Walkup Firm Files Individual Lawsuits For Their DePuy ASR Clients - Not a Class Action
Many of the possible DePuy ASR hip implant clients we are speaking with have one important question: Will my defective DePuy ASR hip implant case be grouped together into a large class action?
This is an understandable concern, given the experiences many people have had with class actions. The worry is that a DePuy ASR class action would turn a person with a serious, life-altering injury into just another number among many hundreds of other plaintiffs. The fear is that one case would get lost in the mix.
Why Walkup Melodia Files Individual Claims
Walkup Melodia is not pursuing a DePuy ASR class action, for two reasons. First, we view each of our DePuy ASR cases as a substantial case that deserves focus as an individual case. Our tradition at Walkup Melodia, over the last 50 years, has been to fully work up and prepare catastrophic injury cases for trial. Using this approach, we consistently ensure that each case receives the full attention it deserves-and that our clients achieve maximum recoveries. We are bringing this same approach to our DePuy ASR hip implant cases.
The second reason is more technical. Simply filing a DePuy ASR class action lawsuit does not ensure that a court will actually permit such a lawsuit. Instead, there are several procedural tests that a case must pass before being certified as a DePuy ASR class action.
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure set forth those tests. They include numerosity (there must be enough injured people to justify a class), the existence of common questions of law or fact among all class members, typicality (the representative plaintiff's injuries must be typical of other members of the class), and whether the representative plaintiff can adequately protect the interests of the class.
We believe that a DePuy ASR class action will not be certified by a court because of the typicality requirement. As we have seen by speaking with our dozens of clients, no two cases are exactly the same. Some clients have DePuy ASR hip implants in both hips and some require more than one hip implant revision surgery. Some have a good recovery after a hip implant revision surgery while others have ongoing problems. In short, no two DePuy ASR hip implant lawsuits are the same. As a result, we believe it is very unlikely that a court will certify a DePuy ASR class action.
If a DePuy ASR class action will not be certified, what will happen? There are two levels of answers because the DePuy ASR cases will be handled on both the state- and federal-court levels.
On the state level, Walkup Melodia is filing most of its DePuy ASR hip implant cases in San Francisco Superior Court. We expect that these cases will be coordinated, a procedure in which all the California state DePuy ASR hip implant cases are heard by one judge somewhere in California. The benefit of this approach is that each DePuy ASR hip implant case gets consistent rulings because only one judge will be supervising the cases-not several dozen judges. The judge supervising the DePuy ASR hip implant cases will also set the schedule for how those cases proceed.
There is a similar procedure on the federal level, known as "Multi-District Litigation." With DePuy ASR multi-district litigation, a panel of federal judges chooses the one federal district court in the country that will supervise the federal DePuy ASR cases.
Experienced DePuy ASR Hip Implant Personal Injury Attorneys
If you received an ASR hip implant and are experiencing problems, you may qualify for compensation for physical damage, additional surgeries and your pain and suffering. Do not contact DePuy Orthopaedics or Johnson & Johnson without first talking to a DePuy hip recall lawyer with experience handling defective medical device cases nationwide. It's important that you understand your rights.
Call the law office of Walkup Melodia toll-free at (888) 799-3968, or contact us online. We handle DePuy ASR hip implant lawsuits in California and nationwide.
