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 Zimmer's knee implant caused their injury. (Id. ¶ 6.) The order labeled those cases "Track Two" cases. (Id.) 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
Allen, Lucie 13 C 3660
Andrus, Charlotte 15 C 3215
Ashton, Janell C. 13 C 8204
Barger, David 12 C 2845
Barnes, Sherry 12 C 990
Barry, Denis 14 C 2377
Barthel, Paul 12 C 3880
Bell, Alice 14 C 2968
Blume, Barbara 12 C 4724
Brooks, Brenda 14 C 486
Brown, Jeffory 12 C 8134
Bruno, Oscar 12 C 1002
Buck, Gwen 13 C 5063
Calloway, Ezra Sr. 13 C 9088
Cameron, Terrance R. 12 C 3968
Camhi, Murray 14 C 2972
Carr, Robert 11 C 974
Carrea, Donna 13 C 6388
Coleman, Pauline L. 15 C 814
Colson, Miller 13 C 956
Consalvo, Donna 12 C 9005
Copeland, Bertha 14 C 2769
Crawford, Naomi 12 C 7891
Cripps, Dale G. 12 C 8141
Didonato, Peter 13 C 6805
Diliberti, Diane 13 C 3143
Doonan, Thomas 12 C 4982
Ellison, Marie 12 C 5797
Faith, Gary 13 C 4400
Fenn, Yvonne 12 C 10279
Flores, Jr., John 12 C 8143
Fomby, Vanessa 13 C 1797
Forde, Lawrence 12 C 2382
Foster, Rosalind 15 C 1519
Geslao, Lois 13 C 3663
Gibbs, Anthony 14 C 6703
Gnann, Sally 13 C 6954
Gonzales, Bonnie 13 C 5059
Greene, Gale 12 C 5412
Gruntorad, Adrian 12 C 4488
Hagans, William 13 C 1663
Harris, Gregory 14 C 8095
Harris, Samuel 12 C 5790
Hennen, Jeffrey 12 C 8370
Hester, Robert J. Sr. 14 C 4767
Hichborn, Danielle 12 C 4742
Higdon, Elizabeth 14 C 1507
Hill, Patricia 12 C 8111
Hill, Shirley 13 C 5447
Hines, Paul L. 14 C 1067
Hix, Lonnie 13 C 2556
Holmes, Jimmie 14 C 435
Horr, Nancy J. 13 C 3235
Hughes, Leola Sharpy 12 C 10301
Hunsinger, Monica 13 C 3010
Hurst, Nancy 14 C 5980
Jefferson, Raymond 12 C 5174
Johnson, Brian Keith 11 C 8816
Johnson, Jacqueline 14 C 5013
Johnson, Viney 15 C 8011
Joyner-Clark, Sharon 13 C 524
Kallsen, Nancy 12 C 10283
Kauz, Lois 13 C 3309
Kennedy, Edward 12 C 3021
Kiser, Ben Edward 12 C 2141
Knox, Mary 13 C 8112
Learn, Maxine 13 C 5960
Lewallen, Daniel 12 C 6166
Littrell, Sally 12 C 9927
Lomanto, Mary Jane 13 C 7382
Lopez, Myrta 11 C 5750
Madera-Rivera, Nilsa 12 C 9011
Mahon, Ronald 12 C 2139
Marks, Helen L. 12 C 788
Martin, Ephsanna 13 C 5194
McClanahan, Paula 11 C 6424
McCray, Geraldine 12 C 9378
McCourt, Arnold 12 C 4727
McKenney, Elouise 11 C 5720
McKinney, Eddie L. 12 C 6502
McVea, Barbara 12 C 9014
Mead, James W. 14 C 1313
Mercurio, Joseph 13 C 7374
Miller, Cynthia 13 C 6133
Miller, Harold 13 C 5060
Millington, Renee 13 C 6521
Mitchell, Delores 12 C 4890
Moore, Donna 13 C 3351
Murphy, Marijo 13 C 4410
Mutter, Sharon 12 C 5202
Myrick, Rhonda 15 C 5024
Nard, Deborah 13 C 3033
Neiss, Sandra 14 C 6233
Oliver, Roger 13 C 203
Owen, John Allen 13 C 1799
Palazzolo, Theresa 12 C 2840
Parker, Richard 11 C 8672
Perez, Anna L. 14 C 1196
Platt, Patricia 14 C 8073
Robinson, Emily 14 C 428
Rodrigues, Eugene 12 C 4744
Roe, Vicki 15 C 2103
Rosario Colon, Cesar 12 C 4754
Santos, Antonio F. 14 C 8082
Scavazzo, Vincent 12 C 4929
Shumate, Pamela 15 C 3209
Seibert, William 12 C 2213
Senz, Norma 13 C 8119
Shaw, Nelda 13 C 3621
Siambanes, Dorothy 12 C 1809
Smith, Juliana 13 C 5262
Smith, Larry O. 13 C 8205
Sprinkles, Frances 14 C 8104
Stevenson, Kimberly 12 C 3328
Stokes, Cynthia 12 C 4481
Stringer, Kathleen 13 C 6804
Suggs, Leslie 13 C 7383
Tedrahn, Linda 12 C 4758
Thomas, Victor 13 C 8202
Thorpe, George 12 C 5411
Torres-Baez, Wilfredo 14 C 480
Tretina, Dorothy 14 C 9554
Turpin, Marcia 14 C 497
Ventura, Loretta 14 C 3236
Walker-Connell, Brenda 14 C 5978
Wells, Audrey Lee 14 C 432
White, Shirley 12 C 7896
Williams, Houston 12 C 9424
Williams, Mary 11 C 5731
Willis, Vergie 12 C 5405
Wilson, Susan R. 13 C 525
Yerkovich, Matthew 14 C 1077