Robert J. Boumis  |  July 22, 2014

Category: Legal News

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Biomet hip implant lawsuitsA Tennessee woman filed a metal-on-metal hip replacement lawsuit against medical device maker Biomet, and other related companies. Her hip implant lawsuit alleges that Biomet developed and marketed a defective artificial hip joint that failed.

According to the hip replacement lawsuit, plaintiff Linda Walker received a Biomet artificial hip in February 2010. The artificial joint was designed to replace Walker’s own failing hip. However, after the surgery, Walker’s hip implant complications lawsuit asserts that the metal surfaces of the joint released toxic ions, creating infection, severe pain, and discomfort. In September 2013, Walker had revision surgery to remove the artificial hip joint and replace it with a new joint of a different manufacturer, according to her hip implant lawsuit.

Walker’s Biomet lawsuit is joining others against the manufacturers of various makes and models of metal-on-metal hip joints. This includes such companies as Stryker, Biomet, DePuy, and Zimmer. In most artificial hip joints, the joint surface is made of ceramic or polymer. But several medical manufacturers, including Biomet, began making artificial hip joints with metal interfacing surfaces. Hip implant side effects lawsuits, like Walker’s, allege that the metal-on-metal design is more likely to grind off microscopic bits of the metal surfaces, releasing toxic medical ions into the body, including cobalt ions. This, hip implant lawsuits including Walker’s allege, can promote complications such as tissue damage, swelling, and failure of the joint. The hip replacement lawsuits often point out that since metal-on-metal hip implants were similar to existing technologies, they were able to sidestep some of the steps of U.S. Food and Drug Administration testing, allegedly leading to a dangerous product finding its way to the general public.

Biomet lawsuits, as well as other hip replacement lawsuits, have taken the form of multidistrict litigation, or MDL. MDLs are a grouping of similar lawsuits. In some ways, MDLs are like class action lawsuits. In both types of legal actions, a number of plaintiffs allege that they have suffered similar harm from the same defendant. Group lawsuits like MDLs and class action lawsuits are designed to help streamline the legal process by combining tens, hundreds, or even thousands of potential individual lawsuits into a single legal proceeding. Several different MDLs have been created for the hip implant lawsuits against different companies that made metal-on-metal hip joints.

The Biomet Metal Hip Implant Lawsuit is Barbara Linda Walker v. Biomet Inc., et al., filed within the Biomet MDL In Re: Biomet M2a Magnum Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2391, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.

In general, metal hip implant lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.

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Join a Free Metal Hip Replacement Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you or a loved one had a metal-on-metal hip implant that failed or caused serious complications, you may be entitled to compensation. Hip replacement lawsuits are being filed now against multiple companies, including Stryker, Biomet, DePuy, Zimmer, and Wright. See if you qualify to take legal action by filling out the form below.

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Please note: Top Class Actions is not a settlement administrator or law firm. Top Class Actions is a legal news source that reports on class action lawsuits, class action settlements, drug injury lawsuits and product liability lawsuits. Top Class Actions does not process claims and we cannot advise you on the status of any class action settlement claim. You must contact the settlement administrator or your attorney for any updates regarding your claim status, claim form or questions about when payments are expected to be mailed out.