A DePuy Pinnacle Multi-district litigation status conference was held on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at the U.S. District courthouse in Dallas, Texas. The conference was held before the Honorable Ed Kinkeade, the judge overseeing the federal multidistrict litigation against DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, Inc. regarding the DePuy Pinnacle hip replacement devices.

An overview of the current status of the litigation was presented at the conference.

There are approximately 1,245 cases currently pending in the MDL.

Numerous matters were discussed at the conference. Plaintiffs’ lead counsel in the MDL advised agreement had been reached with defense counsel regarding a Confidentiality Order and an E-discovery Order. Counsel advised Judge Kinkeade that they would continue to work on a Common Benefits Order, Privilege Order, and Explant Preservation Order.

Judge Kinkeade has been advised that work is being done by counsel to create a fact sheet for use in the discovery process. Defendants want a more extensive fact sheet, while plaintiffs are requesting a shorter form of the document.

The scope of the MDL was also discussed at the conference. Defendants have provided a list of cases that include Pinnacle devices with metal, poly and ceramic liners. Judge Kinkeade stated that there is not enough information available at this time to address separating cases in the MDL according to the differing liner material.

The next status conference for the DePuy Pinnacle MDL litigation will be scheduled six to eight weeks from the date of this conference.