Stryker Corp. recently agreed to pay $1 billion to resolve litigation over defective hip replacements following an unusual mediation approach that involved negotiations instead of trials. This model could be used by other multidistrict litigation defendants over jury verdicts.
“There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach,” said Colin Kelly, partner in Alston & Bird’s Products Liability Group. “It also depends on the product and what a company’s goal is in defending it. If you have a large number of suits and the goal is to resolve them efficiently, then you could benefit from such a pretrial mediation. If not, you would still take it to trial.”
“There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach,” said Colin Kelly, partner in Alston & Bird’s Products Liability Group. “It also depends on the product and what a company’s goal is in defending it. If you have a large number of suits and the goal is to resolve them efficiently, then you could benefit from such a pretrial mediation. If not, you would still take it to trial.”