JOHNSON & JOHNSON
Judge cuts generous damages award in artificial hip case
A US judge almost halves the $1.04bn jury award, but upholds the finding that officials of J&J and its DePuy unit failed properly to warn doctors and patients about the artificial hips’ flaws
Delaware — Johnson & Johnson (J&J) won a ruling cutting almost in half a $1.04bn jury award to patients who accused the company of hiding defects in its Pinnacle artificial hips that had to be surgically removed. A judge on Tuesday left in place a jury’s finding that officials of J&J and its DePuy unit failed properly to warn doctors and patients about the artificial hips’ flaws. But US District Judge Ed Kinkeade found the panel’s punitive damage awards to six patients were excessive and should be reduced. "Constitutional considerations limit the amount a plaintiff may recover in punitive damages," the Dallas judge said in the ruling. The cut wiped out about $500m in damages against J&J and DePuy over the company’s mishandling of the hip implants, said Mark Lanier, a lawyer for the patients who sued. 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 US Food and Drug Admi...
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