Robert Dassow Serves as Liaison Counsel in $56 Million Biomet Hip Implant MDL Settlement

Biomet Inc. marketed the M2A Magnum and M2A-38 hip replacement systems as a durable solution for patients needing total hip arthroplasty. The devices used a metal-on-metal ball-and-socket design in which cobalt and chromium components rubbed directly against each other. As wear accumulated, metallic debris shed into surrounding tissue and entered the bloodstream, triggering toxic reactions, inflammation, and in many cases the loosening or outright failure of the implant within a few years of implantation.

Patients who suffered those failures faced revision surgery, a second major operation to remove and replace the failed device. Hundreds of lawsuits filed across the country were consolidated in 2012 into a multidistrict litigation before U.S. District Judge Robert L. Miller Jr. in the Northern District of Indiana. By early 2014, more than 2,400 complaints had been filed in the MDL, with the docket continuing to grow.

Robert T. Dassow of Hovde Dassow + Deets was appointed local liaison counsel for the plaintiffs steering committee, a coordinating role that required managing communication between the court, national co-counsel, and the large plaintiff class spread across multiple jurisdictions. Frederick R. Hovde also served in a liaison counsel capacity for the plaintiffs in the MDL. National co-counsel included Thomas R. Anapol of Anapol Schwartz in Philadelphia and W. Mark Lanier of the Lanier Law Firm in Houston.

On February 3, 2014, the parties submitted a settlement to Judge Miller valued at least $56 million, with $50 million placed in escrow for plaintiffs and $6 million allocated to legal fees. The agreement established a base payment of $200,000 for any plaintiff whose M2A device had required revision surgery more than 180 days after the original implant, with adjustments up or down depending on when the surgery occurred and which device version was implanted. Non-revision plaintiffs, whose devices had not yet been surgically replaced, were excluded from the initial settlement but retained the right to participate if a future revision became necessary.

Because the program paid on a per-claimant basis, its ultimate value grew as additional eligible cases were confirmed; The Indiana Lawyer reported at the time that total compensation was expected to exceed $100 million across the eligible claimant group. Approximately 2,800 cases were ultimately resolved through the MDL program. Dassow confirmed the settlement, noting that patients who had undergone revision surgery on one of the covered metal-on-metal devices would be compensated.