Plaintiff Opposes Exatech’s Summary Judgment Motion

Introduction

A plaintiff filed an opposition on September 4, before Judge Pamela Reeves of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, responding to the summary judgment announced for Exatech Inc.'s AcuMatch hip implant lawsuit last month.

The company had announced a summary judgment declaring that there was no written warranty that the device would last longer than 15 years; hence, the case could be excluded under Texas law. However, the plaintiff stated that his case must be considered as an exception to the Texas statute of repose because the company's sales representatives vouched for the device to last 15 to 20 years. He accuses that Exatech purposely covered up design defects in their hip implant device thereby affecting the limitation period. The plaintiff underwent a total arthroplasty of his left hip on September 14, 2001, during which an AcuMatch M-Series Femoral Stem was implanted in his hip. In 2016, the device broke into half and required him to undergo a total hip revision surgery. He filed a product liability action against the company on August 24, 2017, in the Northern District of Texas.

Hip implant failures are on the rise across the U.S. with several affected patients accusing the implant makers of illegally marketing the product as safe to use. Zimmer, Biomet, Stryker and many other manufacturers involved in the class action litigation for failing to provide an inadequate warning about the alleged device breakage.

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