Tampering allegations in Johnson & Johnson hip case prompt judge to trigger probe

A federal judge in Texas this week took the unusual step of asking federal prosecutors and the FBI to probe possible witness tampering by lawyers for Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) in a bellwether trial over metal-on-metal hip implants made by J&J subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics. Mark Lanier, lead attorney for the plaintiffs in one of six cases being tried in the U.S. District Court for Northern Texas bellwether before Judge Ed Kinkeade, raised the tampering issue during an Oct. 16 hearing based on a conversation between a DePuy sales rep and a surgeon who’s a witness in the case. Dr. David Stein filed an affidavit Oct. 15 documenting a conversation with Glen Swajger held ostensibly to discuss “a procedure requiring [Swajger’s] involvement.” “Mr. Swajger looked terrible and appeared stressed, so I asked him what was going on,” Stein said in the affidavit. “He said the day before (October 12, 2017), he had been contacted by the DePuy lawyers and that discussion made him anxious. He said the lawyers were ‘on him like crazy.’ They were putting ‘big-time pressure’ on him.” Swajger then warned Stein of possible “ramifications” to his medical practice “in connection with my upcoming Dallas testimony,” according to the affidavit. “He indicated the lawyers were ‘peppering him.’ He said the ‘business in Dallas was freaking [him] out.’ He said he had a ̵...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Legal News Metal-on-Metal Product Liability depuysynthes johnsonandjohnson Source Type: news