

    By Matt Fellows
    
    
    Johnson & Johnson have been hit with yet another payout to patients who claim its products caused them harm. First, the company’s talcum powder was the subject of scrutiny over allegations it was linked to several women’s development of ovarian cancer. This time, it is the J&J’s hip implants at the centre of new accusations.
15. Jurors award more than $1B in hip implant case

    Dec 2, 2016 | ABA Journal

    By Debra Cassens Weiss
    
    
    Federal jurors in Dallas on Thursday awarded $1.041 billion to six California plaintiffs who sued Johnson & Johnson for a hip implant device with alleged design defects.
16. Pharma Stock Roundup: Nivalis Falls on Study Data, Priority Reviews for Merck's Keytruda

    Dec 2, 2016 | Zack's Investment Research

    By Arpita Dutt
    
    
    Relevant Portions Included: J&J to Appeal Jury Verdict: Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - Free Report) and DePuy announced that they intend to appeal a jury verdict returned against the companies in a federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) proceeding in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas. The $1 billion plus verdict was given in the trial that consolidated six individual cases concerning DePuy’s ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal Articulation hip replacement.
17. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) hit with over $1 billion verdict on faulty hip implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | Benchmark Monitor

    Relevant Portions Included: A federal jury in Dallas on Thursday ordered Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who said they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants. The jurors found that the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants were defectively designed and that the companies failed to warn consumers about the risks. J&J, which faces more than 8,000 lawsuits over the hip implants, said in a statement it would immediately appeal the verdict and was committed to defending itself and DePuy from further litigation over the Pinnacle devices.
18. Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $1.04 bn over faulty hip implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | Domain-B.com

    A federal jury in Dallas yesterday ordered Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to pay $1.04 billion to six patients who said they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants made by its subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics.
19. Johnson & Johnson Received A $1 Billion Settlement

    Dec 2, 2016 | Beacon Transcript

    By Troy G. Bennett
    
    
    Johnson & Johnson were sentenced to a $1 billion settlement by a Texas jury as their hip implants were found to be faulty and host unrevealed problems.
20. (UPDATE) BREAKING: 3rd J&J Hip Implant Bellwether Delivers $1B Verdict

    Dec 1, 2016 | Law360

    By Jess Krochtengel
    
    
    A Texas federal jury on Thursday found Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. unit liable for more than $1.04 billion in a six-plaintiff bellwether trial targeting metal-shedding artificial hips that are part of its Pinnacle line, dwarfing the $150 million verdict J&J is on the hook for after a previous bellwether.
21. [BREAKING] $1 Billion Awarded in Metal Hip Implant Trial

    Dec 1, 2016 | Daily Horney

    Over 8,600 lawsuits involving the Pinnacle Ultamet metal-on-metal hip implant were filed in one federal court in Texas, as of mid-November. The last trial ended in a $500 million jury verdict against DePuy Orthopedics, Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. It was later slashed to $150 million under a Texas law capping punitive damages.
22. Wall Street Breakfast: Non-Farm Payrolls In Focus

    Dec 2, 2016 | Seeking Alpha

    Brief mention of the verdict in Seeking Alpha's morning roundup of news. Relevant portion pasted below.
23. $1 Billion Jury Award for DePuy Metal Hip Implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | Courthouse News

    By David Lee
    
    
    A Texas federal jury Thursday ordered DePuy Orthopaedics and its corporate parent Johnson & Johnson to pay more than $1 billion to six California plaintiffs for Pinnacle artificial hips that poison them when the metal components wear and shed.
24. Johnson & Johnson Wouldn't Settle. A $1B Verdict Followed

    Dec 2, 2016 | Newser

    By Rob Quinn
    
    
    Johnson & Johnson was hit with another stinging verdict Thursday when a federal jury in Texas ordered it to pay just over $1 billion to six people whose hip implants failed and had to be surgically removed. The company—which rejected a pre-trial offer to settle for $1.8 million, according to Mark Lanier, who represented the plaintiffs—still faces more than 8,000 lawsuits over the metal-on-metal Pinnacle implants and says it will appeal the verdict immediately, Reuters reports. The plaintiffs accused the company and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit of failing to warn consumers about the risks of its defectively designed implants. All but $32 million of the $1.04 billion verdict was punitive damages.
25. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) To Pay Over $1B To Six Plaintiffs on Pinnacle Hip Implants- CEL-SCI (NYSE:CVM)

    Dec 2, 2016 | Seneca Globe

    By Will Lawson
    
    
    Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) [Trend Analysis] swings ardently in active trading session, it inches up of 0.07% to close at $111.38. A federal jury in Dallas ordered Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit to pay over $1 billion to six plaintiffs who stated they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants.
26. Texas Jury Hits Johnson & Johnson With $1B+ Verdict

    Dec 1, 2016 | National Law Journal

    By Amanda Bronstad
    
    
    Johnson & Johnson lost a $1 billion verdict on Thursday in a closely watched trial over a hip implant device made by its DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. division. After less than a day of deliberations, a federal jury in Dallas awarded $1.04 billion to six plaintiffs after concluding that Johnson & Johnson misled them and their doctors about the safety of the Pinnacle hip implant. The lawsuits were combined in a trial that began on Oct. 3.
27. Johnson & Johnson Ordered To Pay More Than $1 Billion To Patients Injured By Pinnacle Hip Implants

    Dec 1, 2016 | Tech Times

    By Rhodi Lee
    
    
    A federal jury in Dallas, Texas has ordered Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopedics unit to pay more than $1 billion to patients who claimed to have been injured by the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants.
28. J&J slammed with $1B verdict over metal-on-metal hip implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | FierceBiotech

    By Amirah Al Aldrus
    
    
    A Dallas jury commanded Johnson & Johnson to pay up $1 billion to plaintiffs claiming injury from from the company’s metal-on-metal hip implants. This follows a $500 million verdict concerning the same implants, handed down in March this year. The 6 plaintiffs reported injuries such as tissue death and bone erosion that they blamed on the device design. Jurors at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas found that the Pinnacle Ultamet hip implants, manufactured by J&J’s DePuy Orthopaedics business, were “defectively designed” and that J&J and DePuy did not warn consumers of the risk, Reuters reported. The trial consolidated 6 cases out of the more than 8,000 lawsuits the company is facing over the Pinnacle implants.
29. The top 5 medtech stories for December 2, 2016

    Dec 2, 2016 | Mass Device

    Discussion of the verdict in Mass Device's top 5 medtech stories for the day. Relevant portion pincluded below.
30. Moody's: Texas hip verdict credit negative for J&J

    Dec 2, 2016 | Moody's Investor Service

    Moody's Investors Service commented that a Texas jury award of over $1 billion against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) related to hip litigation is credit negative. There is no impact on Johnson & Johnson's Aaa senior unsecured rating or Prime-1 short-term rating.
31. Huge Verdicts Won't Spur Settlement Talks In J&J Hip MDL

    Dec 2, 2016 | Law360

    By Jess Krochtengel
    
    
    Although a Texas federal jury hit Johnson & Johnson with a more than $1 billion verdict in the latest bellwether trial over the company's Pinnacle hip implants, fruitful settlement talks aren’t likely to happen before the Fifth Circuit weighs in on J&J’s lengthy list of complaints about trial rulings, MDL experts say.
32. J&J Plans to Appeal Staggering $1B Judgment Against Hip Implant

    Dec 2, 2016 | The Street

    By William McConnell
    
    
    Johnson & Johnson JNJ says it will appeal a $1 billion punitive damage award to six plaintiffs injured by a hip implant device made by the company's DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. division. The company says its ability to defend against the claims were wrongly hindered by several rulings from the judge in the case.
33. J&J Ordered to Pay $1 Billion Over Metal-on-Metal Hips

    Dec 3, 2016 | Qmed

    By Kristopher Sturgis
    
    
    Six different California residents were awarded over $1 billion in damages this week by a federal jury in Dallas to compensate for injuries sustained by Pinnacle hip implants that were defectively designed. The federal jury ruled that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its DePuy Orthopedics unit failed to warn consumers about the risks of their ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal hip implants.
34. Johnson & Johnson hit with over $1 bln verdict on hip implants

    Dec 3, 2016 | Junior College

    By Bill Blare
    
    
    The jurors found that the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants were defectively designed and that the companies failed to warn consumers about the risks.
35. Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $1 billion settlement

    Dec 4, 2016 | Junior College

    By Vanessa Coleman
    
    
    A Dallas jury commanded Johnson & Johnson to pay up $1 billion to plaintiffs claiming injury from from the company's metal-on-metal hip implants. Six of the seven largest product-defect verdicts in the US this year have been against J&J units, including three in lawsuits claiming its talc products cause ovarian cancer. Among product liability verdicts, six of the seven largest awards this year have been against J&J units, including three verdicts in suits claiming talcum produces cause ovarian cancer.
36. $1 Billion Jury Award for DePuy Metal Hip Implants

    Dec 4, 2016 | Junior College

    By Vanessa Coleman
    
    
    Jurors found that Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedic division misled doctors and patients about the safety of its Pinnacle hip implant, and the device can deteriorate bone and tissue. The awarded totaled $1,041,311,648.17 and includes $28,311,648.17 total in personal injury damages for the six plaintiffs; $4 million in loss of consortium damages. The company-which rejected a pre-trial offer to settle for $1.8 million, according to Mark Lanier, who represented the plaintiffs-still faces more than 8,000 lawsuits over the metal-on-metal Pinnacle implants and says it will appeal the verdict immediately, Reuters reports.
37. Jury Orders Johnson & Johnson To Pay $1 Billion For Faulty Hip Implants

    Dec 5, 2016 | iTech Post

    Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, DePuy Orthopaedics, have been ordered federal jury in Dallas, Texas to pay at least $1 billion to a group of plaintiffs over artificial hip replacements. Patients claim that the company's hip solution, Pinnacle, had to be surgically removed because they hid flaws.
38. Five things for pharma marketers to know: Monday, December 5, 2016

    Dec 5, 2016 | Medical Marketing & Media

    Brief mention and link to the Reuters article published last week in Medical Marketnig & Media's morning roundup of news.
39. Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay over $1 billion over hip products

    Dec 5, 2016 | Consumer Affairs

    By Christopher Maynard
    
    
    Johnson & Johnson has been ordered by a Texas jury to pay over $1 billion in damages because claimants said that the company covered up flaws in its Pinnacle artificial hips. The suit claims that the DePuy unit of the company knew about the defects but still chose not to warn doctors and patients about the inherent risks.
40. Court issues billion-dollar hip-implant verdict against Johnson & Johnson

    Dec 5, 2016 | HealthCare Business

    By Thomas Dworetzky
    
    
    A federal jury in Dallas has slammed Johnson & Johnson with a $1 billion decision in a lawsuit over defective metal-on-metal hip-implants. The suit was filed on behalf of six people who got the devices and went on to develop serious medical complications, according to a statement by lead attorney Mark Lanier of the Lanier Law Firm in Houston .
41. Johnson & Johnson is ordered to pay $1bn over faulty hip implants

    Dec 6, 2016 | British Medical Journal

    By Owen Dyer
    
    
    A federal jury in Dallas has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $1.041bn (£0.82bn; €0.98bn) in compensation and punitive damages after it found in favour of six plaintiffs who claimed that the company’s DePuy medical devices subsidiary deliberately hid flaws in its Pinnacle metal-on-metal artificial hips from doctors and patients.

Local Coverage

42. Hip damages: Jury tells J&J to pay another $1 billion

    Dec 2, 2016 | Philadelphia Inquirer

    By Joseph N. DiStefano
    
    
    A federal court jury in Dallas on Thursday told Johnson & Johnson to pay $30 million in actual damages, plus more than $1 billion as a punishment, to six people who said they suffered medical complications from a line of discontinued metal Pinnacle-brand hip implements made by J&J's Massachusetts-based DuPuy Ortopaedics Inc. unit.
43. Johnson & Johnson hit with $1B penalty for faulty hip implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | 13 Action News Las Vegas

    By Eric Pfahler
    
    
    Johnson & Johnson was hit with a $1 billion penalty by a Texas jury after the company was found responsible for hiding problems with hip implants
44. Jury delivers $1B verdict in Texas lawsuit over artificial hips

    Dec 1, 2016 | KWTX News 10 Central Texas

    A federal court jury Thursday in Dallas returned a more than $1 billion verdict in a lawsuit filed over faulty artificial hips. The suit filed on behalf of six plaintiffs against DePuy Orthopaedics and its parent company Johnson & Johnson alleged that the company hid flaws in its Pinnacle artificial hips that caused the devices to fail prematurely, leaving patients facing surgeries and pain.
45. Dallas jury orders Johnson & Johnson to pay $1 billion for selling defective hip implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | Texas Morning News

    A federal jury in Dallas ordered Johnson & Johnson and one of its subsidiaries to pay more than $1 billion in damages Thursday for "despicable and vile conduct" in selling Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants that they knew were seriously defective.
46. Johnson & Johnson Ordered to Pay $1B Over Hip Implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | The Village Suntimes

    By Max Garcia
    
    
    A Texas jury has awarded more than $1 billion total to six separate plaintiffs at the conclusion of a consolidated trial against DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, during which jurors heard claims relating to the company's allegedly defective Pinnacle Hip Implant, HarrisMartin Publishing is reporting. The federal jury sided with the plaintiffs that the Pinnacle hip implants were designed defectively and that the company failed to warn patient's about the looming risks.
47. Jury: Defective hip replacements hurt thousands

    Dec 3, 2016 | KVUE ABC Austin

    By Michael Perchick
    
    
48. National briefs: Yemeni man released from Gitmo prison

    Dec 5, 2016 | Pittsburg Post Gazette

    Verdict discussed in the Pittsburg Post Gazette's morning roundup up of news. Relevant portion included below.
49. J&J loses $1B lawsuit over faulty hip replacements, report says

    Dec 5, 2016 | NJ.com

    By Kathleen O'Brien
    
    
    A jury in Texas has ruled against a subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson in a lawsuit by six patients who received its faulty hip replacements, according to reports.
50. Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay over $1 billion over hip products

    Dec 5, 2016 | Consumer Affairs

    By Christopher Maynard
    
    
    Johnson & Johnson has been ordered by a Texas jury to pay over $1 billion in damages because claimants said that the company covered up flaws in its Pinnacle artificial hips. The suit claims that the DePuy unit of the company knew about the defects but still chose not to warn doctors and patients about the inherent risks.
51. Johnson & Johnson Faces Fines

    Dec 5, 2016 | KIDY-Fox San Angelo, TX

    The “family company” is facing trouble over faulty hip implants. Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who say they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants.

International Coverage

52. J&J hit with more than $1bn verdict over defective hip implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | Austrian Tribune

    By Anja Prohaska
    
    
    Johnson & Johnson (J&J) suffered another tough legal blow on Thursday, when a federal jury in Dallas ordered its DePuy Orthopaedics division to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who alleged that they were injured by the company's Pinnacle hip implants.
53. Johnson & Johnson to pay over $1 billion penalty on faulty hip replants

    Dec 2, 2016 | International Business Times

    By Debasis Mohapatra
    
    
    Global medical devices, pharmaceutical product manufacturer Johnson and Johnson (J&J) was imposed over $1 billion penalty by a Texas jury as the company was found hiding flaws in its hip replants, making it one of the highest damage claims this year.
54. Johnson & Johnson to pay $1 billion for faulty hip implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | United Press International

    By Stephen Feller
    
    
    In one of the largest rulings of the year, Johnson and Johnson was ordered to pay more than $1 billion to patients whose artificial hips had to be removed because of dangers the company did not disclose.
55. J&J slapped with $1 bn for defective implants

    Dec 3, 2016 | Bureaucracy Today

    A federal jury in Dallas has ordered Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who said they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said.

Broadcast Coverage

56. Fox Business News Video Clip

    Dec 2, 2016 | Fox Business

    View Clip Here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/25206766?token=00baa4e4-1122-4098-9112-bf109d675ead

Full Text of Stories Below

National Coverage

1. Friday Morning Briefing: 'Have a plan to kill everyone you meet'

   Dec 2, 2016 | Reuters

   By Derek Caney

   Relevant Portions Included: Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit was ordered by a federal jury to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who said they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants. The jurors found that the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants were defectively designed and that the companies failed to warn consumers about the risks. J&J, which faces more than 8,000 lawsuits over the hip implants, said in a statement it would immediately appeal the verdict.
   

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2. AM Roundup: Trump Winnows SCOTUS List

   Dec 2, 2016 | Wall Street Journal

   By Jacob Gershman

   Relevant Portions Included: $1 billion Johnson & Johnson verdict: A federal jury in Dallas ordered Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who alleged they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants. [Reuters]
   

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3. Early movers: SBUX, BIG, LULU, SQ, GCO, GPS, AAL, TWTR, JNJ & more

   Dec 2, 2016 | CNBC

   By Peter Schacknow

   Relevant Portions Included: Johnson & Johnson — J&J and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit plan to appeal a jury decision that it must pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who claimed to be injured by the unit's hip implants.
   

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4. Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $1 billion settlement

   Dec 2, 2016 | CNN

   A federal jury in Dallas has ordered Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics to pay more than $1 billion to a group of plaintiffs over artificial hip replacements.

   A lawyer for the six plaintiffs said they suffered “serious medical complications caused by defective” metal-on-metal Pinnacle implants. The jurors found that the companies failed to warn patients and their doctors about risks related to the defectively designed product.

   Each of the patients had to undergo a second, or revision, surgery to replace the devices and repair tissue damage and bone erosion. At least one had received double hip implants.

   The jury awarded more than $30 million in actual damages and more than $1 billion in punitive damages. Jurors ruled that Johnson & Johnson and DePuy were negligent in designing the implant; failed to warn physicians and patients about concerns over the product; failed to recall it; and intentionally misrepresented the product’s effectiveness to patients and their doctors.

   “Once again, a jury has listened to the testimony of both sides, and returned a verdict affirming what we’ve known all along: a responsible company would settle these cases and take care of their injured consumers, rather than forcing them through expensive and vexatious litigation just to delay justice,” said lead attorney Mark Lanier of the Lanier Law Firm in Houston. “This jury spoke loud and clear, and I hope J&J will finally listen.”

   Both Johnson & Johnson and DePuy denied wrongdoing and said they will appeal.

   “We have no greater responsibility than to the patients who use our products, and our goal is to create medical innovations that help people live more active and comfortable lives,” said Mindy Tinsley, spokeswoman for DePuy. “DePuy acted appropriately and responsibly in the design and testing of ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal, and the product is backed by a strong track record of clinical data showing reduced pain and restored mobility for patients suffering from chronic hip pain.”

   This is the third bellwether — or test — trial of thousands of similar lawsuits filed against the companies.

   In March, a Dallas jury awarded more than $500 million to a group of plaintiffs who suffered similar complications from the hip implants. The judge in that case, who also presided over this week’s ruling, later reduced the amount of awarded damages to $154 million, citing Texas law. Johnson & Johnson and DePuy have appealed that ruling.

   In the first trial, in 2014, a jury ruled in favor of the medical companies.

   A fourth bellwether trial is scheduled for September 2017.

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5. J&J ordered to pay $1bn in hip-replacement suit

   Dec 1, 2016 | Financial Times

   By Adam Samson

   A US jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay more than $1bn in damages in a case in which six plaintiffs claimed to have suffered medical issues as a result of the company’s hip implants.

   The verdict includes $1bn in punitive damages against J&J and DePuy, a subsidiary, as well as $30m in actual damages for the plaintiffs, according to Mark Lanier, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs.

   New Jersey-based J&J said in a statement that it would “immediately” begin preparing to challenge the ruling.

   In the case, which is one of thousands lodged against J&J over hip implants, attorneys argued that the Pinnacle implant was designed with a metal socket that can corrode and cause tissue to erode over time, rather than safer materials like ceramic.

   “We have no greater responsibility than to the patients who use our products, and our goal is to create medical innovations that help people live more active and comfortable lives,” said Mindy Tinsley, a spokesperson for DePuy.
   

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6. (UPDATE) J&J Ordered to Pay More Than $1 Billion for Pinnacle Hip Device

   Dec 1, 2016 | Bloomberg

   By Jef Feeley and Tom Korosec

   Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a Texas jury to pay more than $1 billion to patients who claimed the company hid flaws in its Pinnacle artificial hips that had to be surgically removed, in J&J’s second loss linked to the implants.

   Officials of J&J’s DePuy unit, which makes the Pinnacle hips, knew the devices were defective, but failed to properly warn doctors and patients about the risk they would fail, the federal jury in Dallas determined Thursday.

   J&J still faces almost 9,000 lawsuits accusing the company of mishandling the metal-on-metal hips. J&J stopped selling the devices in 2013 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration toughened artificial-hip regulations.

   At $1.04 billion in actual and punitive damages, it’s the third largest jury award of 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The largest, for $3 billion, came in June in a breach of contract case brought by Hewlett-Packard Co. against Oracle Corp.

   “The jury is telling J&J that they better settle these cases soon,” Mark Lanier, who represented the group of six hip patients who sued J&J and DePuy. “All they are doing by trying more of these cases are driving up their costs and driving the company’s reputation into the mud.”

   J&J’s DePuy unit acted appropriately in designing and testing the product, spokeswoman Mindy Tinsley said in a statement. The companies have strong grounds for appeal and remain committed to the long-term defense of the lawsuit allegations, according to the statement.

   Lawyers for J&J said U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade’s rulings barred J&J from providing “a fair presentation to the jury.”

   “Now the appellate court will need to review errors” made by the judge, John Beisner, one of J&J’s attorneys, said in an e-mailed statement. The company will ask Kinkeade not to schedule any more trials until the appellate review is completed, he said.

   Trial Losses

   The verdict continues a losing stretch for J&J before U.S. juries this year. Six of the seven largest product-defect verdicts in the U.S. this year have been against J&J units, including three in lawsuits claiming its talc products cause ovarian cancer.

   J&J won the first Pinnacle hip case to go to trial in October 2014 after a jury rejected a Montana woman’s claims that the devices were defective and gave her metal poisoning. In March, a Dallas jury ordered J&J to pay $502 million to a group of five patients who accused the company of hiding defects in the hips. A judge cut that verdict in July to about $150 million.

   The Pinnacle devices weren’t covered by New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J’s $2.5 billion settlement covering its ASR line of artificial hips. In 2010 J&J recalled 93,000 of those implants worldwide, saying 12 percent failed within five years.

   The company still faces 8,900 suits over Pinnacle hip failures, according to a May filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That figure is up from 8,300 suits the company listed in an October 2015 regulatory filing.

   The Pinnacle cases have been consolidated before Kinkeade, who agreed to combine the six cases in the most recent trial. California residents Marvin Andrews, Kathleen Davis, Rosa Metzler, Judith Rodriguez, Lisa Standerfer and Michael Weiser each had Pinnacle hips removed after they failed, according to court filings.

   Cobalt Poisoning

   The group alleged their DePuy hips leached cobalt and chromium material into their bloodstreams, leading to the device failures and surgical removal. They claimed J&J officials knew their metal-on-metal design would cause such injuries but pushed ahead with the product to rack up billions of dollars in sales.

   The plaintiffs also contend DePuy officials rushed the Pinnacle hips to market with little testing and turned a blind eye to studies that showed metal-on-metal prosthetics posed a deterioration risk for human tissue and bone.

   The consolidated case is In Re DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. Pinnacle Hip Implant Products Liability litigation, 11-md-2244, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Dallas). The lead case in this trial was Andrews v. DePuy Orthopedics, No. 15-cv-03484-K, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Dallas).

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7. (UPDATE-2) Johnson & Johnson hit with over $1 billion verdict on hip implants

   Dec 1, 2016 | Reuters

   By Erica Teichert

   A federal jury in Dallas on Thursday ordered Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and its DePuy Orthopedics unit to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who said they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants.

   The jurors found that the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants were defectively designed and that the companies failed to warn consumers about the risks.

   J&J, which faces more than 8,000 lawsuits over the hip implants, said in a statement it would immediately appeal the verdict and was committed to defending itself and DePuy from further litigation over the Pinnacle devices.

   The six plaintiffs awarded more than $1 billion are California residents who were implanted with the hip devices and experienced tissue death, bone erosion and other injuries they attributed to design flaws. Plaintiffs claimed the companies promoted the devices as lasting longer than devices that include ceramic or plastic materials.

   Both companies denied any wrongdoing stemming from the development and marketing of the devices

   According to plaintiff's lawyer Mark Lanier, the total verdict of $1.041 billion included $32 million in compensatory damages. The rest were punitive damages.

   Verdicts of such size are often scaled back by courts. In July, the judge presiding over this case, U.S. District Judge Edward Kinkeade, reduced a $500 million verdict in an earlier Pinnacle implant case to $151 million, citing a Texas state law that limits punitive damages awards.

   J&J and DePuy have been hit with nearly 8,400 lawsuits over the devices, which have been consolidated in Texas federal court. Test cases have been selected for trial, and their outcomes will help gauge the value of the remaining claims.

   The verdict on Thursday came in the third test case, with the second producing the earlier $500 million verdict. J&J and DePuy were cleared of liability in the first test case in 2014

   Lanier said Thursday's verdict was "a message loud and clear" that J&J has "a really nasty part of their business they need to clean up."

   The company rejected a $1.8 million settlement offer from the plaintiffs before trial, Lanier said.

   The plaintiffs in the second test case have appealed Kinkeade’s decision to cut the award. Johnson & Johnson and DePuy have also appealed the jury verdict in the case.

   In its statement, J&J criticized the trial judge over certain rulings it claimed help the plaintiffs.

   “Today’s verdict provides no guidance on the merits of the overall Pinnacle litigation because the court’s rulings precluded a fair presentation to the jury,” said John Beisner, J&J’s attorney.

   He said the company will ask the appeals court to postpone any additional trials over the implant defects.

   DePuy ceased selling the metal-on-metal Pinnacle devices in 2013 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration strengthened its artificial hip regulations.

   J&J and DePuy also paid $2.5 billion that year to settle more than 7,000 lawsuits over its ASR metal-on-metal hip devices. The ASR devices were recalled in 2010 due to high failure rates.

   J&J shares fell 38 cents to $111 in after-hours trading. They had closed up 8 cents during the day.

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8. Judge Orders Johnson & Johnson to Pay $1 Billion Verdict (Video)

   Dec 1, 2016 | Reuters

   View clip here: http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/videos/judge-orders-johnson-and-johnson-to-pay-dollar1-billion-verdict/vp-AAl20vC 

   Rough transcript: According to a lawyer for the plaintiffs, a federal jury on Thursday in Dallas ordered Johnson & Johnson and its orthopedics unit to pay $1 billion to six plaintiffs who said they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants that were defectively designed by the manufacturer. According to court records, the six plaintiffs in the case are California residents who experienced tissue death, bone erosion and other injuries they attributed to design flaws in the implants. Johnson & Johnson is facing nearly 8,400 lawsuits over the devices, which have been consolidated in a Texas federal court.

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9. Nine stories you may have missed Thursday from the world of business

   Dec 1, 2016 | Boston Globe

   MEDICAL DEVICES

    

   Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay more than $1b to patients

   Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay more than $1 billion to patients who claimed the company hid flaws in its Pinnacle artificial hips that had to be surgically removed, in J&J’s second loss linked to the products. Officials of J&J’s DePuy unit, which makes the Pinnacle hips, knew the devices were defective, but failed to properly warn doctors and patients about the risk the artificial hips would fail, a federal jury in Dallas ruled Thursday. J&J still faces nearly 9,000 lawsuits accusing the company of mishandling the metal-on-metal hips. J&J stopped selling the devices in 2013 after the US Food and Drug Administration toughened artificial-hip regulations. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

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10. Cures expected to pass Senate Wednesday

    Dec 5, 2016 | Politico

    By Brett Norman and Sarah Karlin Smith

    Hip implants. Johnson and Johnson was found liable for more than $1 billion by a federal jury in Texas during a trial over the company’s metal hip implants. More in Law360.
    

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Trade Coverage

11. Pharmalot, Pharmalittle: Allergan CEO predicts Trump will be ‘vicious’ on drug pricing

    Dec 2, 2016 | STAT News

    By Ed Silverman

    Relevant Portions Included: A federal court jury in Dallas ordered Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics subsidiary to pay more than $1 billion in damages Thursday for “despicable and vile conduct” in selling Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants that they knew were seriously defective, the Dallas News reports. The trial was the third in a series of bellwether cases, and more than 8,900 lawsuits have been filed against Johnson & Johnson across the county.
    

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12. Jury levels $1B verdict against J&J’s DePuy Ortho in Pinnacle hip bellwether

    Dec 2, 2016 | Mass Device

    By Fink Densford

    A federal jury in Dallas today ordered Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and its subsidiary DePuy Orthopedics to pay more than $1 billion to 6 plaintiffs claiming to be injured by its Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants, according to the plaintiffs lawyers.

    Jurors in the case found that the metal-on-metal pinnacle hip implants were designed defectively and that the companies failed to appropriately warn patients of the risks associated with the devices. Plaintiff’s lawyer Mark Lanier said the $1.041 billion verdict included $32 million in compensatory damages and the remainder in punitive damages.

    The New Brunswick, N.J.-based health products giant, which faces roughly 8,400 lawsuits over the hip implants, said it’s planning to immediately appeal the verdict and is committed to defending itself and DePuy from further litigation over the Pinnacle devices. Test cases in the MDL are being selected for trial; their outcomes will influence the course of the remaining suits.

    Plaintiffs in the case, 6 California residents implanted with the Pinnacle devices, claimed they experienced tissue death, bone erosion and other injuries as a result of the design flaws. The individuals also claimed that the devices were promoted as longer laster than ceramic or plastic material devices.

    Lanier, who told Reuters that J&J rejected a $1.8 million settlement offer before the trial, said yesterday’s verdict was “a message loud and clear” that J&J has “a really nasty part of their business they need to clean up.”

    Johnson & Johnson criticized the trial judge on rulings it claimed help the plaintiffs.

    “Today’s verdict provides no guidance on the merits of the overall Pinnacle litigation because the court’s rulings precluded a fair presentation to the jury,” J&J attorney John Beisner said in a prepared statement, adding that the company plans to ask an appeals court to table any pending trials in the MDL.

    In July, J&J and DePuy Orthopedics asked a federal appeals court this week to expedite the appeal of its $151 million loss in a product liability lawsuit brought over its Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implant.

    In March, a Texas federal jury slapped DePuy Orthopaedics with a $500 million judgment in favor of a quintet of plaintiffs who blamed the Pinnacle implant for their injuries. After a 2-month trial, jurors found that the Ultamet metal-on-metal version of the Pinnacle hips were defectively designed and that DePuy failed to warn patients about the risks, awarding $130 million in total compensatory damages and $360 million in punitive damages. DePuy won the 1st bellwether trial in the MDL, in October 2014. The judge in the case in July slashed the award to roughly $151 million.

    J&J’s bid for a stay was denied by Judge Ed Kinkeade of the U.S. District Court for Northern Texas, but the appeals court has yet to decide on a similar request. Johnson & Johnson also sought to delay a 3rd bellwether trial slated to commence in September.

    In a July 12 filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, the company asked that court to speed its review of the appeal and asked that the 5 cases be consolidated into a single appeal.

    In overturning the $500 million award in the 2nd bellwether, Kinkeade said he was compelled to reduce the verdict under a Texas state law limiting punitive damages according to a specific formula. Kinkeade also ruled that DePuy can’t delay the 3rd bellwether in the Pinnacle MDL; the company had asked the judge to give it enough time to appeal a $500 million jury verdict in the 2nd bellwether. DePuy wanted Kinkeade to pause the 3rd bellwether while the the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit considers its petition for a writ of mandamus.
    

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13. Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay over $1bn in hip implants case

    Dec 2, 2016 | Medical Devices Business Review

    A federal jury in Dallas has ordered Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics to pay $1.04bn in compensatory and punitive damages to patients who were injured by the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants.

    The jury from the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas has ordered to pay more than $30m in actual damages for the plaintiffs, in addition to $1bn in punitive damages assessed against J&J and its subsidiary.

    In March this year, the Dallas jury also ordered to pay around $500m to five individuals, who underwent similar physical and medical complications with the Pinnacle hip implant.

    According to Lanier Law Firm, Pinnacle implant features a metal rather than a safer ceramic or polyethylene socket.

    The metal-on-metal design makes the socket to rub against the ball head, which is expected to result in corrosion and cause bone and surrounding tissue to damage over time.

    The law firm noted that each of the six plaintiffs in the trial had to undergo revision surgeries to replace the implants and repair the damage.

    J&J and DePuy announced that they will immediately start preparing post-trial motions challenging the verdict returned against the companies by the jury.

    The trial consolidated six individual cases selected by the plaintiffs’ executive committee concerning DePuy’s Ultamet metal-on-metal articulation hip replacement, said J&J.

    Ultamet is a product of the Pinnacle acetabular cup system.

    DePuy spokesperson Mindy Tinsley said: “We have no greater responsibility than to the patients who use our products, and our goal is to create medical innovations that help people live more active and comfortable lives.”
    

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14. J&J hit by $1bn hip implant lawsuit

    Dec 2, 2016 | Pharmafile

    By Matt Fellows

    Johnson & Johnson have been hit with yet another payout to patients who claim its products caused them harm. First, the company’s talcum powder was the subject of scrutiny over allegations it was linked to several women’s development of ovarian cancer. This time, it is the J&J’s hip implants at the centre of new accusations.

    The pharma and medical giant and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit were ordered by a Dallas federal jury to pay $1 billion to six California residents implanted with the company’s hip implants due to claims they experienced bone erosion and tissue death, among other symptoms, because of its defective design. The plaintiffs asserted that the company failed to adequately warn about the device’s risks. The total sum incorporated $32 million in compensatory damages.

    Pinnacle implants, manufactured by the company, are metal-on-metal implants which the plaintiffs claimed were marketed as longer-lasting than plastic or ceramic alternatives. J&J face close to 8,400 lawsuits over the implants, which have been consolidated in Texas federal court.   

    Mark Lanier, lawyer to the plaintiffs, stated that the verdict sheds light on “a really nasty part of [J&J’s] business they need to clean up.” According to Lanier, the company turned down a settlement of $1.8 million before the trial.

    J&J’s attorney John Beisner responded to the verdict on behalf of the company, saying “Today’s verdict provides no guidance on the merits of the overall Pinnacle litigation because the court’s rulings precluded a fair presentation to the jury.” According to Beisner, the company will now attempt to delay further trials over the implants 

    This is not the first time the company has been implicated over its hip implants; the company was hit was 7,000 lawsuits leading to a payout of $2.5 billion over its ASR hip devices, which it was forced to recall due to high failure rates.

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15. Jurors award more than $1B in hip implant case

    Dec 2, 2016 | ABA Journal

    By Debra Cassens Weiss

    Federal jurors in Dallas on Thursday awarded $1.041 billion to six California plaintiffs who sued Johnson & Johnson for a hip implant device with alleged design defects.

    The awarded included more than $1 billion in punitive damages, report the National Law Journal (sub. req.), Reuters and Bloomberg. Jurors found that Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedic division misled doctors and patients about the safety of its Pinnacle hip implant, and the device can deteriorate bone and tissue.

    The verdict is the third largest jury award this year, Bloomberg reports. Among product liability verdicts, six of the seven largest awards this year have been against J&J units, including three verdicts in suits claiming talcum produces cause ovarian cancer.

    More than 8,500 plaintiffs have sued Johnson & Johnson in the Pinnacle implant cases. The multidistrict litigation has been consolidated in federal court in Dallas.

    The trial was the third test case in the consolidated suits. Jurors ruled for Johnson & Johnson and DePuy in the first test case, but awarded $500 million this March to five plaintiffs in the second test case. U.S. District Judge Edward Kinkeade reduced that verdict to $151 million because of a Texas state law that limits punitive awards.

    The $1 billion award is not subject to a state punitive damages cap because it was tried under California law, a member of the plaintiffs’ executive committee told the National Law Journal. Plaintiffs’ lawyer Mark Lanier told Reuters that Johnson & Johnson rejected a $1.8 million settlement offer from the plaintiffs before trial.

    Lanier also mentioned settlement in an interview with Bloomberg. “The jury is telling J&J that they better settle these cases soon,” Lanier said. “All they are doing by trying more of these cases is driving up their costs and driving the company’s reputation into the mud.”

    Johnson & Johnson contends the trial judge made incorrect rulings that unfairly hampered the company in presenting its case. “Now the appellate court will need to review errors repeated in two trials,” said Johnson & Johnson lawyer John Beisner, “and we will continue to urge that no further trials be conducted until we receive appellate court guidance.”

    Johnson & Johnson maintains DePuy acted appropriately in testing the hip implant, and it has a strong track record of reducing pain and restoring mobility for patients.

    Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $2.5 billion in 2013 to settle litigation over its ASR hip devices that were recalled in 2010.
    

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16. Pharma Stock Roundup: Nivalis Falls on Study Data, Priority Reviews for Merck's Keytruda

    Dec 2, 2016 | Zack's Investment Research

    By Arpita Dutt

    Relevant Portions Included: J&J to Appeal Jury Verdict: Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - Free Report) and DePuy announced that they intend to appeal a jury verdict returned against the companies in a federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) proceeding in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas. The $1 billion plus verdict was given in the trial that consolidated six individual cases concerning DePuy’s ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal Articulation hip replacement.
    

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17. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) hit with over $1 billion verdict on faulty hip implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | Benchmark Monitor

    Relevant Portions Included: A federal jury in Dallas on Thursday ordered Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who said they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants. The jurors found that the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants were defectively designed and that the companies failed to warn consumers about the risks. J&J, which faces more than 8,000 lawsuits over the hip implants, said in a statement it would immediately appeal the verdict and was committed to defending itself and DePuy from further litigation over the Pinnacle devices.
    

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18. Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $1.04 bn over faulty hip implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | Domain-B.com

    A federal jury in Dallas yesterday ordered Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to pay $1.04 billion to six patients who said they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants made by its subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics.

    In lawsuits that were combined in a trial, the federal jury concluding that J&J misled patients and their doctors about the safety of the Pinnacle hip implant.

    Officials of DePuy were aware that the Pinnacle hip implants were defective, but failed to properly warn doctors and patients about the risk they would fail.

    The patients, residents of California, alleged that DePuy knew that its Pinnacle hip implants drained cobalt and chromium material into their bloodstreams, leading to the device failures and had to be surgically removed.

    DePuy was selling two models of the ASR Hip System, ASR XL Acetabular System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System.

    The ASR XL Acetabular System is a concave metal piece used to provide a smooth lining for the acetabulum, the bowl-shaped socket in the pelvis, while the ASR Hip Resurfacing System replaces the ball portion of the hip and has a metal stem that fits into the top of the hip bone, or femur.

    The ASR XL Acetabular System first became available in 2005 in the US after the FDA gave J&J a special clearance in 2005 to market the ASR devices without first performing clinical trials to determine the safety of the products.

    But since 2008, the FDA has received approximately 400 complaints from patients who received ASR hip replacements and at the beginning of 2010 DePuy said it was phasing out the ASR Hip Implant because of declining sales, but never mentioned the high failure rate data in the US, UK and Australia.

    In August 2010, DePuy issued a global recall of two models of the ASR Hip System after finding that more people than expected who underwent hip replacement surgeries experienced pain and other symptoms that led to a second hip replacement surgery, called a revision surgery.

    The recall was issued more than a year and a half after the first lawsuit was filed. Many experts had said at that time that DePuy should have issued the recall sooner, due to the high number of complaints about the devices.

    According to Warsaw, Indiana-based DePuy, five years after implantation, approximately 12 per cent of patients who had received the ASR resurfacing device and 13 per cent of patients who had received the ASR total hip replacement needed to have a revision surgery.

    DePuy stopped selling the metal-on-metal Pinnacle devices in 2013 after the US Food and Drug Administration strengthened its artificial hip regulations.

    J&J and DePuy also paid $2.5 billion that year to settle more than 7,000 lawsuits over its ASR metal-on-metal hip devices.

    J&J has around 8,900 lawsuits pending because of the implants, including from patients who were crippled by the faulty hip implants, according to a May filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

    The latest award included $1 billion in punitive damages and $40 million in compensatory damages.

    ''Anyone who sees the evidence will be appalled at the conduct of J&J,'' said lead plaintiffs attorney Mark Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm in Houston. ''These cases are not hard to try. J&J needs to get responsible and settle these cases. Thousands are hurting.''

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19. Johnson & Johnson Received A $1 Billion Settlement

    Dec 2, 2016 | Beacon Transcript

    By Troy G. Bennett

    Johnson & Johnson were sentenced to a $1 billion settlement by a Texas jury as their hip implants were found to be faulty and host unrevealed problems.

    Johnson & Johnson is a New Brunswick, New Jersey-based multinational company which specializes in medical and pharmaceutical devices. The company is also a packaged goods for consumers manufacturer.

    Earlier this week, Johnson & Johnson or J&J received the settlement in the case involving one of the company’s hip replacement products.

    The current $1 billion fine settlement is not the first and may not be the last such case the company has to face involving the same product.

    The unit in question is one of the DePuy hip replacement products, the ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal. DePuy is a J&J subsidiary which tests and produces medical devices aimed at solving orthopaedical, neuroscience, and spinal care aids and solutions.

    ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal is one such product as it acts as a hip replacement for patients in need. However, the product has been causing quite some controversies due mostly to the material on which it is based.

    A number of lawsuits have already been filed against J&J. Patients have started complaining that the prosthetics may be the cause of or lead to bloodstream poisonings.

    Besides being dangerous in itself, this usually also requires a change of prosthetics as the current devices were observed to fall off, which in turn requires their removal.

    The cause of the bloodstream poisoning is thought to be determined by cobalt and chromium materials leaks coming from the metal-on-metal implants.

    As the current $1 billion settlement case was not the first case of its type, it nonetheless features the highest settlement.

    J&J was involved in its first ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal lawsuit back in 2014, case won by the company.

    Since then, Johnson & Johnson was faced with a number of other similar trials, all featuring similar or the same claims.

    Both the first and the subsequent cases claimed that the company did, in fact, know about the potential blood poisoning issue.

    However, despite the potential dangers caused by the metal-on-metal device, the company decided to go ahead and ignore them. It also reportedly failed to denounce the issues and also continued selling the devices.

    Just earlier this year, a Dallas-based jury decided in favor of a number of 5 patients that filed a lawsuit with these claims.

    As the initial settlement value was of $502 million, a jury later decided to reduce the sum to $150 million.

    According to company statements, J&J is planning on also appealing on the current $1 billion settlement case. The settlement, which was also delivered by a Dallas-based jury set a $1 billion settlement for the lawsuit’s punitive damages.

    The six patients to have filed the case have been granted over $30 million so as to account for the damages caused by the reportedly faulty device.

    As J&J is considering an appeal, the company together with DePuy have asked judges for a temporal pause in their other hip device trials.

    The company will reportedly have to face a number of other 8,900 lawsuits concerning the hip replacement product.
    

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20. (UPDATE) BREAKING: 3rd J&J Hip Implant Bellwether Delivers $1B Verdict

    Dec 1, 2016 | Law360

    By Jess Krochtengel

    A Texas federal jury on Thursday found Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. unit liable for more than $1.04 billion in a six-plaintiff bellwether trial targeting metal-shedding artificial hips that are part of its Pinnacle line, dwarfing the $150 million verdict J&J is on the hook for after a previous bellwether.

    After a two-month trial that closed Nov. 30, jurors deliberated for less than a day before finding J&J and DePuy had negligently designed the hip implant, failed to warn surgeons about dangerous conditions related to the implant and concealed the implant’s risks. The verdict includes between $4 million and $6 million per plaintiff in damages for physical injuries and pain and suffering, $1 million each to four spouses for loss of consortium and more than $504 million against each of DePuy and J&J in punitive damages, after the jury found the companies had acted with malice or fraud.
    
    DePuy and J&J were each found liable for negligent design defect, negligent failure to warn, strict liability failure to warn, failure to recall, negligent misrepresentation, intentional misrepresentation and fraudulent concealment. J&J was also found liable for aiding and abetting DePuy in each of the seven causes of action. The jury found J&J did not conspire with DePuy on the design defect claim, but did find J&J liable for conspiracy on the other six claims.
    
    The jury awarded $4 million plus medical costs to each of four plaintiffs who had a single hip replaced, and $6 million plus medical costs to each of two plaintiffs who had both hips replaced. Each of the plaintiffs was awarded $84 million in punitive damages against J&J and DePuy.
    
    The $84 million figure is symbolic. During closing arguments, plaintiffs’ lawyer Mark Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm reminded jurors of testimony related to an $84 million settlement J&J made to end an investigation into allegations it paid doctors kickbacks. A defense witness had said the company wasn’t admitting wrongdoing, but had paid the money to make a headache go away.
    
    “A headache? $84 million is aspirin money to them,” Lanier said during closing arguments, as he urged the jury to impose a stiff enough penalty on Johnson & Johnson that the company would change its behavior with future medical devices.
    
    “The jury just gave Johnson & Johnson a bigger headache,” Lanier told Law360 after the verdict was read.
    
    Because the six plaintiffs are from California, they are not subject to the same punitive damages cap that slashed by more than two-thirds the $502 million verdict from the second bellwether trial, which involved Texas plaintiffs. J&J previously won the first bellwether trial, which involved one plaintiff from Montana.
    
    DePuy said in a statement after the verdict it would immediately begin preparing post-verdict motions to challenge the jury’s decision. The company said it has strong grounds for appeal and remains committed to the long-term defense of the allegations in these lawsuits.
    
    John Beisner of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, a J&J lawyer, said in a statement that, like the second bellwether trial, the company believes the case was tainted by bad rulings.
    
    “As in the Aoki case, today’s verdict provides no guidance on the merits of the overall Pinnacle litigation because the court’s rulings precluded a fair presentation to the jury,” Beisner said. “Now the appellate court will need to review errors repeated in two trials, and we will continue to urge that no further trials be conducted until we receive appellate court guidance.”
    
    Before the third bellwether got underway, J&J complained it was being hit with unfair pretrial rulings, and during the trial, J&J continued to raise objections to perceived advantages for the plaintiffs. The case involved six plaintiffs from California, who each had to undergo “revision surgeries” after being fitted with metal-on-metal artificial hip systems made by DePuy, known as the Pinnacle hip system’s Ultamet variety.
    
    At the MDL’s heart are allegations that friction between the device’s metal socket and metal ball head rubs away billions of microscopic particles with every step, polluting the bloodstream and surrounding tissue with “wear debris” over time. The plaintiffs alleged J&J knew the device was riskier than others available but still pushed it aggressively, even paying kickbacks to amenable surgeons.
    
    J&J maintains it acted appropriately and responsibly in the development, testing and marketing of the Ultamet product. During its opening, the company questioned whether the patients might have had hypersensitive responses to the implants, and suggested the devices were wrongly positioned in their bodies because of doctor error, which it said would lead to the excessive wear.
    
    In a measured closing argument, defense lawyer Steve Quattlebaum of Quattlebaum Grooms Tull & Burrow PLLC had walked jurors through the 96-page, 33-question jury charge, pointing out what he said were holes in the plaintiffs' case and a failure to present evidence supporting the plaintiffs' claims.
    
    From the outset, J&J had raised complaints about how the trial was conducted. It filed a total of six mistrial motions, including one launched immediately after the plaintiffs’ opening statement, arguing plaintiffs’ lawyer Mark Lanier had improperly referred to illegal bribes and kickbacks — the subject of a 2007 deferred-prosecution agreement. Days later, it sought a mistrial after the introduction of what it said were misleading ads that ran in orthopedic journals, and another mistrial motion was aimed at the suggestion by plaintiffs its metal-on-metal implants could increase patients’ risk of cancer and other systemic injuries.
    
    J&J also complained that it was on the losing end of improper pretrial rulings, saying MDL decisions had undermined the chances for a fair or meaningful result.
    
    It argued Texas federal court was the improper jurisdiction for a trial involving California plaintiffs, said the consolidation of six plaintiffs into one trial prejudiced its ability to present its defense and argued it had wrongly been shut out of the process of selecting plaintiffs for the trial. The company also said the trial court unfairly allowed witnesses to testify remotelywhen no special circumstances demanded it, even making an ultimately unsuccessful request to the Fifth Circuit to stop the practice.
    
    The next bellwether is set to begin in September 2017, with the parties preparing for 10 plaintiffs all from New York. J&J has objected to proceeding with any more trials in the MDL until the appeals from the second bellwether trial have been resolved, and argues the Texas federal court lacks jurisdiction over out-of-state residents.
    
    After the verdict was read, U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade urged the parties to appoint a settling lawyer for discussions of a potential end to the MDL, which has more than 6,000 cases.
    
    The patients are represented by W. Mark Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm, Richard Arsenault of Neblett Beard & Arsenault, Jayne Conroy of Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC and Khaldoun Baghdadi of Walkup Melodia Kelly & Schoenberger, among others.
    
    DePuy and Johnson & Johnson are represented by Steve Quattlebaum of Quattlebaum Grooms Tull & Burrow PLLC, John Anderson of Stoel Rives LLP, Dawn Estes of Estes Thorne & Carr, Michael Powell and Seth Roberts of Locke Lord LLP and Stephen J. Harburg, John H. Beisner, Jessica Davidson Miller and Geoffrey M. Wyatt of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
    
    The MDL is In re: DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. Pinnacle Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, case number 3:11-md-02244, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

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21. [BREAKING] $1 Billion Awarded in Metal Hip Implant Trial

    Dec 1, 2016 | Daily Horney

    Over 8,600 lawsuits involving the Pinnacle Ultamet metal-on-metal hip implant were filed in one federal court in Texas, as of mid-November.

    The last trial ended in a $500 million jury verdict against DePuy Orthopedics, Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. It was later slashed to $150 million under a Texas law capping punitive damages.

    This time, all six plaintiffs were from California. That means the $1 billion verdict is not subject to the same punitive damage cap. It is the 3rd-largest jury award of 2016, according to Bloomberg.

    Lawyers say the Pinnacle is defective because both pieces of the “ball and socket” are made of metal. When a patient walks, the metal parts grind together and shed tiny particles of chromium and cobalt.

    Metal debris accumulating in the hip joint can cause chronic pain, inflammation, bone loss, tissue death, and early revision surgery. Metal can also poison the bloodstream and cause symptoms in other parts of the body.

    All six plaintiffs required revision surgery. Houston attorney Mark Lanier told the 9-member jury that the Pinnacle was advertised with a “99.9% success rate,” when only 53% were successful after 11 years.

    The 2-month trial ended on November 30. In closing arguments, Lanier suggested that $500 million in punitive damages would hardly be felt by a company worth $72 billion.

    DePuy never recalled the Pinnacle, but discontinued sales in 2013 after the FDA ordered the company to conduct safety studies.

    Pinnacle was never studied in clinical trials, like most metal hips. Yet the all-metal design was advertised as more durable than ceramic or plastic designs, ideal for younger and more physically-active patients.

    An estimated 500,000 American were implanted with metal-on-metal hip implants. Thousands of them are now disabled or required revision surgery to remove the implant and replace it with a new one.

    Revision surgery for an all-metal hip implant often leaves patients with a permanent disability. The diseased tissues and bones must be removed, which makes it harder to fit a new implant correctly. A new stem must also be driven into the femur, which is physically traumatic.

    Metal poisoning throughout the body (metallosis) cannot be cured with revision surgery. The FDA has issued warningsabout the risk of brain damage, depression, kidney problems, thyroid dysfunction (fatigue, weight-gain, feeling cold, etc.), heart problems, skin rashes, and other side effects.

    The Pinnacle hip implant Multi-District Litigation (MDL No. 2244) is overseen by U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade in the Northern District of Texas — DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., Pinnacle Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation.

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22. Wall Street Breakfast: Non-Farm Payrolls In Focus

    Dec 2, 2016 | Seeking Alpha

    Johnson & Johnson has been ordered by a federal jury in Dallas to pay more than $1B to six plaintiffs who said they were injured by defectively designed Pinnacle hip implants and were failed to be warned about risks. J&J (NYSE:JNJ), which still faces nearly 9K lawsuits over the implants, stopped selling the product in 2013 after the FDA toughened regulations on artificial hips; it plans to appeal the verdict.
    

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23. $1 Billion Jury Award for DePuy Metal Hip Implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | Courthouse News

    By David Lee

    A Texas federal jury Thursday ordered DePuy Orthopaedics and its corporate parent Johnson & Johnson to pay more than $1 billion to six California plaintiffs for Pinnacle artificial hips that poison them when the metal components wear and shed.

    The nine-member jury deliberated for more than eight hours before awarding $32 million in actual damages and more than $1 billion in punitive damages for the metal-on-metal implants. They concluded the implants were defectively designed and the defendants failed to warn consumers of the risks.

    The 10-week trial was the third bellwether Pinnacle case to go to trial before U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade. Several thousand similar lawsuits have been filed against both companies, which have been consolidated in Dallas Federal Court under multidistrict litigation.

    The $1 billion verdict dwarfs previous Pinnacle verdicts.

    In the first case to go to trial, in October 2014, the companies were cleared of liability and the plaintiffs took nothing.

    The second case went to trial nine months ago, resulting in a $498 million verdict for five Texans who said they suffer from several medical complications due to the implants.

    DePuy did not immediately respond to an email message requesting comment late Thursday evening.

    The plaintiffs’ attorney, W. Mark Lanier in Houston, called the verdict a “loud and clear” message that the defendants have “a really nasty part of their business they need to clean up.”

    DePuy stopped selling the Pinnacle implants in 2013.

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24. Johnson & Johnson Wouldn't Settle. A $1B Verdict Followed

    Dec 2, 2016 | Newser

    By Rob Quinn

    Johnson & Johnson was hit with another stinging verdict Thursday when a federal jury in Texas ordered it to pay just over $1 billion to six people whose hip implants failed and had to be surgically removed. The company—which rejected a pre-trial offer to settle for $1.8 million, according to Mark Lanier, who represented the plaintiffs—still faces more than 8,000 lawsuits over the metal-on-metal Pinnacle implants and says it will appeal the verdict immediately, Reuters reports. The plaintiffs accused the company and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit of failing to warn consumers about the risks of its defectively designed implants. All but $32 million of the $1.04 billion verdict was punitive damages.

    This was the third "test case" involving the implant to go to court. J&J won the first, but a jury awarded the plaintiffs $502 million, later reduced to $150 million, in the second. "The jury is telling J&J that they better settle these cases soon," Lanier tells Bloomberg. "All they are doing by trying more of these cases is driving up their costs and driving the company's reputation into the mud." A University of Michigan law professor agrees, saying there's "no easy way out of these cases now that they have a billion-dollar verdict against them." (In October, the company was hit with another huge verdict over its talcum powder, which plaintiffs said was linked to ovarian cancer.)
    

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25. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) To Pay Over $1B To Six Plaintiffs on Pinnacle Hip Implants- CEL-SCI (NYSE:CVM)

    Dec 2, 2016 | Seneca Globe

    By Will Lawson

    Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) [Trend Analysis] swings ardently in active trading session, it inches up of 0.07% to close at $111.38. A federal jury in Dallas ordered Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit to pay over $1 billion to six plaintiffs who stated they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants.

    The jurors found that the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants were defectively deinked and that the companies failed to warn consumers about the risks. J&J, which faces over 8,000 court cases over the hip implants, stated in a statement it would immediately appeal the verdict and was committed to defending itself and DePuy from additional litigation over the Pinnacle devices.

    The six plaintiffs awarded over $1 billion are California residents who were implanted with the hip devices and experienced tissue death, bone erosion and other injuries they attributed to design flaws. Plaintiffs claimed the companies promoted the devices as lasting longer than devices that include ceramic or plastic materials. Both companies denied any wrongdoing stemming from the development and marketing of the devices.

    The stock price of firm is moving down from its 20 days moving average with -3.17% and remote isolated negatively from 50 days moving average with -3.86%. (Full [FREE Analysis] of NYSE:JNJ And Be Sure To Notice The Intermediate Period)

    Moving toward the volatility measures, the price volatility of stock was 0.88% for a week and 1.18% for a month as well as price volatility’s Average True Range for 14 days was 1.37. The beta, which indicates risk in relegation to the market, remained 0.73. The firm past twelve months price to sales ratio was 4.23 and price to cash ratio remained 7.49. As far as the returns are concern, the return on equity was recorded as 22.10% and return on investment was 14.70% while its return on asset stayed at 11.60%.

    CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSE:CVM) [Trend Analysis] considering as most desiring stocks in active trading lead, shares moved down following opening to traded at $0.18 with volume of 2.77 Million shares.

    CVM is ahead its 52-week low with -10.35%and going down from its 52-week high price with -72.83%. The firm’s shares performance for the last one month was -33.59% and -35.96% in the previous week. Firm’s yearly sales growth for the past five year was 33.80%.

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26. Texas Jury Hits Johnson & Johnson With $1B+ Verdict

    Dec 1, 2016 | National Law Journal

    By Amanda Bronstad

    Johnson & Johnson lost a $1 billion verdict on Thursday in a closely watched trial over a hip implant device made by its DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. division.

    After less than a day of deliberations, a federal jury in Dallas awarded $1.04 billion to six plaintiffs after concluding that Johnson & Johnson misled them and their doctors about the safety of the Pinnacle hip implant. The lawsuits were combined in a trial that began on Oct. 3.

    Johnson & Johnson faces suits by more than 8,500 plaintiffs in multidistrict litigation in federal court in Dallas alleging it failed to warn doctors and consumers about the device’s complications, which included pain and subsequent removal surgeries.

    The award included $1 billion in punitive damages and $40 million in compensatory damages.

    “Anyone who sees the evidence will be appalled at the conduct of J&J,” said lead plaintiffs attorney W. Mark Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm in Houston. “These cases are not hard to try. J&J needs to get responsible and settle these cases.  Thousands are hurting.”

    Johnson & Johnson immediately planned post-trial motions.

    Spokeswoman Mindy Tinsley said DePuy acted “appropriately and responsibly” in the design and testing of the product, which is “backed by a strong track record of clinical data showing reduced pain and restored mobility for patients suffering from chronic hip pain.”

    Johnson & Johnson also immediately criticized the rulings in the case. “Now the appellate court will need to review errors repeated in two trials, and we will continue to urge that no further trials be conducted until we receive appellate court guidance,” said Johnson & Johnson attorney John Beisner, leader of the mass torts, insurance and consumer litigation group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

    In 2014, Johnson & Johnson won the first verdict over the Pinnacle. But in March, another federal jury in Dallas awarded $502 million to five plaintiffs whose suits were combined. The award was later reduced to $150 million under Texas law.

    But according to Jayne Conroy, a member of the plaintiffs executive committee in the Pinnacle multidistrict litigation, Thursday’s award won’t be subject to a punitive damages cap because it was tried under California law. She credited the win with evidence that showed Johnson & Johnson paid kickbacks to surgeons to promote the device, even though it knew it was riskier than other implants.

    “The evidence presented in the testimony against J&J told the deeper story of how the science was manipulated in order to sell the product,” wrote Conroy, a shareholder at Simmons Hanly Conroy.

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27. Johnson & Johnson Ordered To Pay More Than $1 Billion To Patients Injured By Pinnacle Hip Implants

    Dec 1, 2016 | Tech Times

    By Rhodi Lee

    A federal jury in Dallas, Texas has ordered Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopedics unit to pay more than $1 billion to patients who claimed to have been injured by the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants.

    Flawed Design

    The six plaintiffs said that the companies hid the flaws in the artificial hips, which caused them injuries that required them to undergo surgery.

    The federal jury on Thursday determined that officials of DePuy Orthopedics, which makes the Pinnacle hips, were aware about the defects but failed to give proper warning to doctors and patients about the risk that the hip replacement would fail.

    The plaintiffs, all California residents, were implanted with the hip devices but due to design flaws, experienced tissue death, bone erosion and other injuries. They said that the companies that promoted the devices claimed that these last longer than devices made of ceramic and plastic materials.

    Third Largest Jury Award Of The Year

    The six plaintiffs were awarded more than $1 billion. Data compiled by Bloomberg show that the $1.04 billion in compensatory and punitive damages is the third largest jury award of 2016.

    The jury's decision marks J&J's second loss linked to its hip implants. It still faces more than 8,000 lawsuits associated with the Pinnacle hips.

    "The jury is telling J&J that they better settle these cases soon," said Mark Lanier, the plaintiffs' lawyer. "All they are doing by trying more of these cases are driving up their costs and driving the company's reputation into the mud."

    J&J And Depuy To Challenge Verdict

    J&J and its Depuy unit denied any wrongdoing in the development and marketing of the devices. In a statement released on Thursday, the companies said that they will challenge the verdict saying that they have strong grounds for appeal and that they are committed to giving long-term defense to the allegations.

    "DePuy acted appropriately and responsibly in the design and testing of ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal, and the product is backed by a strong track record of clinical data showing reduced pain and restored mobility for patients suffering from chronic hip pain," said DePuy spokesperson Mindy Tinsley.

    Other Lawsuits Faced By Johnson & Johnson

    Johnson & Johnson faces a string of lawsuits related to its products. Of the seven largest product-defect verdicts in the United States this year, six have been against J&J units. Three of these were lawsuits that claim the company's talc products cause ovarian cancer.

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28. J&J slammed with $1B verdict over metal-on-metal hip implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | FierceBiotech

    By Amirah Al Aldrus

    A Dallas jury commanded Johnson & Johnson to pay up $1 billion to plaintiffs claiming injury from from the company’s metal-on-metal hip implants. This follows a $500 million verdict concerning the same implants, handed down in March this year. 

    The 6 plaintiffs reported injuries such as tissue death and bone erosion that they blamed on the device design. Jurors at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas found that the Pinnacle Ultamet hip implants, manufactured by J&J’s DePuy Orthopaedics business, were “defectively designed” and that J&J and DePuy did not warn consumers of the risk, Reuters reported. The trial consolidated 6 cases out of the more than 8,000 lawsuits the company is facing over the Pinnacle implants.

    In a victory for J&J, the jury ruled against the plaintiff in the October 2014 case, denying her the $1.5 million she was seeking in damages. But this verdict and the $500 million one from March don’t paint a pretty future for J&J. The company may catch a break as, in July, a federal judge cut the $500 million verdict to $151 thanks to a Texas law that curbs punitive damages. But J&J isn’t out of the woods yet, as the plaintiffs in that case are appealing the judge’s decision, according to Reuters.

    J&J will immediately appeal the verdict, the devicemaker said in a statement.

    “DePuy acted appropriately and responsibly in the design and testing of ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal, and the product is backed by a strong track record of clinical data showing reduced pain and restored mobility for patients suffering from chronic hip pain,” said Mindy Tinsley, a DePuy spokeswoman.

    While the company denies misconduct, it stopped selling the implants in August 2013, following an FDA announcement saying it would step up its review process for new versions of the product.

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29. The top 5 medtech stories for December 2, 2016

    Dec 2, 2016 | Mass Device

    Jury levels $1B verdict against J&J’s DePuy Ortho in Pinnacle hip bellwether

    A federal jury in Dallas today ordered Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary DePuy Orthopedics to pay more than $1 billion to 6 plaintiffs claiming to be injured by its Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants, according to the plaintiffs lawyers.

    Jurors in the case found that the metal-on-metal pinnacle hip implants were designed defectively and that the companies failed to appropriately warn patients of the risks associated with the devices. Plaintiff’s lawyer Mark Lanier said the $1.041 billion verdict included $32 million in compensatory damages and the remainder in punitive damages. Read more

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30. Moody's: Texas hip verdict credit negative for J&J

    Dec 2, 2016 | Moody's Investor Service

    Moody's Investors Service commented that a Texas jury award of over $1 billion against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) related to hip litigation is credit negative. There is no impact on Johnson & Johnson's Aaa senior unsecured rating or Prime-1 short-term rating.

    For additional information please see Moody's Issuer Comment on Johnson & Johnson available on www.moodys.com.

    New Brunswick, New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson ("J&J") is the world's largest healthcare company, with revenues for the 12 months ended October 2, 2016 totaling approximately $71 billion.

    This publication does not announce a credit rating action. For any credit ratings referenced in this publication, please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com for the most updated credit rating action information and rating history.

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31. Huge Verdicts Won't Spur Settlement Talks In J&J Hip MDL

    Dec 2, 2016 | Law360

    By Jess Krochtengel

    Although a Texas federal jury hit Johnson & Johnson with a more than $1 billion verdict in the latest bellwether trial over the company's Pinnacle hip implants, fruitful settlement talks aren’t likely to happen before the Fifth Circuit weighs in on J&J’s lengthy list of complaints about trial rulings, MDL experts say.

    Pressure on J&J to find a way out of the thousands of remaining cases in the multidistrict litigation may be mounting after a jury on Thursday hit J&J and subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. for a total of more than $1 billion in punitive damages and more than $32 million in compensatory damages to six hip implant recipients and some of their spouses. That followed a $502 million verdict in the second bellwether, later reduced to about $150 million, after a defense win in the first bellwether trial.
    
    Yet a global settlement in the MDL is unlikely because J&J doesn’t think the bellwether trials have given it a fair estimate of what each plaintiff’s case is worth, lawyers say. J&J has said the verdicts in the two latest trials provide "no guidance on the merits of the overall Pinnacle litigation" because of what it has argued are deeply flawed and unfair procedural and evidentiary rulings from the MDL judge.
    
    "It seems like a situation where you couldn’t be farther away from the parties both being in a position to have productive settlement discussions," said John Sullivan of Cozen & O’Connor LLP. "I can’t imagine a less likely scenario for settlement than here."
    
    About 9,300 lawsuits involving the Pinnacle hip system’s Ultamet metal-on-metal implant have been filed in state and federal courts around the country, most of which are consolidated in an MDL presided over by U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade in Dallas.
    
    Plaintiffs generally allege DePuy and J&J pushed to market a poorly designed product that injured them after friction between the device’s metal socket and metal ball head caused microscopic particles of metal to shed into their bodies. J&J has maintained it acted appropriately and responsibly in the development, testing and marketing of the Ultamet product.
    
    The first bellwether trial, involving a single plaintiff from Montana, ended in a defense win. The second bellwether consolidated five plaintiffs from Texas, who won a $502 million verdict that was later reduced to about $150 million under a Texas law that caps punitive damages.
    
    In the third bellwether, jurors deliberated for less than a day — following a two-month trial — before awarding each of six California plaintiffs between $4 million and $6 million in actual damages. The jury also found each plaintiff entitled to $84 million from DePuy and $84 million from J&J, bringing the total damages award to more than $1.04 billion.
    
    Diane Lifton of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP said her immediate reaction to hearing about the $1 billion verdict or any verdict of comparable size is to look to see what evidence was in front of the jury and what the companies’ concerns are about that evidence.
    
    "It suggests to me that there may be evidentiary concerns about what went before the jury," Lifton said.
    
    In both the second and third bellwether trials, evidentiary rulings prompted multiple mistrial motions from J&J and DePuy, which have suggested to the Fifth Circuit that Judge Kinkeade allowed a virtual free-for-all in the second trial, allowing in prejudicial and inflammatory evidence. The plaintiffs have told the Fifth Circuit the verdict in the second trial was a reflection of a jury holding companies accountable for prioritizing profits above patient safety, not the result of a flood of prejudicial evidence.
    
    In July, the Fifth Circuit rejected J&J’s request for an expedited appeal of the second bellwether and the appellate court also declined J&J’s request to stop the MDL court from holding the third trial while the appeal was pending.
    
    "I think until the appellate issues are resolved with respect to the evidence presented to the jury, it will be difficult to reach a global resolution of the cases," Lifton said.
    
    In the third trial, controversial evidence included the mention of an $84 million deferred prosecution agreement J&J entered to end an investigation into alleged kickbacks. That piece of evidence — and a witness’ subsequent testimony that J&J paid the settlement to make a "headache" go away — played a central role in the plaintiffs’ closing argument and appears to be directly reflected in the jury’s $84 million-per-plaintiff punitive damages award.
    
    Sullivan said before it considers settling the MDL, J&J will want the Fifth Circuit’s take on whether evidence like the deferred prosecution agreement can be admitted during trial. The company has a valid concern that prejudicial evidence without a tangible relationship to the injuries sustained by the plaintiffs could unduly ratchet up a jury verdict, he said.
    
    "It’s just a concern when you see a $1 billion verdict," Sullivan said. "It’s hard not to seriously consider whether those issues did affect the verdict."
    
    Max Kennerly of Kennerly Loutey LLC, who represents plaintiffs in product liability and medical malpractice cases, brushed off the complaints about the bellwether trials as "bluster" from J&J that won’t ultimately stop the parties from settling the MDL. Even if it genuinely believes it was prejudiced at the bellwethers, the company should still act rationally, as it did when it reached a $2.5 billion global settlement related to DePuy’s ASR line of hip implants, he said.
    
    "Johnson & Johnson always has an excuse for why they can't begin reasonable settlement discussions," Kennerly said. "They have an excuse for why they can't settle the Ethicon mesh cases, an excuse for why they can't settle the Risperdal cases and now an excuse for why they can't settle the Pinnacle cases. It's all bluster. At some point, they'll either come to their senses, or their shareholders will make management come to their senses."
    
    Lawyers say even taking the splashy punitive award out of the picture, the jury verdict in the third bellwether still won’t serve as a strong platform to launch settlement talks.
    
    The jury awarded $4 million to plaintiffs who had one hip implant, plus their individual medical bills, and awarded $6 million plus medical bills to plaintiffs who had two implants.
    
    Lifton said that kind of result makes it impossible to discern which aspects of the plaintiffs’ individual circumstances affected the jury, so it’s difficult to use them as a basis for valuing the thousands of remaining cases.
    
    "Another concern one might consider with these verdicts all being the same size is that a case involving more challenging facts can affect the outcome of a case with less significant damages — they all get taken along for the ride and it’s impossible to tease out what the jury’s reaction was to each part of the case and each scenario," Lifton said. "That’s why you’ll hear arguments among the defense bar against these kinds of consolidated trials."
    
    Yet Michael Walsh of Strasburger & Price LLP said that although the compensatory damages awards to each plaintiff were probably too high, they are not so unreasonable that they can’t be the basis for the beginning of a settlement discussion — so long as the punitive awards remain off the table. The MDL docket is so massive, he said, the defense has to face the question of at what point do they try to clear it out and leave trials for cases they have a better chance of winning.
    
    "Perhaps the prudent thing to be looking at is, it’s a big monster litigation and the numbers are huge — but this is not the first time we’ve seen this," Walsh said. "I don’t know that the compensatory damages are so completely out of whack that there’s no expectation meaningful progress can be made in getting rid of some subset of cases."
    
    Still, the punitive damages award is part of the case, and juries in two trials have decisively found the companies liable for wrongdoing, Walsh said. With the punitive awards what they are, even if the trial judge did pare back the verdict before entering judgment, Walsh said, he "can’t see that there’s any number that would lead to settling the docket."
    
    While the gears of the appellate process grind, the parties are facing their next trial date. Judge Kinkeade set the fourth bellwether for September and has named 10 plaintiffs, each from New York, whose cases should be prepared for the trial.
    
    J&J has said it will "continue to urge that no further trials be conducted until we receive appellate court guidance."
    
    But because the Fifth Circuit rejected the company’s request after the second bellwether, lawyers are skeptical the $1 billion plaintiffs’ verdict is enough to change the appellate court’s mind about putting future trials on ice.
    
    "If the Fifth Circuit didn't intervene before this trial, I see no reason why they would intervene after it either," Kennerly said. "This trial didn't raise any issues substantially different from the first trial. In my opinion, the size of the verdict doesn't change that analysis."
    
    Walsh said he thinks the verdicts are sizable enough that they should have gotten the Fifth Circuit’s attention about potential problems with the bellwethers, but doesn’t expect to see the court stop future trials.
    
    "If $500 million didn’t get their attention, $1 billion isn’t going to get their attention," he said. "If it were $1 trillion, maybe."
    
    The patients are represented by W. Mark Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm, Richard Arsenault of Neblett Beard & Arsenault, Jayne Conroy of Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC and Khaldoun Baghdadi of Walkup Melodia Kelly & Schoenberger, among others.
    
    DePuy and Johnson & Johnson are represented by Steve Quattlebaum of Quattlebaum Grooms Tull & Burrow PLLC, John Anderson of Stoel Rives LLP, Dawn Estes of Estes Thorne & Carr, Michael Powell and Seth Roberts of Locke Lord LLP and Stephen J. Harburg, John H. Beisner, Jessica Davidson Miller and Geoffrey M. Wyatt of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
    
    The MDL is In re: DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. Pinnacle Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, case number 3:11-md-02244, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
    

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32. J&J Plans to Appeal Staggering $1B Judgment Against Hip Implant

    Dec 2, 2016 | The Street

    By William McConnell

    
    

    Johnson & Johnson JNJ says it will appeal a $1 billion punitive damage award to six plaintiffs injured by a hip implant device made by the company's DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. division. The company says its ability to defend against the claims were wrongly hindered by several rulings from the judge in the case.

    A federal jury in Dallas awarded the money Thursday in a closely watched trial over the Pinnacle implant made by its DePuy Orthopaedics division. The trial was the third of four that have been scheduled so far to hear claims against the Pinnacle implant.

    The jury also awarded the plaintiffs $40 million in compensatory damages. The enormous gulf between the compensatory and punitive awards is particularly striking because J&J still faces lawsuits from more than 8,500 plaintiffs in multidistrict litigation being handled by the federal district court in Dallas alleging that the company failed to warn doctors and consumers about complications possible from the device, which included pain and subsequent removal surgeries.

    J&J issued a prepared statement regarding the verdict but did not respond to telephone and email inquiries for comment.

    Mark Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm in Houston argued that two consecutive court losses in the Pinnacle cases should convince J&J to sit down and settle the remaining cases. In March 2016, a Dallas jury awarded more than $500 million to five individuals who suffered similar physical and medical complications caused by the controversial Pinnacle hip implant, although that award was cut by roughly 70% due to a Texas state law capping punitive damages in plaintiff cases.

    "A responsible company would settle these cases and take care of their injured consumers, rather than forcing them through expensive and vexatious litigation just to delay justice," Lanier said. "This jury spoke loud and clear, and I hope J&J will finally listen."

    Lanier called J&J's chances of winning on appeal "next to none."

    He noted that U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade made numerous rulings against the plaintiffs, too, which prevented them from submitting evidence that would have cast J&J's general marketing practices in a bad light. He noted that Kinkeade was the judge J&J sought out, an appointee of President George W. Bush and a conservative. The Dallas court in which he sits is hardly known for being plaintiff-friendly, Lanier added.

    The lawyer asserted that whoever at J&J is deciding against settling the Pinnacle and other high-profile injury cases against the company "is an idiot."

    The entire Pinnacle case could have been settled for $1.5 billion. "Now, J&J is looking at that amount from just two trials," he said.

    The trial was the third so-called "bellwether trial" being conducted against the Pinnacle product. A fourth trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 5, 2017. Bellwether cases are generally selected by courts from a pool of cases in a wider litigation and have facts representative of the other cases. The outcome of a bellwether trial often helps the parties decide whether to continue litigating or to settle claims.

    After losing the first one, Lanier said the plaintiffs side is now familiar with the evidence and are on a roll. "We've got thing figured out. It's doing to worse for them. Next September we'll have 10 New York plaintiffs. At some point they're [J&J] going to be brought to their knees. J&J sells lots of Band-Aids but this is not a Band-Aid problem."

    Lanier has argued that the Pinnacle implant was designed with a metal, rather than a ceramic or polyethylene, socket. The metal-on-metal design hurt patients, he said, because it caused the socket to rub against the ball head, which can lead to corrosion and can cause bone and surrounding tissue to erode over time. Lanier said each of the six plaintiffs had to undergo additional surgeries to replace the implants and repair the damage. The plaintiffs claim they also suffered a type of metal poisoning called metallosis where metal ions cause tissue and bone death as well as neurological and autoimmune symptoms.

    Jurors heard testimony that Johnson & Johnson and DePuy "aggressively" marketed the implants and employed tactics that included paying kickbacks to surgeons for using the device although they were aware of safer alternatives. The jurors' verdict came after less than a day of deliberations. The trial began on Oct. 3.

    "Anyone who sees the evidence will be appalled at the conduct of J&J," Lanier said. "These cases are not hard to try. J&J needs to get responsible and settle these cases. Thousands are hurting."

    In their prepared statement J&J and DePuy said the Pinnacle's design is "backed by a strong track record of clinical data showing reduced pain and restored mobility for patients suffering from chronic hip pain."

    The next stop for this case is a federal appeals court. The companies said they will "immediately begin preparing post-trial motions challenging the verdict."

    The companies asserted that the trial was plagued by numerous rulings of Kinkeade that undermined their "ability to properly and fairly defend against the allegations," including the decision to try the cases of the six plaintiffs together. "During trial, the companies were forced to move for mistrial six times," they said in a prepared statement. "The companies have strong grounds for appeal and remains committed to the long-term defense of the allegations in these lawsuits."

    According to the National Law Journal, Johnson & Johnson attorney John Beisner, leader of the mass torts, insurance and consumer litigation group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said, "The appellate court will need to review errors repeated in two trials, and we will continue to urge that no further trials be conducted until we receive appellate court guidance."

    In 2014, Johnson & Johnson won the first verdict over the Pinnacle. In the second bellwether trial, the $502 million a federal jury awarded to five plaintiffs in March was later reduced to $150 million according to Texas law. But according to the National Law Journal, Thursday's punitive damages award won't be subject to a cap because that case was tried under the laws of California, where those six plaintiffs were from.

    In a state case in 2015, a judge in Maryland granted summary judgment in favor of Johnson & Johnson and DePuy and dismissed the case.
    

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33. J&J Ordered to Pay $1 Billion Over Metal-on-Metal Hips

    Dec 3, 2016 | Qmed

    By Kristopher Sturgis

    Six different California residents were awarded over $1 billion in damages this week by a federal jury in Dallas to compensate for injuries sustained by Pinnacle hip implants that were defectively designed. The federal jury ruled that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its DePuy Orthopedics unit failed to warn consumers about the risks of their ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal hip implants.

    The plaintiffs in the case reported a bevy of complications as a result of the defective implants including tissue death, bone erosion, and other injuries that were attributed to design flaws in the device. The plaintiffs also claimed that the two companies falsely promoted that the device would last longer than traditional implants made from ceramic or plastic materials.

    Both J&J and DePuy denied any wrongdoing from the development process or marketing of the device, and in a statement released yesterday J&J announced their intentions to immediately appeal the verdict. The company also outlined that they are committed to defending themselves and DePuy from further litigation, as the two companies face more than 8,000 lawsuits over the hip implants.

    “We have no greater responsibility than to the patients who use our products, and our goal is to create medical innovations that help people live more active and comfortable lives,” said Mindy Tinsley, a spokesperson for DePuy in an official statement following the verdict. “DePuy acted appropriately and responsibly in the design and testing of ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal, and the product is backed by a strong track record of clinical data showing reduced pain and restored mobility for patients suffering from chronic hip pain.”

    The trial in Dallas centered around six individual cases chosen by the plaintiff’s executive committee concerning DePuy’s ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal articulation hip replacement, and the two companies have already begun to file post-trial motions to challenge the verdict returned on Thursday. According to the plaintiff’s lawyer Mark Lanier, the total damages awarded were $1.041 billion, including $32 million in compensatory damages, with the rest falling under punitive damages.

    J&J and DePuy have accumulated almost 8,400 separate lawsuits over the implants, all of which have been consolidated in Texas federal court where test cases have already been selected for trial. In July of this year a separate test case awarded plaintiffs a $500 million verdict over a Pinnacle implant, which was eventually reduced to $151 million after a Texas state law limited the amount of punitive damages — a decision the plaintiffs plan to appeal.

    In a statement following the trial, J&J attorney John Beisner was critical of the trial judge over certain rulings, claiming that they benefitted the plaintiffs. He also stated that the company will ask the appeals court to postpone any additional trials over the defective implant device.

    As for the implant devices themselves, DePuy stopped selling the metal-on-metal Pinnacle devices in 2013 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration tightened its artificial hip regulations. That same year J&J and DePuy also paid out $2.5 billion to settle over 7,000 different lawsuits over their ASR metal-on-metal hip devices, which were recalled in 2010 due to complications from high failure rates. 

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34. Johnson & Johnson hit with over $1 bln verdict on hip implants

    Dec 3, 2016 | Junior College

    By Bill Blare

    The jurors found that the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants were defectively designed and that the companies failed to warn consumers about the risks.

    Johnson & Johnson JNJ says it will appeal a $1 billion punitive damage award to six plaintiffs injured by a hip implant device made by the company's DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. division.

    With this billion dollar verdict, many attorneys are calling on J&J to settle these cases now or risk further litigation costs and more large plaintiff verdicts in the future. In March 2016, a Dallas jury awarded more than $500 million to five individuals who suffered similar physical and medical complications caused by the controversial Pinnacle hip implant. J&J has stopped selling these implants in 2013 after US Food and Drug Administration revisited artificial-hip regulations.

    The $1 billion award is not subject to a state punitive damages cap because it was tried under California law, a member of the plaintiffs' executive committee told the National Law Journal. The highest penalty of $3 billion was imposed in June in a breach of contract case brought by Hewlett-Packard Co. against Oracle Corp. At least one had received double hip implants.

    J&J denied any wrongdoing arising from the development and advertising of the devices, and declared that it would appeal the verdict.

    In its statement, J&J criticized the trial judge over certain rulings it claimed help the plaintiffs.

    The 10-week trial was the third bellwether Pinnacle case to go to trial before U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade. The company will ask Kinkeade not to schedule any more trials until the appellate review is completed, he said.

    Johnson & Johnson and DePuy will immediately begin preparing post-trial motions challenging the verdict returned against the companies today by a jury in a federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) proceeding in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas.

    In the first case to go to trial, in October 2014, the companies were cleared of liability and the plaintiffs took nothing. The judge in the case in July slashed the award to roughly $151 million.

    "They may think they have good defenses to these claims, but they don't seem to be working with juries", Gordon said in an interview Thursday.

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35. Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $1 billion settlement

    Dec 4, 2016 | Junior College

    By Vanessa Coleman

    A Dallas jury commanded Johnson & Johnson to pay up $1 billion to plaintiffs claiming injury from from the company's metal-on-metal hip implants. Six of the seven largest product-defect verdicts in the US this year have been against J&J units, including three in lawsuits claiming its talc products cause ovarian cancer. Among product liability verdicts, six of the seven largest awards this year have been against J&J units, including three verdicts in suits claiming talcum produces cause ovarian cancer.
    

    pharma major has been facing around 9,000 lawsuits over Pinnacle hip implants with clients accusing the company of mishandling the metal-on-metal hips. The multidistrict litigation has been consolidated in federal court in Dallas.

    Kinkeade has scheduled another test trial involving claims by 10 hip recipients for September 2017, according to court filings. Jurors ruled for Johnson & Johnson and DePuy in the first test case, but awarded $500 million this March to five plaintiffs in the second test case.

    The six plaintiffs awarded more than $1 billion are California residents who were implanted with the hip devices and experienced tissue death, bone erosion and other injuries they attributed to design flaws. The company-which rejected a pre-trial offer to settle for $1.8 million, according to Mark Lanier, who represented the plaintiffs-still faces more than 8,000 lawsuits over the metal-on-metal Pinnacle implants and says it will appeal the verdict immediately, Reuters reports.

    Lanier also mentioned settlement in an interview with Bloomberg. Jurors heard testimony that Johnson & Johnson and DePuy aggressively marketed the implants and employed tactics that included paying kickbacks to surgeons for using the device although they were aware of safer alternatives. "All they are doing by trying more of these cases is driving up their costs and driving the company's reputation into the mud", he said.

    Johnson & Johnson contends the trial judge made incorrect rulings that unfairly hampered the company in presenting its case.

    "Today's verdict provides no guidance on the merits of the overall Pinnacle litigation because the court's rulings precluded a fair presentation to the jury", said John Beisner, J&J's attorney.

    DePuy ceased selling the metal-on-metal Pinnacle devices in 2013 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration strengthened its artificial hip regulations.

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36. $1 Billion Jury Award for DePuy Metal Hip Implants

    Dec 4, 2016 | Junior College

    By Vanessa Coleman

    Kinkeade has scheduled another test trial involving claims by 10 hip recipients for September 2017, according to court filings. They said that the companies that promoted the devices claimed that these last longer than devices made of ceramic and plastic materials.

    Lanier said Thursday's verdict was "a message loud and clear" that J&J has "a really nasty part of their business they need to clean up".

    The $1 billion verdict dwarfs previous Pinnacle verdicts.

    "We have no greater responsibility than to the patients who use our products, and our goal is to create medical innovations that help people live more active and comfortable lives".

    The DePuy unit acted appropriately in designing and testing the product, spokesman Mindy Tinsley said in a statement.

    DePuy ceased selling the metal-on-metal Pinnacle devices in 2013 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration strengthened its artificial hip regulations.

    Because the six hip recipients who sued Johnson & Johnson were all California residents, that state's law governs the handling of punitive damages awarded in the case. DePuy won the 1st bellwether trial in the MDL, in October 2014. Johnson & Johnson and DePuy have appealed that ruling. In July, the judge presiding over this case, U.S. District Judge Edward Kinkeade, reduced a $500 million verdict in an earlier Pinnacle implant case to $151 million, citing a Texas state law that limits punitive damages awards. A bellwether trial is one that is typically representative of all the issues involved in the litigation of a mass tort case.

    
    

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37. Jury Orders Johnson & Johnson To Pay $1 Billion For Faulty Hip Implants

    Dec 5, 2016 | iTech Post

    Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, DePuy Orthopaedics, have been ordered federal jury in Dallas, Texas to pay at least $1 billion to a group of plaintiffs over artificial hip replacements.  Patients claim that the company's hip solution, Pinnacle, had to be surgically removed because they hid flaws. 

    Did J&J's Artificial Hip, Pinnacle, Cause Metal Poisoning?

    Six plaintiffs claimed they suffered "serious medical complications caused by defective" Pinnacle implants.  The jurors found that the companies failed to warn patients and doctors about the risks of using the product.  The patients alleged that Pinnacle hips leached cobalt and chromium into their bloodstream.

    Lead attorney Mark Lanier of the Lanier Law Firm in Houston said: "Once again, a jury has listened to the testimony of both sides, and returned a verdict affirming what we've known all along: a responsible company would settle these cases and take care of their injured consumers, rather than forcing them through expensive and vexatious litigation just to delay justice.  This jury spoke loud and clear, and I hope J&J will finally listen."

    Johnson & Johnson And DePuy Will Appeal

    Johnson & Johnson stopped selling Pinnacle in 2013 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration toughened artificial-hip regulations.  In October 2014, J&J won their first trial against Pinnacle after a jury rejected claims by a Montana woman that the product gave her metal poisoning.  

    Mindy Tinsley, spokeswoman for DePuy said: "We have no greater responsibility than to the patients who use our products, and our goal is to create medical innovations that help people live more active and comfortable lives.  DePuy acted appropriately and responsibly in the design and testing of ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal, and the product is backed by a strong track record of clinical data showing reduced pain and restored mobility for patients suffering from chronic hip pain."

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38. Five things for pharma marketers to know: Monday, December 5, 2016

    Dec 5, 2016 | Medical Marketing & Media

    1. The FDA approved Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly's Jardiance for a new indication to reduce cardiovascular death in adults with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It's the first time that data has found that a diabetes drug can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. (Reuters)

    2. Novartis said 82% of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia were disease-free three months after undergoing treatment with its experimental CAR-T therapy CTL019. The drugmaker tested the treatment on 50 children and adults with the blood cancer who did not respond to other treatment. (Reuters)

    3. Physicians have reported serious risks associated with immunotherapy drugs, which are widely considered to be breakthrough cancer treatments. Doctors say that immunotherapies are the cause of new diabetes in 17 patients. (NYT)

    4. An executive hired to work on Apple's health initiatives reportedly left the company. Yoky Matsuoka worked on key projects like the HealthKit software and CareKit and was a co-founder of Google X, which produces Google Glass. (Bloomberg)

    5. A federal jury said Johnson & Johnson must pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who received the company's Pinnacle hip implants. The plaintiffs said the implants' design caused tissue death and bone erosion. (NYT)

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39. Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay over $1 billion over hip products

    Dec 5, 2016 | Consumer Affairs

    By Christopher Maynard

    Johnson & Johnson has been ordered by a Texas jury to pay over $1 billion in damages because claimants said that the company covered up flaws in its Pinnacle artificial hips. The suit claims that the DePuy unit of the company knew about the defects but still chose not to warn doctors and patients about the inherent risks.

    The company was ordered to pay $30 million in damages to six plaintiffs and over $1 billion in punitive damages, according to a Chicago Tribune report. Those who had the defective devices installed had to have them surgically removed. The company will likely appeal the decision, but University of Michigan law professor Erik Gordon says that company may want to start making settlement offers to the thousands of potential claimants across the country.

    “They may think they have good defenses to these claims, but they don’t seem to be working with juries. There’s no easy way out of these cases now that they have a billion-dollar verdict against them. They better start thinking of how they can settle these claims before the price goes up any more,” he said.Setting the tone

    Early signs indicate that the company will continue digging in and defending its actions. Company spokesperson Mindy Tinsley released a statement saying that the DePuy unit had designed and tested the hip products appropriately.

    Further, the company says it has strong grounds for an appeal, alleging that Texas Judge Ed Kinkeade did not allow a “fair presentation to the jury.” In a statement, attorney John Beisner said that an appellate court would need to review the case for errors; representatives will be asking Judge Kinkeade to postpone scheduling any more trials until that review is conducted.

    Regardless of the outcome, Johnson & Johnson will have long road of litigation ahead of it connected to the hip products. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission estimates that there are roughly 9,000 pending suits connected to Pinnacle hip failures, and a billion dollar settlement would set a grim tone going forward.

    “The jury is telling J&J that they better settle these cases soon,” said John Lanier, who represented the six Texas claimants. “All they are doing by trying more of these cases is driving up their costs and driving the company’s reputation into the mud.”

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40. Court issues billion-dollar hip-implant verdict against Johnson & Johnson

    Dec 5, 2016 | HealthCare Business

    By Thomas Dworetzky

    A federal jury in Dallas has slammed Johnson & Johnson with a $1 billion decision in a lawsuit over defective metal-on-metal hip-implants. 
    
    The suit was filed on behalf of six people who got the devices and went on to develop serious medical complications, according to a statement by lead attorney Mark Lanier of the Lanier Law Firm in Houston.

    The hip replacements were produced by the company's DePuy Orthopaedics subsidiary. 
    
    "Once again, a jury has listened to the testimony of both sides, and returned a verdict affirming what we've known all along: a responsible company would settle these cases and take care of their injured consumers, rather than forcing them through expensive and vexatious litigation just to delay justice," said Lanier. "This jury spoke loud and clear, and I hope J&J will finally listen." 
    
    This is the third test case for the implants. One earlier led to a $500 million verdict. In 2014 the two firms were cleared in the initial case over the devices. 
    
    The Pinnacle implant “was designed with a metal, rather than a safer ceramic or polyethylene, socket,” according to the statement. 
    
    When then two metal surfaces rubbed against each other, the suit claimed, corrosion took place and this, in turn, led to bone loss and and tissue erosion. 
    
    “Each of the six plaintiffs in the trial had to undergo revision surgeries to replace the implants and repair the damage,” according to the statement. 
    
    This is the third “bellwether trial” concerning the implants. It involved California patients who all had injuries that were “attributed to design flaws,” according to Business Insider. 
    
    The next bellwether trial concerns 10 patients and has been slated for September 2017 in Dallas, according to The Lanier Law Firm. 
    
    Lanier said the verdict was "a message loud and clear" that J&J has "a really nasty part of their business they need to clean up," according to Reuters. 
    
    According to the wire service, a plaintiffs' offer to settle for $1.8 million before trial had been refused by the company. 
    
    Johnson & Johnson's attorneys were critical of the decision, which will be appealed. “Today’s verdict provides no guidance on the merits of the overall Pinnacle litigation because the court’s rulings precluded a fair presentation to the jury,” said Johnson & Johnson attorney John Beisner, who added that an appeals court will be asked to put off further trials over “implant defects.” 
    
    Although Johnson & Johnson and DePuy deny wrongdoing, they now face almost 8,400 metal-on-metal implant suits. These are now “consolidated” in federal court in Texas. 
    
    Test cases such as this one help to establish the price of the remaining claims.
    

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41. Johnson & Johnson is ordered to pay $1bn over faulty hip implants

    Dec 6, 2016 | British Medical Journal

    By Owen Dyer

    A federal jury in Dallas has ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $1.041bn (£0.82bn; €0.98bn) in compensation and punitive damages after it found in favour of six plaintiffs who claimed that the company’s DePuy medical devices subsidiary deliberately hid flaws in its Pinnacle metal-on-metal artificial hips from doctors and patients.

    All six plaintiffs needed revision surgery to replace the devices and to repair injuries that included tissue death and bone erosion. The Dallas hearing was a test case, the third of seven “bellwether” cases intended to establish liability and to guide compensation in 8900 claims pending from other Pinnacle plaintiffs.

    J&J won the first test case in October 2014, against a Montana woman who alleged that the device gave her metal poisoning. This March J&J lost the second test case against five patients in Texas. A jury awarded $502m in damages, which was reduced to $151m after review by the judge overseeing the test cases, US district judge Ed Kinkeade.

    Since the third and latest settlement involves plaintiffs who all hail from California, the court will follow that state’s law and the damages will not be adjusted by the judge. J&J will appeal the damages, however, to a higher court.

    Just $32m of the latest award is compensation for injuries, while $1.009bn takes the form of punitive damages, the largest punitive award against a corporation in any US court this year. Mark Lanier, counsel for the plaintiffs, said that the verdict sent “a message loud and clear” that J&J has “a really nasty part of their business they need to clean up.”

    Lanier said, “The jury is telling J&J that they better settle these cases soon. All they are doing by trying more of these cases is driving up their costs and driving the company’s reputation into the mud.”

    He added that J&J’s lawyers had rejected the plaintiffs’ offer to settle for $1.8m before trial.

    The result caps a difficult year in the courts for J&J, whose subsidiaries have been on the wrong end of six of the seven largest defective product verdicts in the United States in 2016.

    The Pinnacle device, also marketed as the Ultamet, is the second artificial hip to land the company in legal trouble. J&J paid out over $2.5bn in 2013 to settle more than 7000 lawsuits over its ASR metal-on-metal hip devices, which it recalled in 2010 because of high failure rates. The Pinnacle device predated the ASR but was discontinued only in 2013, when the Food and Drug Administration tightened its regulations on artificial hips.

    A spokeswoman for J&J said, “DePuy acted appropriately and responsibly in the design and testing of Ultamet metal-on-metal, and the product is backed by a strong track record of clinical data showing reduced pain and restored mobility for patients suffering from chronic hip pain.”

    A fourth bellwether trial is scheduled for September 2017.

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Local Coverage

42. Hip damages: Jury tells J&J to pay another $1 billion

    Dec 2, 2016 | Philadelphia Inquirer

    By Joseph N. DiStefano

    A federal court jury in Dallas on Thursday told Johnson & Johnson to pay $30 million in actual damages, plus more than $1 billion as a punishment, to six people who said they suffered medical complications from a line of discontinued metal Pinnacle-brand hip implements made by J&J's Massachusetts-based DuPuy Ortopaedics Inc. unit.

    J&J, which collects about $1 billion in after-tax profits every three weeks from its extensive drug and medical device and equipment sales, was hit for another $500 million in hip-implant damages at a separate Texas trial in March. After Thursday's verdict, the company said in a statement to reporters that it designed and tested the hip joints lawfully, and it is likely to appeal the award. 

    Mark Lanier, lawyer for the latest group of plaintiffs, who are California residents, said in this statement that the punishing verdicts should encourage J&J "to settle these cases and take care of their injured consumers."

    Since the FDA tightened hip-replacement rules three years ago, following reports of damage to patients as companies' "metal-on-metal" joints wore out, J&J and other manufacturers turned instead to hips with ceramic and plastic sockets. 

    "J&J still faces almost 9,000 lawsuits accusing the company of mishandling the metal-on-metal hips," Bloomberg LP reports here.  "At $1.04 billion in damages, it’s the third-largest overall jury award of 2016," and the largest for punitive damages, according to Bloomberg data.  

    In a separate settlement, J&J in 2013 recalled 93,000 of its ASR line of hip joints, and agreed to pay at least $2.5 billion to compensate users for metal poisoning, premature wear and other problems. 

    The recent case is In Re DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., Pinnacle Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, MDL 3:11-md-0244.
    

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43. Johnson & Johnson hit with $1B penalty for faulty hip implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | 13 Action News Las Vegas

    By Eric Pfahler

    Johnson & Johnson was hit with a $1 billion penalty by a Texas jury after the company was found responsible for hiding problems with hip implants. 

    A federal jury found the major pharmaceutical company responsible and awarded $30 million in actual damages for the six plaintiffs along with $1 billion in punitive damages, Bloomberg reported. 

    The company denied any wrongdoing and plans to appeal, according to the International Business Times. 

    About 9,000 lawsuits have been filed against Johnson & Johnson after problems occurred with Pinnacle hip replacements. Patients have said the metal-on-metal hip replacements causes metal poisoning. The lawsuit claimed Johnson & Johnson knew about the problems but pushed sales for profit, according to Bloomberg
    

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44. Jury delivers $1B verdict in Texas lawsuit over artificial hips

    Dec 1, 2016 | KWTX News 10 Central Texas

    A federal court jury Thursday in Dallas returned a more than $1 billion verdict in a lawsuit filed over faulty artificial hips.

    The suit filed on behalf of six plaintiffs against DePuy Orthopaedics and its parent company Johnson & Johnson alleged that the company hid flaws in its Pinnacle artificial hips that caused the devices to fail prematurely, leaving patients facing surgeries and pain.

    Jurors started deliberations in the 10-week trial at around 4 p.m.

    Wednesday and delivered the verdict at around 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

    U.S. District judge Ed Kincaid, a Baylor graduate, presided over the case.

    The suit is the third over the product to go to trial.

    The trial of the first suit, which sought $500 million, ended in a defense victory.

    In the trial of the second suit, five plaintiffs won a $502 million judgement.

    Waco lawyer Zollie Steakley with the Harrison Davis Steakley Morrison law firm was part of a team that won that award.

    He also played a role in the trial that ended Thursday.

    About 8,000 other similar cases against Johnson & Johnson are pending.

    The company likely will appeal as it said it would do after the second trial.

    DePuy spokeswoman Mindy Tinsley said in a statement after the second trial in March that the company “acted appropriately and responsibly in the design and testing” of the devices.

    “The product is backed by a strong record of safety and effectiveness in reducing pain and restoring mobility for patients,” she said in an emailed statement.

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45. Dallas jury orders Johnson & Johnson to pay $1 billion for selling defective hip implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | Texas Morning News

    A federal jury in Dallas ordered Johnson & Johnson and one of its subsidiaries to pay more than $1 billion in damages Thursday for "despicable and vile conduct" in selling Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants that they knew were seriously defective.

    A jury of six women and three men ordered the New Jersey pharmaceutical and medical device maker and its DePuy Orthopaedics subsidiary to pay damages to six people -- all from California -- who suffered serious chronic and painful medical problems caused by the device.

    More than 40 witnesses testified during the 11-week trial. The jury deliberated for nearly eight hours before returning with the verdict awarding $32 million in actual damages and $1.009 billion in punitive damages.
    

    The trial was the third in a series of bellwether cases being held by U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade. More than 8,900 cases against Johnson & Johnson and DePuy have been filed across the U.S. The lawsuits have been consolidated in what is known as multi-district litigation.

    In the first trial, held in October 2014, the jury ruled for Johnson & Johnson.

    Last March, a second jury ruled in favor of five Texans who sued the hip implant maker and were awarded more than $502 million in damages, an amount that Kinkeade reduced to $113 million as a result of legal caps on damages under Texas law.

    The last verdict is on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

    Mark Lanier, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs in the multi-district litigation, said he plans to ask the Fifth Circuit to consolidateThursday's verdict with the two pending cases.

    In Thursday's decision, the jury found that Johnson & Johnson and DePuy officials intentionally misrepresented the dangers of the product for the sake of monetary gain.

    "Once again, a jury has listened to the testimony of both sides and returned a verdict affirming what we've known all along: a responsible company would settle these cases and take care of their injured consumers, rather than forcing them through expensive and vexatious litigation just to delay justice," Lanier said. "This jury spoke loud and clear, and I hope J&J will finally listen."

    The Pinnacle implant, according to Lanier, was designed with a metal, rather than a safer ceramic or polyethylene, socket. The metal-on-metal design causes the socket to rub against the ball head, which can lead to corrosion and can cause bone and surrounding tissue to erode over time.

    Each of the six plaintiffs in the trial had to undergo revision surgeries to replace the implants and repair the damage.

    The fourth bellwether trial is scheduled for September 2017.

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46. Johnson & Johnson Ordered to Pay $1B Over Hip Implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | The Village Suntimes

    By Max Garcia

    A Texas jury has awarded more than $1 billion total to six separate plaintiffs at the conclusion of a consolidated trial against DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, during which jurors heard claims relating to the company's allegedly defective Pinnacle Hip Implant, HarrisMartin Publishing is reporting.

    The federal jury sided with the plaintiffs that the Pinnacle hip implants were designed defectively and that the company failed to warn patient's about the looming risks. 

    In March, a Dallas jury awarded more than $500 million to a group of plaintiffs who suffered similar complications from the hip implants. Plaintiffs claimed the companies promoted the devices as lasting longer than devices that include ceramic or plastic materials.

    Both Johnson & Johnson and DePuy denied wrongdoing and said they will appeal.

    The nine-member jury deliberated for more than eight hours before awarding $32 million in actual damages and more than $1 billion in punitive damages for the metal-on-metal implants.

    Verdicts of such size are often scaled back by courts. J&J and DePuy have been hit with almost 8,400 lawsuits over the devices, which have been consolidated in Texas federal court.

    The second case went to trial nine months ago, resulting in a $498 million verdict for five Texans who said they suffer from several medical complications due to the implants. J&J and DePuy were cleared of liability in the first test case in 2014.

    Mark Lanier, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs in the multi-district litigation, said he plans to ask the Fifth Circuit to consolidateThursday's verdict with the two pending cases.

    DePuy ceased selling the metal-on-metal Pinnacle devices in 2013 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration strengthened its artificial hip regulations.

    This is the third bellwether - or test - trial of thousands of similar lawsuits filed against the companies. Johnson & Johnson and DePuy have appealed that ruling. 
    

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47. Jury: Defective hip replacements hurt thousands

    Dec 3, 2016 | KVUE ABC Austin

    By Michael Perchick

    A federal jury in Texas came to a landmark conclusion this week, ordering pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson to pay more than $1 billion to victims of defective hip replacements. 

    One of the plaintiffs is Frances Scott.

    "I thought I was going to get my life back. What ended up happening was that I got five years of absolute hell and misery, career loss, home loss," Scott said. 

    For two decades, she was a successful news anchor for the ABC affiliate in Raleigh. During that time, she began to suffer from congenital hip dysplasia, an undiagnosed birth defect. As a result, she had hip replacement surgery, which was supposed to fix the issue.

    "I was told the hips were designed for a young, highly active patient," Scott said.

    But the hip replacement only made her problems worse.

    Scott, and thousands of others, allege that the hip replacements provided by Johnson & Johnson and DePuy Orthopaedics were defective.

    And instead of recalling them, they claim the companies kept pushing the defective hip replacements, despite knowing the risks.

    Scott said the metal-on-metal design of the replacements can cause severe deterioration to her body, ranging from organ damage to sensory loss.  She said it has led to pain, paranoia and lost memories with her children.

    "That's the part that breaks my heart every day. And I fight to stay happy, and I fight to stay strong, and I fight to stay active. And I tell them good things are coming for us, and I believe good things are coming for us...but I can't give them back a happy childhood," Scott said.DePuy and Johnson & Johnson said they plan to challenge the verdict.

    "We have no greater responsibility than to the patients who use our products, and our goal is to create medical innovations that help people live more active and comfortable lives," said Mindy Tinsley, spokesperson for DePuy. "DePuy acted appropriately and responsibly in the design and testing of ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal, and the product is backed by a strong track record of clinical data showing reduced pain and restored mobility for patients suffering from chronic hip pain."

    The lawsuit is one of nearly 9,000 that Johnson & Johnson is facing.

    Scott says that she feels as good as she has in years thanks to her active lifestyle. But she's also read the horror stories of internal suffering felt by fellow plaintiffs and knows a second surgery is  likely a necessity, rather than a choice.

    “I'm finally able to be active again for the first time in five years, and I'm looking down the barrel of the gun and I'm going to have to do it all over again.  And this next surgery's worse. And what's even worse - now (that) the doctors know the product is bad, they don't want anything to do with you,” said Scott.

    
    

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48. National briefs: Yemeni man released from Gitmo prison

    Dec 5, 2016 | Pittsburg Post Gazette

    J&J to pay record $1B

    A Texas jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay more than $1 billion to patients who claimed the company hid flaws in its Pinnacle artificial hips that had to be surgically removed, in J&J’s second loss linked to the implants.

    J&J still faces almost 9,000 lawsuits accusing the company of mishandling the metal-on-metal hips. J&J stopped selling the devices in 2013 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration toughened artificial-hip regulations.

    At $1.04 billion in damages, it’s the third-largest overall jury award of 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The largest, for $3 billion, came in June in a breach of contract case brought by Hewlett-Packard Co. against Oracle Corp. The punitive award against J&J was the largest against a company this year, according to Bloomberg data. Such punishment damages are intended to dissuade defendants from continuing sanctioned practices.

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49. J&J loses $1B lawsuit over faulty hip replacements, report says

    Dec 5, 2016 | NJ.com

    By Kathleen O'Brien

    A jury in Texas has ruled against a subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson in a lawsuit by six patients who received its faulty hip replacements, according to reports.

    The verdict included $1 billion in punitive damages against its DePuy Orthopaedics unit. Another $32 million in compensatory damages was to go to the plaintiffs, all of whom suffered after hip replacement surgery that used the DePuy device. 

    Each had to undergo a second surgery to replace the implant and repair damage to bone and tissue.

    J&J faces more than 8,000 lawsuits for the DePuy product. There have been two earlier trials that looked at the product - one that ruled against the manufacturer, the other that ruled in its favor. 

    The company said it planned to appeal. The company says studies have shown the Pinnacle Ultamet line of devices restores mobility and reduces pain for patients in need of hip replacement.

    DePuy Synthes makes surgical joint replacements, power surgical tools, as well as other medical devices used to treat spinal injuries and sports-related injuries. It has offices in Florida, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.

    This is the second line of J&J hip replacement implants that have triggered lawsuits. The company recalled a different brand, the ASR device, in 2010, and set aside $2.5 billion to compensate patients for damages.

    J&J's DePuy faces allegations that the metal-on-metal version of the Pinnacle hip was defectively designed and caused metal debris to leech into patients' bloodstreams. In some cases, the cobalt-and-chromium material caused an infection that forced the patient to have the artificial hips surgically removed.

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50. Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay over $1 billion over hip products

    Dec 5, 2016 | Consumer Affairs

    By Christopher Maynard

    Johnson & Johnson has been ordered by a Texas jury to pay over $1 billion in damages because claimants said that the company covered up flaws in its Pinnacle artificial hips. The suit claims that the DePuy unit of the company knew about the defects but still chose not to warn doctors and patients about the inherent risks.

    The company was ordered to pay $30 million in damages to six plaintiffs and over $1 billion in punitive damages, according to a Chicago Tribune report. Those who had the defective devices installed had to have them surgically removed. The company will likely appeal the decision, but University of Michigan law professor Erik Gordon says that company may want to start making settlement offers to the thousands of potential claimants across the country.

    “They may think they have good defenses to these claims, but they don’t seem to be working with juries. There’s no easy way out of these cases now that they have a billion-dollar verdict against them. They better start thinking of how they can settle these claims before the price goes up any more,” he said.Setting the tone

    Early signs indicate that the company will continue digging in and defending its actions. Company spokesperson Mindy Tinsley released a statement saying that the DePuy unit had designed and tested the hip products appropriately.

    Further, the company says it has strong grounds for an appeal, alleging that Texas Judge Ed Kinkeade did not allow a “fair presentation to the jury.” In a statement, attorney John Beisner said that an appellate court would need to review the case for errors; representatives will be asking Judge Kinkeade to postpone scheduling any more trials until that review is conducted.

    Regardless of the outcome, Johnson & Johnson will have long road of litigation ahead of it connected to the hip products. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission estimates that there are roughly 9,000 pending suits connected to Pinnacle hip failures, and a billion dollar settlement would set a grim tone going forward.

    “The jury is telling J&J that they better settle these cases soon,” said John Lanier, who represented the six Texas claimants. “All they are doing by trying more of these cases is driving up their costs and driving the company’s reputation into the mud.”

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51. Johnson & Johnson Faces Fines

    Dec 5, 2016 | KIDY-Fox San Angelo, TX

    The “family company” is facing trouble over faulty hip implants.

    Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who say they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants.

    A federal jury in Dallas found the company’s metal-on-metal hip implants were defectively designed.

    The six plantiffs experienced tissue death, bone erosion and other injuries.

    Johnson & Johnson said it would immediately repeal the verdict.

    The company faces more than 8,000 lawsuits over the hip implants.

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International Coverage

52. J&J hit with more than $1bn verdict over defective hip implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | Austrian Tribune

    By Anja Prohaska

    Johnson & Johnson (J&J) suffered another tough legal blow on Thursday, when a federal jury in Dallas ordered its DePuy Orthopaedics division to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who alleged that they were injured by the company's Pinnacle hip implants.

    The federal jury sided with the plaintiffs that the Pinnacle hip implants were designed defectively and that the company failed to warn patient's about the looming risks.

    A plaintiff's lawyer, Mark Lanier, welcomed the verdict and stressed that it was a loud and clear message that J&J needs to clean up a really nasty part of its business.

    The total verdict amount of $1.041 billion includes $32 million in compensatory damages, with the rest being punitive damages. However verdicts of such huge sizes are often reduced or scaled back by courts.

    The company has been hit with as many as 8,400 lawsuits over the controversial devices. The cases have been consolidated in Texas federal court, and test cases have been chosen for trial. The outcomes of the test cases will help gauge the remaining claims' value.

    J&J denied any wrongdoing arising from the development and advertising of the devices, and declared that it would appeal the verdict.
    

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53. Johnson & Johnson to pay over $1 billion penalty on faulty hip replants

    Dec 2, 2016 | International Business Times

    By Debasis Mohapatra

    Global medical devices, pharmaceutical product manufacturer Johnson and Johnson (J&J) was imposed over $1 billion penalty by a Texas jury as the company was found hiding flaws in its hip replants, making it one of the highest damage claims this year.

    According to a Bloomberg report, J&J and its subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics will pay the fine to six plaintiffs who said they were injured by company's Pinnacle hip implants.

    While the company will have to pay more than $30 million in actual damages, over $1 billion penalty has been imposed as punitive damages, the report said quoting court filings.

    The pharma major has been facing around 9,000 lawsuits over Pinnacle hip implants with clients accusing the company of mishandling the metal-on-metal hips. J&J has stopped selling these implants in 2013 after US Food and Drug Administration revisited artificial-hip regulations.

    According to the report, the damage claim of more than $1 billion is the third-largest overall jury award in 2016. The highest penalty of $3 billion was imposed in June in a breach of contract case brought by Hewlett-Packard Co. against Oracle Corp.

    "The jury is telling J&J that they better settle these cases soon," the Bloomberg report quoted Mark Lanier- attorney for group of six hip patients- as saying. "All they are doing by trying more of these cases is driving up their costs and driving the company's reputation into the mud," he said.

    Earlier, patients had alleged that J&J officials pushed ahead with the hip replants to rack of billions of dollars in sales despite knowing its faulty designs.

    Meanwhile, the company denied any wrongdoings and said in a statement that it would immediately appeal the verdict and was committed to defending itself and DePuy from future litigations over the Pinnacle devices.

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54. Johnson & Johnson to pay $1 billion for faulty hip implants

    Dec 2, 2016 | United Press International

    By Stephen Feller

    In one of the largest rulings of the year, Johnson and Johnson was ordered to pay more than $1 billion to patients whose artificial hips had to be removed because of dangers the company did not disclose.

    Johnson and Johnson plans to appeal the decision, but it is one of nearly 9,000 lawsuits patients have filed because of negative outcomes from the company's Pinnacle artificial hips and may set a precedent for how some of the other cases play out.

    The settlement, delivered by a federal jury in Dallas, includes more than $30 million for actual damages to six patients in the suit and another $1 billion in punitive damages. The company said it plans to appeal the decision, though some think that may not be the best idea.

    "They may think they have good defenses to these claims, but they don't seem to be working with juries," Erik Gordon, a law professor at the University of Michigan, told BusinessWeek. "There's no easy way out of these cases now that they have a billion-dollar verdict against them. They better start thinking of how they can settle these claims before the price goes up any more."

    The lawsuits allege that the metal-on-metal implants leached chromium and cobalt materials into patients' bloodstreams, causing the devices to fail and requiring them to be removed. The suits contend the company knew about the danger, did not report it and ignored it while motoring ahead with sales of the devices.

    Johnson and Johnson won the first case filed on the hips in 2014, when a jury rejected a woman's claim that the hips gave her metal poisoning. In Dallas earlier this year, however, a jury awarded five patients $502 million, though the award was later cut by a judge to $150 million.

    Johnson and Johnson, and its subsidiary DePuy, which manufactures the hips, asked U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade not to schedule any of the other 8,900 lawsuits the company still faces for the devices as it appeals the current $1 billion punishment.

    "We have no greater responsibility than to the patients who use our products, and our goal is to create medical innovations that help people live more active and comfortable lives," Mindy Tinsley, a spokesperson for DePuy, said in a press release. "DePuy acted appropriately and responsibly in the design and testing of ULTAMET Metal-on-Metal, and the product is backed by a strong track record of clinical data showing reduced pain and restored mobility for patients suffering from chronic hip pain."

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55. J&J slapped with $1 bn for defective implants

    Dec 3, 2016 | Bureaucracy Today

    A federal jury in Dallas has ordered Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who said they were injured by Pinnacle hip implants, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said.

    Johnson & Johnson is an American multinational medical device, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886.

    The jurors found that the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants were defectively designed, and that the companies did not warn consumers of the risks.

    The six plaintiffs are California residents who were implanted with the hip devices and experienced tissue death, bone erosion and other injuries they attributed to design flaws.

    Johnson & Johnson and DePuy are facing nearly 8,400 Pinnacle-related lawsuits, which have been consolidated in 
    federal court in Texas.

    However, the companies denied any wrongdoing stemming from the development and marketing of the devices.

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Broadcast Coverage

56. Fox Business News Video Clip

    Dec 2, 2016 | Fox Business

    View Clip Here: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/25206766?token=00baa4e4-1122-4098-9112-bf109d675ead

    Rough transcript: Now Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay more than $1 billion to 6 plaintiffs who say they were injured by pinnacle hip implants. A federal judge in dallas found the company’s metal on metal hip implants were defectively designed. The six plaintiffs experienced tissue death, bone erosion, and other injuries. Johnson & Johnson says it would immediately appeal the verdict. The company faces more than 8,000 lawsuits over the hip implants.
    

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