DePuy Pinnacle Hip Implant Claims Reaching their Pinnacle

More than 7,500 claims have been filed against Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics concerning its defective metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip replacement system. In one of the newest claims, Pinnacle recipient Michael Baker experienced severe pain and complications after receiving the faulty hip implant in 2002 and had the device removed 10 years later. The claim was filed in May 2015 in the Northern District of Texas, where all the DePuy Pinnacle hip claims have been centralized in a multi-district litigation (“MDL”), which consolidates similar cases for ease and efficiency of trial proceedings. Like many other cases against the manufacturer, the case claims increased levels of cobalt in Baker’s blood, a tell-tale indication that the device caused bits of metal to chip and flow into his bloodstream after years of use.