Nov 3, 2014/Bloomberg

Stryker Corp. (SYK) agreed to pay about $1 billion to resolve lawsuits over thousands of hip implants it recalled in 2012 after patients complained of pain, swelling and metal debris from the devices, a federal judge said.

Stryker, based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, withdrew its Rejuvenate and ABG II devices in July 2012 after warning surgeons that year that the devices could harm tissue around the hip and cause other health problems. The company faces 1,800 cases consolidated before U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank in St. Paul, Minnesota. A New Jersey state judge is overseeing about 2,100 lawsuits over the devices.

In those cases, hip recipients blamed the Stryker implants for high levels of metal debris found in their blood.

Last year, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), the world’s biggest seller of health-care products, agreed to pay at least $2.5 billion to settle litigation over its ASR metal-on-metal hip device.

The consolidated New Jersey case is In Re Stryker Rejuvenate and AGB II Modular Hip Implant Litigation, Case No. 296 BER-L-936-13, Bergen County Superior Court (Hackensack). The consolidated federal case is In Re Stryker Rejuvenate and AGB II Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, 13-MDL-2441, U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota (St. Paul).