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Plaintiff v. Medical Device Manufacturer

January 2011

Sedgwick obtained a dismissal of a product liability case filed in federal court in Tennessee involving a pain pump against its medical device manufacturer client.  The plaintiff’s surgeon used the pump to administer local anesthetic into the plaintiff’s shoulder joint after surgery.  The plaintiff alleged the pump caused him to develop chondrolysis, the complete loss of cartilage within the joint, resulting in pain and stiffness.  The plaintiff brought claims for negligence, strict liability and breach of implied warranties, alleging that our client knew or should have known that its product posed a risk of chondrolysis, but failed to adequately warn of that risk. Sedgwick moved for summary judgment, arguing that any risk of chondrolysis associated with pain pumps was unknown to medical science at the time of the surgery, and that the surgeon relied on his own medical training and discretion to prescribe the pump, rather than on information supplied by our client.  The judge agreed with Sedgwick and dismissed the case in its entirety.