Stryker moves ahead with $1B hip settlement plan

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) said last week that it’s moving ahead with the $1 billion deal it inked last year to settle thousands of product liability lawsuits over a pair of recalled metal-on-metal hip implants.

The Kalamazoo, Mich.-based orthopedics giant said 95% of registered eligible patients have singed up for the settlement program, established to compensate patients who had revision surgeries to replace their Rejuvenate or ABG II implants.

“Shortly, the claims processor will begin notifying claimants and their attorneys regarding compensation payments, the exact timing and amount of payments will depend on factors and circumstances specific to each claim. It is expected that payments will begin this July and the majority of payments will be made by the fall of 2015,” Stryker said.

Stryker recalled the Rejuvenate and ABG II implants in July 2012.

The settlement program was announced Nov. 4, 2014, by Judge Donovan Frank of the U.S. District Court for Minnesota, where Frank is overseeing some 1,800 lawsuits filed over the Rejuvenate and ABG II devices. A state judge in New Jersey, Judge Brian Martinotti of the New Jersey Superior Court for Bergen County, is overseeing another 2,100 similar lawsuits.

The settlement calls for each plaintiff in the covered cases to receive as much as $300,000 for each implant, meaning Stryker could be on the hook for up to $1.17 billion. Stryker did not admit to any liability or wrongdoing in the settlement.

Stryker began hashing out settlements with New Jersey Rejuvenate patients in December 2013.

“The health and well-being of patients is Stryker’s top priority,” Stryker Orthopaedics reconstructive division president Bill Huffnagle said last November. “Following our voluntary recall and our patient support program for recall related care, this settlement program provides patients compensation in a fair, timely and efficient manner.”

At the time Stryker said it recorded charges of $1.425 billion for the settlements, which cover “significant Rejuvenate modular-neck and ABG II modular-neck litigation activity in the U.S.”

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