Fla. Federal Judge Remands DePuy ASR Case for Lack of Complete Diversity

TAMPA, Fla. - A federal judge has remanded a DePuy ASR hip implant suit to Florida state court, concluding that in-state defendants were not fraudulently joined. Barnes, et al. v. DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., et al., No. 8:11-cv-02827 (M.D. Fla.).

The case had been on a list of conditional transfers to the DePuy ASR multidistrict proceedings in the Northern District of Ohio, but the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation recently stayed that order pending briefing on plaintiffs' motion to vacate (In re: DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., MDL No. 2197 [N.D. Ohio])(See "JPML Schedules Briefing" story in this issue).

On Jan. 19, however, …