Releases

HOUSTON - The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has granted The Lanier Law Firm's motion for national coordination of all federal DePuy Pinnacle® hip device lawsuits in In Re: DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., Pinnacle Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2244.

The MDL panel on May 23, 2011, ordered that all federal DePuy Pinnacle® Hip Implant lawsuits be consolidated before Judge James E. Kinkeade in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

"With the court ordering this national coordination, our clients' cases will proceed quicker and more efficiently," says The Lanier Law Firm founder Mark Lanier. "These patients have suffered enough already, and we look forward to getting to the bottom of DePuy's problems."

The DePuy Pinnacle® MDL follows the recent national coordination of litigation involving DePuy's ASR™ Hip System and the ASR™ XL Acetabular System, which were recalled in August 2010. Like the ASR devices, the DePuy Pinnacle® hip implant utilizes a metal-on-metal design that can cause metal shavings to dislodge inside a patient's body, resulting in infections and other problems.

A subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), DePuy has sold more than 150,000 Pinnacle® hip implant devices. The company faces thousands of lawsuits from patients across the country as its hip implants have been associated with a high failure rate and often require additional surgeries and treatment.

Mr. Lanier leads a group of attorneys from The Lanier Law Firm representing more than 100 DePuy hip implant patients across the country. The firm has set up the website www.recalledhip.com to provide information on the latest recall from Johnson & Johnson in addition to information for concerned implants recipients and their families.

With offices in Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and Palo Alto, The Lanier Law Firm is committed to addressing client concerns with effective and innovative solutions in courtrooms across the country. The firm is composed of outstanding trial attorneys with decades of experience handling cases involving pharmaceutical liability, asbestos exposure, intellectual property, business litigation, product liability, maritime law, bad faith insurance claims, and sports and entertainment law.

For more information please contact J.D. Cargill at 713-659-5200.