Judge Halves Jury’s $1 Billion Punitive Damages Award in J&J Hip Implant Case
Johnson & Johnson won a ruling cutting almost in half a $1.04 billion jury award to patients who accused the company of hiding defects in its Pinnacle artificial hips that had to be surgically removed, reports Insurance Journal.
The jury’s finding that officials of J&J and its DePuy unit failed to properly warn doctors and patients about the artificial hips’ flaws is intact. But U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade in Dallas found the panel’s punitive-damage awards to six patients were excessive and should be reduced, according to court filings.
“J&J still faces almost 9,000 lawsuits accusing the company of illegally marketing the flawed metal-on-metal hips. J&J stopped selling the devices in 2013 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration toughened artificial-hip regulations,” according to reporter Jef Feeley.
Read the Insurance Journal article.
