Exactech Implant Lawsuits to Undergo Coordinated Bellwether Trials in State and Federal Courts
Thousands of people with Exactech recall lawsuits across the country could benefit from an unprecedented legal strategy to coordinate bellwether trials between a Florida state court and a federal Multi-District Litigation process. A bellwether trial is a test case used to understand how future trials may turn out. This can help both sides find a way to settle many cases at one time, without holding separate trials for each one of potentially thousands of lawsuits.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys in both jurisdictions will coordinate the bellwether trials; with the Florida state court holding the bellwether trials for the hip products and the federal MDL handling bellwether trials for the knee products. Mctlaw attorney Ilyas Sayeg is part of the leadership group managing the Florida Exactech consolidated lawsuits. Sayeg also represents clients in two of the four hip cases selected for bellwether trials in Florida.
“The coordinated bellwether strategy between the two courts is a creative solution to hopefully speed up the process to force Exactech to make things right for the people they’ve hurt,” says Mr. Sayeg. “This is a unique situation with multiple different products involved. Without this coordination, it would likely take much longer for each individual court to work through the necessary issues.” The first bellwether trial date for an Exactech hip case is scheduled in Florida’s Eighth District Circuit Court on October 7th, 2024
