Stryker Corporation, a medical equipment firm based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, failed to avoid charges of negligence, loss of consortium and product liability in a lawsuit surrounding its Trident implants. Trident hip implants were recalled by the company due to abnormally high failure rates.

The personal lawsuit against Stryker was started in 2011 by Mary Lou Cerqua and Peter Cerqua. In 2004, Peter received a Stryker hip implant. Due to failure, the implant was removed in 2009. Prior to removal, court documents state that Mr. Cerqua experienced higher than normal levels of pain. However, his doctor believed that pain levels associated with the implant didn’t signal a problem.

While Peter and his wife decided to file the lawsuit a long time after the initial implant, the U.S. District Court for Southern New York ruled that the lawsuit does fall within the state’s statute of limitations for both product liability and negligence. New York’s statute of liability for these cases is normally three years.

Judge Katherine Forrest presides over the U.S. District Court for Southern New York. In justification of the court’s actions, Judge Forrest stated, "On the basis of the record before this court, a reasonable jury could find any of the following: that Cerqua did or should have discovered the "primary condition" behind his claim immediately after the 2004 surgery, during the period from 2004-2007 when he sought medical advice, after the 2008 knee replacement failed to alleviate the hip pain, or in 2009 when the pain intensified or he underwent the revision surgery."

References

www.consumerinjurylawyers.com/Stryker-Hip-Recall-Lawsuit

www.stryker.com/stellent/groups/corporate/documents/web_prod/147504.pdf

www.judiciary.state.nj.us/notices/2012/n121024f.pdf