On June 12, 2015, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury found that Wright Medical Technology's Profemur R hip implant was defective in its manufacturing, but not in its design. Wright was ordered to pay $4.5 million in damages for its defective hip implant.

G. McLaughlin, one of the plaintiff's lawyers said that the jury told them that a failed hip is worth several million dollars. McLaughlin said that they set the benchmark very high as to what the damages are for a failed hip.

Wright Medical is facing over 1,000 lawsuits for defective hip implants. In a written statement, Wright said that it was planning to appeal.

Wright's Conserve Hip Implant

Most of the metal-on-metal cases against Wright have been filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The majority of the lawsuits involve Wright's Conserve hip implant.

Despite that different implants are at issue, Friday's jury verdict in Los Angeles could have a bearing on other cases, which litigation may begin as early as August, especially since the same witnesses are likely to be involved in future trials.

So far, more than a dozen cases involving the Profemur line are pending in Shelby County, Tennessee, not far from Wright's headquarters in Memphis.

The Los Angeles trial brought by A. Warner and his wife, was not a part of the coordinated actions against Wright. Warner had the Profemur R implanted in 2007 to replace an existing device, but just three years later, the implant caused him to suffer extreme pain.

In opening statements, Warner's attorney told the jury that laser etching in the implant stem caused it to fracture in Warner's body, thereby leading to a "whirlwind of surgeries."

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