On July 26, 2012, Judge Martinotti hosted a joint MDL/State Case Management Conference in Bergen County, New Jersey, along with the Honorable David A. Katz, U.S.D.J., who is presiding over the federal cases in the MDL in Ohio. As previously discussed, the centralization of the state and federal cases will streamline the DePuy lawsuits, allowing the parties to avoid duplicative discovery and inconsistent rulings from different judges.
At the conference, Judge Martinotti noted that over 44 million documents have been produced in discovery. Additionally, there have been approximately 3,300 DePuy lawsuits filed nationwide, with 900 law firms representing the plaintiffs. This number may increase as more people learn of the ongoing litigation. Judge Martinotti advised that the first trials are currently scheduled to begin in Maryland, Illinois, and California within the year. Trial in the MDL is set for May 6, 2013 and July 8, 2013. Furthermore, Judge Martinotti has set the first New Jersey trials for September 13, 2013, and October 21, 2013. The next Case Management Conference has been scheduled for the middle of September 2012.
If you have had a hip replacement, which used the DePuy ASR or Pinnacle devices, you can contact Stark & Stark and speak to one of the Mass Tort attorneys, free of charge, who can help assess any claims that you might have against the DePuy manufacturers.