San Francisco Court Lifts Stay to Facilitate Depositions in DePuy Pinnacle MDL

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard A. Kramer has lifted a discovery stay imposed in that state’s coordinated DePuy (NYSE: JNJ) Pinnacle hip implant cases to allow counsel to participate in depositions noticed in the parallel federal MDL.

Judge Kramer said in an order filed Feb.7 that lifting the stay was for the sole purpose of facilitating the taking of depositions in the federal MDL, and that “discovery for any other purpose shall remain subject to the stay.”

The judge imposed the stay Dec. 20 in cases assigned to the DePuy Pinnacle proceedings in his court.

The …