Zimmer's Appeal On $3.5M Hip Implant Suit Verdict Rejected

Zimmer's Appeal On $3.5M Hip Implant Suit Verdict Rejected

Introduction

An appeal from Zimmer Biomet to request a new trial following a $3.5 million hip implant lawsuit judgment was rejected by a U.S. Court of Appeals.

A federal jury in Iowa awarded the plaintiff $3.55 million in 2020 for damages brought on by the company's hotly contested M2a Magnum metal-on-metal hip implant. The jury decided that the M2a Magnum was improperly designed and returned a judgment in favor of the plaintiff. A federal judge in Missouri approved a $21 million verdict for the M2A Magnum about the same time as the Iowa action.

In a ruling released on August 24, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit upheld the district court's denial of Zimmer Biomet's requests for a new trial and a renewal of its motion for judgment as a matter of law.

The appeals court determined that Zimmer Biomet's request for judgment as a matter of law on the $3.55 million in punitive damages was not improperly denied by the district court because a reasonable jury could have found in favor of the plaintiff by viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict.

The district court, according to Zimmer Biomet, overstepped its bounds by neglecting to inform the jury that the M2a Magnum's instructions and cautions were sufficient as a matter of law. The business claimed that it was incorrect to omit the instruction since Iowa's Civil Jury Instruction 1000.4 states that such instructions and cautions should be taken into account when determining whether a product was reasonably safe.

The plaintiff reportedly acknowledges that warnings and instructions are included as a factor that may have instructed the jury, according to the court. The plaintiff countered that the court was not compelled to take the factor into consideration because the jury was not confronted with any evidence or problems pertaining to the sufficiency of the warnings and instructions for the hip implant. The court of appeals concurred.

A major failure of the medical device sector in the early 21st century is the use of metal-on-metal implants. Although the hip implants were intended to be more robust and long-lasting, they have been plagued by increased failure rates and the possibility of exposure to toxins from metal particles generated during friction.

There are currently no FDA-approved metal-on-metal total hip replacement devices on the market in the United States, despite the FDA's mandate for PMAs for metal-on-metal hip implants in 2016.