Filed: Mar. 03, 2017
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2017
Summary: ORDER REBECCA R. PALLMEYER , District Judge . Motion for summary judgment [2106] is granted. Summary judgment is granted in 137 cases listed in this order. STATEMENT Defendant Zimmer, Inc. has filed an omnibus motion (hereinafter "Zimmer Omnibus Motion") ([2106] in Master Docket, Case No. 11 C 5468) for summary judgment in more than 100 cases in this MDL proceeding. This order applies to 137 of those cases. Summary judgment should be granted in each of these cases, Zimmer argues, becaus
Summary: ORDER REBECCA R. PALLMEYER , District Judge . Motion for summary judgment [2106] is granted. Summary judgment is granted in 137 cases listed in this order. STATEMENT Defendant Zimmer, Inc. has filed an omnibus motion (hereinafter "Zimmer Omnibus Motion") ([2106] in Master Docket, Case No. 11 C 5468) for summary judgment in more than 100 cases in this MDL proceeding. This order applies to 137 of those cases. Summary judgment should be granted in each of these cases, Zimmer argues, because..
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ORDER
REBECCA R. PALLMEYER, District Judge.
Motion for summary judgment [2106] is granted. Summary judgment is granted in 137 cases listed in this order.
STATEMENT
Defendant Zimmer, Inc. has filed an omnibus motion (hereinafter "Zimmer Omnibus Motion") ([2106] in Master Docket, Case No. 11 C 5468) for summary judgment in more than 100 cases in this MDL proceeding. This order applies to 137 of those cases. Summary judgment should be granted in each of these cases, Zimmer argues, because Plaintiffs failed to timely submit expert reports, as required by Case Management Order No. 9 (hereinafter "CMO-9") ([1651] in Master Docket, Case No. 11 C 5468). At the time the court entered CMO-9, the admissible expert testimony Plaintiffs had offered in the MDL suggested that the allegedly defective design of Zimmer's NexGen Flex knee implants caused injury only for those patients who attained knee flexion, post-implant, equal to or greater than 120 degrees ("high flexion"). Thus, to ensure that MDL Plaintiffs had an adequate evidentiary basis for their claims, CMO-9 required Plaintiffs to submit medical documentation that they had attained high flexion after implantation. Cases in which Plaintiffs failed to timely submit such documentation would not be eligible for selection as a bellwether case in the MDL. (CMO-9 ¶ 5.) CMO-9 recognized, however, that some Plaintiffs who did not have medical documentation of high flexion may nevertheless maintain that the design of Zimme's knee implant caused their injury. (Id. ¶ 6.) The order labeled those cases "Track Two" cases. (/d.) Because an expert opinion had not yet been offered to support a causation theory that did not involve attainment of high flexion, the order required Plaintiffs pursuing an alternative theory of causation to submit a Rule 26(a)(2) expert report in support of that theory by a specified deadline. (Id. ¶ 7.)
In its omnibus motion, Zimmer has produced evidence that Plaintiffs in the 137 cases at issue in this order have failed to submit expert reports in accordance with CMO-9. (Zimmer Omnibus Motion at 3, ¶ 7.) In addition, Zimmer has cited legal authority demonstrating that expert testimony is required under state law to sustain the claims in each of Plaintiffs' cases. (See Ex. A to Zimmer Omnibus Motion [2106-1].) In these 137 cases, Plaintiffs have not responded to Zimmer's motion. Because Plaintiffs have failed to address the legal arguments and factual assertions in Zimmer's motion and because that motion and its supporting materials establish that Zimmer is entitled to summary judgment, the court grants Zimmer's motion for summary judgment ([2106] in Master Docket, Case No. 11 C 5468) in the cases listed below. See FED. R. CIV. P.56(e)(3).
Adams, Jeff 13 C 5058 Crawford, Naomi 12 C7891
Allen, Lucie 13 C 3660 Cripps, Dale G. 12 C 8141
Andrus, Charlotte 15 C 3215 Didonato, Peter 13 C 6805
Ashton, Janell C. 13 C 8204 Diliberti, Diane 13 C 3143
Barger, David 12 C 2845 Doonan, Thomas 12 C 4982
Barnes, Sherry 12 C 990 Ellison, Marie 12 C 5797
Barry, Denis 14 C 2377 Faith, Gary 13 C 4400
Barthel, Paul 12 C 3880 Fenn, Yvonne 12 C 10279
Bell, Alice 14 C 2968 Flores, Jr., John 12 C 8143
Blume, Barbara 12 C 4724 Fomby, Vanessa 13 C 1797
Brooks, Brenda 14 C 486 Forde, Lawrence 12 C 2382
Brown, Jeffory 12 C 8134 Foster, Rosalind 15 C 1519
Bruno, Oscar 12 C 1002 Geslao, Lois 13 C 3663
Buck, Gwen 13 C 5063 Gibbs, Anthony 14 C 6703
Calloway, Ezra Sr. 13 C 9088 Gnann, Sally 13 C 6954
Cameron, Terrance R. 12 C 3968 Gonzales, Bonnie 13 C 5059
Camhi, Murray 14 C 2972 Greene, Gale 12 C 5412
Carr, Robert 11 C 974 Gruntorad, Adrian 12 C 4488
Carrea, Donna 13 C 6388 Hagans, William 13 C 1663
Coleman, Pauline L. 15 C 814 Harris, Gregory 14 C 8095
Colson, Miller 13 C 956 Harris, Samuel 12 C 5790
Consalvo, Donna 12 C 9005 Hennen, Jeffrey 12 C 8370
Copeland, Bertha 14 C 2769 Hester, Robert J. Sr. 14 C 4767
Hichborn, Danielle 12 C 4742 Mutter, Sharon 12 C 5202
Higdon, Elizabeth 14 C 1507 Myrick, Rhonda 15 C 5024
Hill, Patricia 12 C 8111 Nard, Deborah 13 C 3033
Hill, Shirley 13 C 5447 Neiss, Sandra 14 C 6233
Hines, Paul L. 14 C 1067 Oliver, Roger 13 C 203
Hix, Lonnie 13 C 2556 Owen, John Allen 13 C 1799
Holmes, Jimmie 14 C 435 Palazzolo, Theresa 12 C 2840
Horr, Nancy J. 13 C 3235 Parker, Richard 11 C 8672
Hughes, Leola Sharpy 12 C 10301 Perez, Anna L. 14 C 1196
Hunsinger, Monica 13 C 3010 Platt, Patricia 14 C 8073
Hurst, Nancy 14 C 5980 Robinson, Emily 14 C 428
Jetferson, Raymond 12 C 5174 Rodrigues, Eugene 12 C 4744
Johnson, Brian Keith 11 C 8816 Roe, Vicki 15 C 2103
Johnson, Jacqueline 14 C 5013 Rosario Colon, Cesar 12 C 4754
Johnson, Viney 15 C 8011 Santos, Antonio F. 14 C 8082
Joyner-Clark, Sharon 13 C 524 Scavazzo, Vincent 12 C 4929
Kallsen, Nancy 12 C 10283 Shumate, Pamela 15 C 3209
Kauz, Lois 13 C 3309 Seibert, William 12 C 2213
Kennedy, Edward 12 C 3021 Senz, Norma 13 C 8119
Kiser, Ben Edward 12 C 2141 Shaw, Nelda 13 C 3621
Knox, Mary 13 C 8112 Siambanes, Dorothy 12 C 1809
Learn, Maxine 13 C 5960 Smith, Juliana 13 C 5262
Lewallen, Daniel 12 C 6166 Smith, Larry O. 13 C 8205
Littrell, Sally 12 C 9927 Sprinkles, Frances 14 C 8104
Lomanto, Mary Jane 13 C 7382 Stevenson, Kimberly 12 C 3328
Lopez, Myrta 11 C 5750 Stokes, Cynthia 12 C 4481
Madera-Rivera, Nilsa 12 C 9011 Stringer, Kathleen 13 C 6804
Mahon, Ronald 12 C 2139 Suggs, Leslie 13 C 7383
Marks, Helen L. 12 C 788 Tedrahn, Linda 12 C 4758
Martin, Ephsanna 13 C 5194 Thomas, Victor 13 C 8202
McClanahan, Paula 11 C 6424 Thorpe, George 12 C 5411
McCray, Geraldine 12 C 9378 Torres-Baez, Wilfredo 14 C 480
McCourt, Arnold 12 C 4727 Tretina, Dorothy 14 C 9554
McKenney, Elouise 11 C 5720 Turpin, Marcia 14 C 497
McKinney, Eddie L. 12 C 6502 Ventura, Loretta 14 C 3236
McVea, Barbara 12 C 9014 Walker-Connell, Brenda 14 C 5978
Mead, James W. 14 C 1313 Wells, Audrey Lee 14 C 432
Mercurio, Joseph 13 C 7374 White, Shirley 12 C 7896
Miller, Cynthia 13 C 6133 Williams, Houston 12 C 9424
Miller, Harold 13 C 5060 Williams, Mary 11 C 5731
Millington, Renee 13 C 6521 Willis, Vergie 12 C 5405
Mitchell, Delores 12 C 4890 Wilson, Susan R. 13 C 525
Moore, Donna 13 C 3351 Yerkovich, Mattl hew 14 C 1077
Murphy, Marijo 13 C 4410