Exactech Recall 2022

Any customer of Exactech who received a knee or ankle replacement device since 2004 might be vulnerable to sustaining one or more injuries. The most common injury caused by defective medical devices is the painful swelling of a knee or ankle. You might experience difficulty walking a short distance at a moderate pace. Chronic knee or ankle pain can become severe enough to disrupt your sleep and make it impossible for you to hold down a job. The inability to maintain your balance and support your body weight also might indicate that a defective Exactech medical device has caused you harm.

The longer you wear an Exactech knee or ankle replacement device, the more serious the medical problems that develop because of the defective medical devices. Accelerated knee wear can lead to excruciating pain when the knees or ankles can no longer support your weight even for just a few seconds. Bone loss and ligament damage can produce irreversible health concerns that last the rest of your life. Eventually, wearing one of the defective devices that is part of the Exactech recall in 2022 can prevent you from walking without the use of an assistive device such as a cane or a pair of crutches.

When you meet with a Morgan and Morgan liability attorney for a free case evaluation, one of the items on the agenda is for your legal counsel to determine whether Exactech medical device defect is a design or manufacturing flaw. In certain cases, both a design and manufacturing flaw can cause a product defect.

Manufacturing Defect

During the assembly of a knee or ankle replacement product, something can go wrong that decreases the structural integrity of the product. For the Exactech recall in 2022, the primary manufacturing flaw concerns the structurally weak plastic used to construct the knee and ankle replacement products. The manufacturing flaw can get much worse because the storage bags allow oxygen to interact with the plastic and thus, further compromise the structural integrity of the plastic. Your Morgan and Morgan product liability lawyer must show the defective product has a serious flaw caused by the manufacturing process.

Design Defect

Before an Exactech knee or ankle replacement product reaches the assembly line, a flaw committed during the design process can produce an inferior medical device. Design defects are common for automobiles and medical devices such as knee and ankle replacement products. Although the Exactech recall in 2022 is primarily about a manufacturing flow, some cases have shown a design flaw is a possible cause of the injuries associated with the defective product.

During the detailed investigation conducted by your attorney and a Morgan and Morgan investigator, one of the goals is to determine whether the knee or ankle replacement product that your healthcare provider ordered from Exactech contained a major design and/or manufacturing flaw.

The primary reason why Exactech issued its 2022 recall is to prevent the filing of civil lawsuits. However, because of the seriousness of the negative health conditions produced by wearing the company’s knee and ankle replacement devices, a growing number of civil lawsuits have reached the trial phase of the litigation process.

If your case reaches the trial phase of the litigation process. Your product liability attorney must prove the existence of the four elements of negligence.

Duty of Care

Exactech, or any manufacturer of medical devices for that matter, has a duty of care to protect customers from sustaining an injury or injuries from wearing one of the company’s medical devices. Proving the existence of the first element of negligence is the easiest element to prove.

Committing an Act of Negligence

The second element of negligence is the element that demonstrates Exactech committed at least one act of negligence. Also referred to as breaching the duty of care doctrine, committing an act of negligence can occur during the design and/or manufacturing process. For the recalled knee and ankle replacement devices, the act of negligence in most cases happened during the manufacturing process.

Causation

Wearing the defective medical devices manufactured by Exactech must have caused your injury or injuries. The team of lawyers representing Exactech will try to show the development of your injuries came from another source. For example, if a knee replacement device has caused chronic pain, a lawyer representing Exactech might claim the chronic knee pain should be attributed to the physically demanding tasks required by your job.

Financial Losses

After showing the judge or jury hearing your case that a recalled Exactech medical device caused you harm, the fourth element of proving negligence involves linking your injuries with financial losses. Medical bills represent the most substantial form of financial loss, as treating and rehabilitating a serious knee injury demands a considerable investment of both time and money. You must demonstrate that you suffered financial losses as the result of the injuries caused by wearing one of the Exactech knee or ankle replacement products.

As a type of personal injury law, a product liability lawsuit follows the same statute of limitations schedule that your state has established for all personal injury cases. Each state sets the deadline for the filing of product liability lawsuits, with the most common range falling between two and four years. Some states provide plaintiffs up to six years to file a civil lawsuit, while a few give plaintiffs just one year to initiate legal action.

Although you should have plenty of time to file a convincing civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages, you should act with a sense of urgency for two reasons. First, the sooner you file a civil lawsuit, the sooner you receive compensation to cover financial losses. Second, your Exactech recall 2022 attorney needs to interview witnesses as close as possible to the date when you started wearing the medical device. Witness accounts tend to be much more reliable when given close to the date of a personal injury incident. If you fail to file a civil lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of limitations, you can expect the court clerk processing your lawsuit to dismiss it.

Filing a civil lawsuit against a large company such as Exactech requires you to retain an attorney to balance the scales of justice. After deciding to hire a lawyer, the next step involves meeting a few criteria to hire the most accomplished litigator.

Experience Winning Product Liability Cases

The attorney that you hire should provide you with proof of experience winning product liability cases. An experienced attorney from Morgan and Morgan will know whether you should file an individual lawsuit against Exactech or become a member of a class of litigants that have already sued the manufacturer of medical devices. You also should work with a personal injury attorney who has handled cases that involved product recalls.

Provides Legal Support During the Entire Process

When you hire a lawyer to represent you during a civil lawsuit, you expect the legal counselor to work with you every step of the way towards a resolution. However, some attorneys delegate legal responsibilities to less experienced lawyers and paralegals. At Morgan and Morgan, the product liability attorney assigned to your case provides legal support from the day of a free case evaluation to the end of your case.

Negotiates a Favorable Settlement

Most civil lawsuits never reach the trial phase of the litigation process. Both parties try to negotiate a settlement to avoid a costly and time-consuming trial. Since Exactech has already shown its willingness to reach settlements before the start of a trial, the attorney representing you from Morgan and Morgan will try to negotiate a settlement, which starts when your legal counselor submits a reasonable offer.

Schedule a free case evaluation today with one of the experienced product liability attorneys at Morgan and Morgan to receive the compensation you deserve because of the Exactech recall of 2022.