Pope McGlamry Attorneys to Lead in Exactech Lawsuit

Pope McGlamry is proud to announce that two Shareholders have been appointed to Plaintiffs’ leadership in In Re: Exactech Polyethylene Orthopedic Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3044. On December 12, 2022, the Honorable Nicholas Garaufis in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York appointed N. Kirkland (“Kirk”) Pope as Co-lead counsel to oversee the entire litigation, and Courtney L. Mohammadi to the MDL’s Discovery Committee. The litigation concerns approximately 200,000 hip, knee, and ankle devices that have defective polyethylene that can lead to accelerated wear and bone loss, and/or component fatigue cracking/fracture, all leading to corrective revision surgery. Pope McGlamry represents clients who had Exactech hip and knee devices implanted in them and have had or will need revision surgery to replace the defective devices.

Kirk Pope has extensive experience in litigation against large corporate defendants, particularly orthopedic device manufacturers. He holds Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead Counsel positions in coordinated litigation involving product claims in the Conserve metal-on-metal hip implant (MDL 2329), the Dynasty modular metal-on-metal hip implant (California statewide coordination, JCCP 4710), the Profemur titanium and cobalt chromium modular neck and femoral stem (MDL 2949 and TN State Court Coordinated Proceedings). Appointed to serve as Co-lead in the Exactech MDL with Mr. Pope is Ellen Relkin from Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C. in New York.

“I am honored to continue working with this outstanding group of lawyers on behalf of patients that have suffered severe injuries as a result of these devices. We are underway and expect to move quickly in getting to the answers of how this happened and why” stated Mr. Pope.

Courtney Mohammadi has been working on the Exactech litigation for many months and she successfully argued for consolidation of the cases at the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (“JPML”) hearing in September. This is Mohammadi’s first MDL leadership appointment. Mrs. Mohammadi previously served on three committees in In Re:Zantac (Ranitidine) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2924 including third-party discovery, data analytics, and investigation committees.

“We are excited to officially get the wheels in motion in the Exactech MDL and hold those responsible for the manufacture, design, and packaging of these defective devices accountable. I look forward to working with Plaintiffs’ leadership in accomplishing this” stated Mrs. Mohammadi.

About the Exactech Implant Failures, Recalls, and Litigation

Knees and Ankles:

On August 30, 2021, Exactech notified its distributors and sales representatives of a recall involving its knee and ankle polyethylene inserts that were packaged in vacuum bags that lacked an oxygen barrier layer and advised them to remove all knee and ankle products with an 8-year shelf-life. On February 7, 2022 Exactech sent an Urgent Medical Device Correction Letter to health care professionals informing them that most of their their knee and ankle inserts manufactured since 2004 were packaged in out-of-specification vacuum bags that may enable increased oxygen diffusion. Over time, oxidation can degrade the properties of the polyethylene which can lead to accelerated bone loss, component fatigue cracking/fracture, all leading to corrective revision surgery.

Hips:

On June 24, 2021, Exactech issued a bulletin to its implanting surgeons to let them know that patients are at a higher risk of premature wear of the Exactech polyethylene Connexion GXL Liners in their hip implant replacement systems. Five days later, they recalled their systems implanted between 2015 and 2021 with the FDA. On August 11, 2022, Exactech issued an Urgent Dear Healthcare Professional Communication recalling ALL of their Connexion GXL, Acumatch, MCS, and Novation hip systems because the hip liners were also packaged in out-of-specification vacuum bags and the polyethene hip liner can oxidize and degrade leading to accelerated wear and bone loss, and/or component fatigue cracking/facture, all leading to corrective surgery. The expanded recall also includes liners implanted since 2004, not just 2015-2021 as previously recalled.

To date, almost 200 lawsuits have been filed against Exactech in the Exactech MDL as well as the Florida consolidated proceedings. Pope McGlamry represents clients in both litigations. As discussed above, failure of the recalled Exactech knee, hip, and ankle systems can cause symptoms such as osteolysis, pain around the implanted device, stiffness, limited mobility, loosening of the device, and dislocation. If you believe you have an Exactech hip or knee device and have been experiencing any of these symptoms, give us a call at 404-523-7706 for a free case evaluation.

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Courtney L. Mohammadi

(404) 523-7706

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N. Kirkland Pope

(404) 523-7706

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Caroline G. McGlamry

(404) 523-7706

Email Caroline McGlamry