Zimmer NexGen Knee Implant Lawsuit Joins Federal MDL

Yet another Zimmer Nexgen knee implant lawsuit joins hundreds of other similar cases in the ongoing multidistrict litigation in federal court in Illinois. Late last month, Plaintiff Kenneth Davis and his wife Darlene Chapman-Davis, of Longview, Texas, began the process of litigation in a products liability lawsuit related to injuries Kenneth suffered after he received allegedly defective Zimmer knee implants in both of his knees in June 2008.

Davis alleges that defects in the knee implants caused extreme pain, loosening of the device, physical impairment and disfigurement, and the need for a premature revision surgery that Davis underwent in July of this year, and an additional revision surgery he is scheduled for in November or December 2013.

In his Zimmer NexGen lawsuit, Davis is demanding compensation for the injuries he suffered, the medical bills and economic losses caused by the defective knee replacement implants, including past and future lost earnings, and the loss of his household services suffered by his wife. He also asks the court to award monetary compensation for mental anguish, pain and suffering, physical impairment and disfigurement, and to consider ordering the defendant to pay punitive damages.

Davis’ injuries are similar to those claimed in most of the Zimmer knee lawsuits involving NexGen devices.  Plaintiffs argue that Zimmer marketed its knee replacement implants as safe and effective, on par with other devices that typically last 15 years. Davis and other injured patients, however, reported loose devices, joint pain and the need for revision surgery within a few months or years of the original implantation surgery. One prominent Chicago orthopedic surgeon told the New York Times in 2010 that he warned the manufacturer that NexGen Zimmer knee replacements were coming loose inside patients as early as 2006.

Following mounting Zimmer knee litigation, the makers of the knee replacement device issued a voluntary knee replacement recall in 2010 for several of its components and related products due to an alleged manufacturing defect.

Allegations in this Zimmer NexGen knee implant lawsuit

Davis and his wife specifically alleged that Zimmer is liable under several theories, including strict liabilities for a defective product design, a manufacturing defect, and a failure-to-warn defect, as well as negligence, negligent misrepresentation in advertising, and breach of implied and express warranties. Davis’ lawsuit also claims the knee replacement implant maker should be liable for punitive damages in order to deter other companies from similarly harmful conduct.

Zimmer knee litigation

More than 1,000 injured patients have filed a Zimmer Nexgen knee implant lawsuit. Hundreds of similar cases  filed in federal court around the country have been centralized in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois through a procedure called multidistrict litigation that seeks to streamline claims of similar allegations and avoid duplicative discovery requests. The Zimmer multidistrict litigation began in August, 2011 with roughly 30 cases, and has now grown to include several hundred suits before U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer.

Currently, the multidistrict litigation court is in the process of selecting a group of  initial cases to serve as “bellwether” trials that will be the first claims presented in court and will allow the parties and legal experts to gauge how juries might respond to the evidence, which overlaps in many of the NexGen knee implant lawsuits. The first of the selected Zimmer knee litigation bellwether trials is scheduled to begin in early 2015.