Manufacturing Defect Claim Survives Summary Judgment in Knee Replacement Case

NEW YORK - A New York federal judge has allowed a manufacturing defect claim to proceed against Stryker Corp. in a knee replacement action, ruling that the treating surgeon has presented "competent evidence" that the failure of the polyethylene tibial insert after less than one year was due to its defective nature. Morritt v. Stryker Corp., No. 07-2319 (E.D. N.Y.).

However, Judge Roslynn Renee Mauskopf of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, in the Sept. 1 order, granted Stryker summary judgment on the design defect claim on the basis that the plaintiffs' expert did not …