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Plaintiffs' Executive Committee

San Francisco, CA
January 26, 2011

Justice David A. Katz Names Depuy Orthopaedics, Inc. ASR Hip Implant Products Litigation Plaintiffs' Executive Committee

The Honorable Justice David A. Katz today announced his selection for appointment to the DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. ASR Hip Implant Products Litigation Plaintiffs' Executive Committee. Steve Skikos of Skikos, Crawford, Skikos & Joseph in San Francisco and Ellen Relkin of Weitz & Luxenberg in New York City were named co-lead counsel. In addition to Skikos and Relkin, Ben Gordon (Levin Papantonio), Eric Kennedy (Weisman, Kennedy, Berris), Mark Robinson (Robinson, Calcagnie, Robinson), and Chris Seeger (Seeger Weiss) were named members of the six-person executive committee. The PEC will oversee the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, Plaintiffs' Liaison Counsel, and the various Science, Discovery, and Law & Motion Committees. The goal of the PEC is to coordinate the thousands of federal DePuy ASR Hip Recall cases, promote litigation efficiency, and minimize the risk of inconsistent rulings in various jurisdictions. Committee members were selected from nearly one hundred applications based on their litigation experience and the numberof DePuy ASR Hip Recall plaintiffs they represent.

Committee members are currently organizing the leadership structure of the litigation, consulting with experts, and developing litigation strategies. They are also coordinating with attorneys for DePuy Orthopaedics Inc.'s parent company Johnson & Johnson.

Judge Katz of the Northern District of Ohio will oversee pretrial proceedings of cases filed in or successfully removed to federal court.

The consolidation of cases into a multidistrict litigation serves to streamline the exchange of evidence across all parties and create a more efficient litigation structure. State court proceedings are currently being organized in California and New Jersey.

In August, 2010, 93,000 Depuy ASR Hip Replacements were recalled, with Johnson & Johnson citing a higher-than-normal failure rate of the devices. Several thousand lawsuits are anticipated being filed in Federal and state court.