On December 26, 2013, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana appointed Pope McGlamry partner Mike McGlamry to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the Biomet M2a Magnum Hip Multi-District Litigation (MDL). The Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee is a leadership team of counsel designed to control, manage, and maintain various aspects of the litigation through various committees. It is common in MDLs for the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee to be subdivided into specific committees, including the discovery committee, motions and legal briefing committee, science/expert witness committee, public relations committee, ethics committee, and administrative committee. While the leadership structure may vary from one MDL to another, the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committees’ purpose remains the same: to represent effectively and efficiently the common interests of all MDL plaintiffs.
In October 2012, a federal judicial panel centralized all federal Biomet M2a Magnum hip implant lawsuits. In addition to transferring eight cases pending in various federal courts, the panel ordered the transfer of future case filings to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. The panel anticipated a significant number of Biomet lawsuits and centralized the cases in the Northern District of Indiana in order to process the cases more efficiently. Judge Robert L. Miller, Jr. presides over the litigation, known as Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) No. 2391.
Indiana-based Biomet is a medical device manufacturer that specializes in implants to replace the hip, knee, shoulder and other joints. In 2010, Biomet’s U.S. hip implant sales were $312.9 million, accounting for 12 percent of the domestic hip implant market. Despite Biomet’s success, it has had its share of problems. Specifically, patients have encountered problems with the M2a Magnum hip implant product with metal liners. In fact, nearly 450 adverse events have been reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by patients and doctors related to M2a Magnum products, and the number will most likely grow. These events include pain, swelling, premature device failure and fracture. The problems stem from Biomet’s metal-on-metal design. Metal-on-metal hip implants like the M2a Magnum can cause a variety of complications, including metallosis, which is metal poisoning that occurs when metal particles are released into the blood from the artificial joint.
There are currently 780 cases pending against Biomet in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. Lawsuits have also been filed in various state courts, including courts in New Jersey. If you or a loved one was implanted with the Biomet M2a Magnum hip please contact lawyers at Pope McGlamry for a free evaluation of your potential claim.