Biomet Metal-On-Metal Hip Litigation Moving Forward

The Biomet MDL (multidistrict litigation) was established for the organization and litigation of individual personal injury lawsuits against Biomet in the fall of 2012. In February of this year, the MDL contained 132 individual lawsuits. The count now stands upwards of 180 individual lawsuits, and it is still growing every day. We expect that hundreds of individual lawsuits will be filed in the coming months.

On March 18, 2013, Judge Robert Miller (the presiding judge over MDL No. 2391) held another status conference to discuss Biomet’s production of evidence and the eventuality of a “science day” held to educate the court on the scientific and medical issues pertinent to the litigation. This will be an important step forward in helping all parties to understand the serious medical issues our clients face.

The month of March also saw the expansion of the Biomet MDL to include the M2A-taper hip implants. These implants are similar to the original subject of the lawsuit – the M2A-Magnum and M2A-38 hip implants. The M2A-taper hip implants were also manufactured by Biomet, and were the basis for the M2A-Magnum and M2A-38 hip designs. In other words, the M2A-taper implants allowed the M2A-Magnum and M2A-38 implants to be cleared by the Food & Drug Administration more quickly than if the designs were new and unique. Still, Biomet has resisted all efforts to coordinate this litigation.

Judge Miller also held another status conference on April 22, 2013 where he took care of some administrative issues and issued more orders regarding deposition locations. As you can see, this particular MDL is moving forward, with the next status conference scheduled for June 17, 2013 – only a few days away.