For those individuals following the Kransky Trial Blog in support of Loren “Bill” Kransky and the many of us working hard on the case, today is a proud day. John Gomez and his talented co-counsel won an $ 8.3 million verdict in the first recalled DePuy ASR hip case tried in the nation. See below for a summary of the proceedings and happenings leading up to this successful verdict.
John and the rest of the “Kransky Trial Team” represented Bill, a retired Vietnam veteran and former North Dakota Penitentiary administrator. The trial team worked tirelessly with support from Plaintiffs’ counsel all over the country, to achieve justice on behalf of Mr. Kransky. The case was tried in downtown Los Angeles with our very own John Gomez of Gomez Iagmin Trial Attorneys, Brian Panish of Panish, Shea, Boyle and Mike Kelly of Walkup, Melodia, Kelly, & Schoenberger before the Hon. Steven Czuleger. The trial lasted a total of 25 days and the jury deliberated for almost six full days. The jury ultimately found that the DePuy ASR was defectively designed and the defect caused Mr. Kransky’s injury.
The jury also found that the DePuy adequately warned of the risks associated with the ASR and declined to award punitive damages in the instant case, finding that DePuy did not act with malice. Such findings were despite Mr. Panish’s statements in closing argument and the evidence presented that seemed to show Depuy both knew the hip was defective long before Mr. Kransky got it and chose not to warn doctors of the true dangers of the device.
Mr. Kransky was given a preferential trial date because he was diagnosed with metastatic cancer and was expected to live less than six months. Nonetheless, Mr. Kransky, his wife, and their two grown daughters relocated to Los Angeles from Miles City, Montana for trial. They attended court every day. Bill even walked through the entire Peterson Automotive Museum – something he could have never done while he had the ASR hip. He walked down to the beach and put his toes in the ocean – another thing he never could have done while he had the ASR hip.
Bill was implanted with the ASR in December 2007. He had signature ASR injuries. He had pain and falls as the metal-on-metal device shed toxic chromium and cobalt debris into his hip joint and bloodstream. The metal debris caused metallosis, staining and destroyed the tissue in Kransky’s hip joint. It also caused a pseudotumor to form in his hip joint. His chromium and cobalt levels were, at times, more than 25 times normal levels. The hip was revised in 2012, and the DePuy ASR was removed. After the revision, Kransky’s pain resolved, and his metal ion levels dropped significantly and continue to move toward a normal level.
John was assisted in preparing the case by Theresa Bowen of Gomez Iagmin Trial Attorneys and by co-counsel Dean Goetz of the Law Offices of Dean Goetz. From October-December, Theresa and Dean regularly traveled to Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota to take depositions in the case. Theresa spent a considerable amount of time in Montana before the family was deposed, working with the family to discover the true story of how the DePuy ASR implant impacted Mr. Kransky and his family. During the six week trial, John, Theresa, and Dean spent evenings and weekends with the family, getting to know them and their story even better.
The Kransky case is the first of almost 11,000 similar cases expected to reach trial in the United States. Like Kransky, the other suits deal with the metal-on-metal ASR ball and socket hip implant that was “voluntarily” recalled two years ago. Reportedly, Johnson & Johnson has set aside $1 billion to pay for costs associated with the recall and litigation.
