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A federal judge in Texas again slashed a large jury verdict against Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics over its metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implant, nearly halving the $1 billion awarded to 6 plaintiffs last month.
A Dallas jury in December found that the metal-on-metal pinnacle hip implants were designed defectively and that the companies failed to appropriately warn patients of the risks associated with the devices, awarding $32 million in compensatory damages and more than $1 billion in punitive damages.
But as he did with a similar, $500 million verdict in a previous Pinnacle lawsuit, Judge Ed Kinkeade of the U.S. District Court for Northern Texas cited “constitutional considerations” in slashing the jury award. Kinkeade awarded more than $4.6 million in compensatory damages and some $74.4 million in punitive damages to lead plaintiffs Marvin and Elizabeth Andrews, according to court documents; the judge reduced the jury awards by similar amounts for the plaintiffs in the other 5 cases.
