A new lawsuit claims that Zimmer’s NexGen Knee Device failed after four months. The lawsuit has been brought against Zimmer Inc., Zimmer Holdings Inc. and Zimmer Orthopaedic Surgical Products Inc. and was filed on June 13 in the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Jackie Warnstaff, alleges her NexGen knee device not only was defective, its defects caused her to have to undergo additional surgery, said the Southeast Texas Record. Warnstaff received a Zimmer NexGen Knee device on her right knee in December 2009 at Good Shepard-Marshall Hospital and underwent revision surgery four months later.
The lawsuit accuses the defendants of strict liability for design defect, failure to warn, and manufacturing defect, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, breach of express and implied warranties, and redhibition. Warnstaff seeks compensatory damages for economic loss, loss of services, pain and suffering, emotional distress, punitive damages, statutory damages, attorney’s fees, interest, and court costs, said the Southeast Texas Record.
Meanwhile, the national law firm of Parker Waichman LLP recently filed more than a dozen lawsuits against Zimmer Orthopaedics alleging various components in its NexGen Knee Implant line caused serious injuries, some resulting in the need for revision surgery. The Zimmer NexGen Knee Implant components named in those lawsuits include Zimmer NexGen CR-Flex Component and the Zimmer NexGen LPS-Flex Component.
Those lawsuits were filed on March 5, 2012 and will be included in the Zimmer NexGen Knee Implant multidistrict litigation currently underway in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (MDL 2272). The complaints name Zimmer, Inc., Zimmer Holdings, Inc., and Zimmer Orthopaedic Surgical Products, Inc. as Defendants.
All of the Zimmer NexGen Knee lawsuits filed by Parker Waichman LLP allege that Plaintiffs have suffered injuries as a result of the named Zimmer NexGen Knee device(s) manufactured by the defendants. The lawsuits also assert that, as a result of their injuries, the plaintiffs are entitled to recover compensatory damages for pain and suffering and emotional distress and for economic loss as well as punitive damages.
As we’ve reported previously, Zimmer has been named in numerous lawsuits throughout the country involving various NexGen knee components, including Zimmer NexGen CR-Flex femoral components, Zimmer NexGen MIS tibial components, and Zimmer NexGen LPS-Flex femoral components. All of the lawsuits allege that plaintiffs experienced problems following knee replacement surgery as a result of design defects with the Zimmer NexGen components. In many cases, those problems often resulted in the need for painful revision surgeries.
Last August, all federal NexGen Knee Replacement component lawsuits filed in federal courts were centralized in the Northern District of Illinois. In December, attorneys for Zimmer filed a motion seeking the centralization of New Jersey state lawsuits involving certain NexGen Knee components in Middlesex County, which they say is the least congested venue and centrally located for all parties.
