Zimmer NexGen Knee Replacement Attorneys Appointed to Leadership Roles

U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer, who is presiding over all federal Zimmer Nexgen knee replacement lawsuits, has appointed a number of attorneys to serve in various leadership roles in the recently formed multidistrict litigation (MDL). 

These attorneys will perform certain actions during the coordinated pretrial litigation that will benefit all plaintiffs who have filed a lawsuit over problems with Zimmer NexGen knee implants. 

In August, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered that all complaints filed in federal district courts throughout the country involving Zimmer NexGen knee replacements be transferred to Judge Pallmeyer in the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern Illinois as part of an MDL.

All of the lawsuits involve similar allegations that plaintiffs experienced problems following knee replacement surgery as a result of design defects with certain Zimmer NexGen components. Plaintiffs claim to have suffered catastrophic implant failures, often resulting in the need for revision surgery to remove or replace the implants because they failed far in advance of their projected lifespan. Zimmer allegedly downplayed and understated the risk of Zimmer NexGen knee problems.

Although the complaints involve a number of different implants, most of the problems have been linked to the Zimmer NexGen high-flex knee components, Zimmer NexGen MIS tibial components and Zimmer NexGen LPS gender solutions.

In an oral order issued last month, Judge Pallmeyer appointed three attorneys to serve as Co-lead Counsel, one to serve as Liaison Counsel and appointed about a dozen other attorneys to serve on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (PSC).

When the Zimmer NexGen litigation was consolidated there were 28 lawsuits filed in 13 different federal district courts throughout the United States. Since then, at least 72 other cases filed in various federal court have been transferred to the Northern District of Illinois. However, some Zimmer NexGen attorneys representing plaintiffs have suggested that hundreds of complaints are likely to be filed in the coming months over the artificial knee systems.

Judge Pallmeyer has set a hearing schedule for regular status conferences with the leadership attorneys for both the plaintiffs and defendants, which will take place about every six weeks starting November 10.