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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Supreme Court of Utah takes 'case-by-case' approach in artificial hip case

State Court
Hip xray

SALT LAKE CITY (Legal Newsline) – The Supreme Court of Utah determined if a hip implant device manufacturer could be held responsible for a man’s injuries after a hip replacement on Sept. 5.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Utah sent the Supreme Court certified questions in a case it is handling regarding artificial hips. Plaintiff Dale Burningham alleges both of his artificial hips have failed, causing him to undergo several surgeries in hopes of fixing it. 

He and his wife, Lana Burningham, sued the companies that manufactured the equipment for his new hip, Wight Medical Technology Inc., and Wright Medical Group Inc., over allegations of strict liability for design defects, the ruling states.

Wright Medical responded with a motion to dismiss, stating that the “unavoidably safe” doctrine that the state of Utah has embraced should protect hip implant devices from strict liability design defect claims. The federal court ruled that “there was no controlling Utah law on this issue,” according to the opinion, and submitted four questions to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court then had to determine how far immunity goes for the defendants when it comes to strict liability and implanted devices.

"While some implanted medical devices might very well be unavoidably unsafe, we conclude that under current federal regulations, this question should be treated as an affirmative defense and determined by the factfinder on a case-by-case basis with regard to devices that enter the market through the 510(k) process," Justice Paige Peterson wrote. 

"For devices that go through the more rigorous premarket approval process, the United States Supreme Court has held that federal law preempts any state law tort claims, so we do not opine on whether such devices might be unavoidably unsafe as a matter of law because they are already exempt from design defect claims."

Chief Justice Matthew Durrant, Associate Chief Justice Thomas R. Lee, Justice Constandinos Himonas and Justice John A. Pearce joined the opinion.

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