N.Y. Court Dismisses Design Defect-Based Claims Asserted Against Smith & Nephew in R3 Ceramic Hip Implant Case

NEW YORK –– A New York federal court has dismissed design defect and failure-to-warn claims asserted in a hip implant suit filed against Smith & Nephew, concluding that the causes of action relating to manufacturing defects are preempted by the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act.

In the July 30 opinion, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York further found that it could not make a determination on efforts to dismiss the plaintiffs’ breach of express warranty claim since it was not pled with specificity as to whether it was based on a manufacturing defect or design …