DePuy Files Reply Brief Supporting Appeal of $502 Million Verdict, Says Plaintiffs Can’t Square Award with ‘Existing Legal Principles’

NEW ORLEANS –– DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. and Johnson & Johnson have filed a reply brief in the appeal of a $502 million Pinnacle Hip Implant verdict, maintaining that the plaintiffs aimed to inflame the jury’s passion “through irrelevant evidence.”

In a May 1 brief filed in the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the defendants said the irrelevant evidence mentioned by the plaintiffs throughout trial was a “core component of plaintiffs’ trial strategy, and the gargantuan verdicts shows the success of that strategy.”

At a minimum, the defendants said, the court should order a new trial on damages or remittitur …