A Judicial Panel has decided to appoint an Ohio judge to oversee the Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) of federal lawsuits filed against Johnson & Johnson. Evidence-gathering efforts will be supervised by U.S. District Judge David A. Katz and will be held in Toledo. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed by recipients of the recalled DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System and ASR Hip Resurfacing System as studies indicated their tendency to fail sooner than was expected.
In the hearing set to happen on November 17 in North Carolina, the panel of seven federal judges has heard arguments from five plaintiffs as well as from DePuy as to where the pretrial litigation should take place. Various recommendations were offered by all parties including Chicago, New Orleans, North California and Warsaw, Indiana. No one suggested Ohio.
The Panel's choice of district court were explained through two separate reasons claiming, “Centralization…in the Northern District of Ohio will serve the convenience of parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of the litigation.” In addition the Transfer Order also said, “Centralization…will eliminate duplicative discovery, prevent inconsistent pretrial rulings on discovery and other issues, and conserve the resources of the parties, their counsel and the judiciary.” The MDL process is intended to organize the exchange of evidence and avoid duplication. Once pretrial proceedings are done, each case is sent back to be tried in the courts they were first filed in.
If you have been victimized by the apparent neglect DePuy made, you should seriously consider hiring the expertise of a lawyer to work with you in filing a DePuy hip replacement lawsuit. As DePuy could only promise to reimburse out-of-pocket expenses, you have a legal right to claim damages for non-monetary losses as well. Updates are always available when you visit the DePuy hip lawsuit information center.
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