--- title: "Product-liability litigation over Exactech implants" language: en canonical: https://dossiertwist.com/dossiers/exactech/product-liability-litigation/ as_of: 2026-10-16 keywords: ["Exactech, Inc.","Exactech","TPG","Osteon Holdings, Inc.","William Petty","Jeffrey Binder","polyethylene recall","Connexion GXL","Optetrak","Equinoxe shoulder","MDL No. 3044","Case No. 24-12441","Chapter 11","Exactech Settlement Trust","C.A. No. 2026-0129-MTZ","False Claims Act","deferred prosecution agreement","Advita Ortho","Strategic Value Partners","Exactech U.S., Inc."] --- # Product-liability litigation over Exactech implants **Question.** Who sued over Exactech implants, and what happened to the cases? **Answer.** By October 2024 about 2,600 patients had sued: some 1,840 cases were centralised in 2022 as MDL No. 3044 in the Eastern District of New York and more than 740 were coordinated in Alachua County, Florida, where the Pettys, Gary Miller and the packaging supplier were also named. TPG and the Osteon companies were dismissed from the MDL in March 2024. The US cases stopped with the bankruptcy, and injury claims are to be paid by the Settlement Trust; an Australian class action settled for about A$8.7 million in 2025 without admission of liability. ## The federal MDL - Analysis: On 7 October 2022 the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralised federal cases over Exactech's hip, knee and ankle polyethylene in the Eastern District of New York as MDL No. 3044 before Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis. The amended master complaint of March 2023 named Exactech, Exactech U.S., TPG Inc., Osteon Holdings, Osteon Intermediate Holdings II and Osteon Merger Sub, and discovery against the TPG and Osteon defendants was stayed pending their motion to dismiss. [s-d351] [s-d322] - Qualification: The MDL consolidates plaintiffs' claims; the record contains no judgment on liability against Exactech. - Response: Exactech defended the consolidated cases. Among its filings, it opposed the conditional transfer into the MDL of a class complaint brought by the Medicare-claims recovery firm MSP Recovery Claims, Series LLC, and on 20 April 2023 filed a fully briefed motion, with Exactech U.S., Inc., to dismiss that complaint for lack of jurisdiction and standing. - Outcome: Under the plan confirmed in September 2025, personal-injury and wrongful-death claims against the debtors are to be resolved and paid by the Exactech Settlement Trust; the record contains no judgment in the MDL. ## TPG's dismissal - Analysis: On 7 March 2024 the court granted the motion of TPG Inc. and the Osteon companies to dismiss the claims against them, which rested on veil-piercing and successor-liability theories, removing them from the personal-injury actions filed from 18 states. The Settlement Trust alleges that TPG obtained this dismissal without disclosing its control of the board and of the recalls, and that it directed Kirkland & Ellis to represent TPG and Exactech jointly. [s-d219] [s-d322] [s-d24] - Qualification: These are allegations in the Settlement Trust's complaint, which was pending in the Delaware Court of Chancery in October 2026; no court has ruled on them. - Response: TPG Inc., Osteon Holdings, Osteon Merger Sub and Osteon Intermediate Holdings II moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim of indirect liability on a veil-piercing theory (motion fully briefed on 28 July 2023); the plaintiffs opposed it as premature because the choice-of-law analysis was fact-intensive. - Outcome: The dismissal removed TPG and its affiliates from the MDL personal-injury actions; the alter-ego and veil-piercing claims later passed to the Settlement Trust under the bankruptcy plan. ## How many cases - Analysis: By the 29 October 2024 petition about 2,600 patients had sued — some 1,840 in the MDL and more than 740 in Florida, where the cases were coordinated before Judge Donna M. Keim in Alachua County — and the company's last offer to settle the MDL, in July 2024, had not been accepted. The trust also counts more than 55 cases in other state courts and more than 60 abroad, and says the first Florida bellwether trial, set for December 2024, was halted by the bankruptcy. [s-d7] [s-d24] [s-d294] - Qualification: The counts are the trust's and the broadcaster's; they differ slightly from the company's own figures. ## Florida cases against the founders and the supplier - Analysis: Florida cases in the master case 2022 CA 002670 named not only Exactech but also William, Betty and David Petty, Gary Miller, the Miller family holding companies and Hillman Supply Company. In a federal case in Arkansas over a Connexion GXL hip liner, a plaintiffs' lawyer said in 2023 that Exactech was blaming the packaging supplier. [s-d293] [s-d349] [s-d218] [s-d307] - Qualification: These are plaintiffs' claims; no ruling on liability appears in the dockets reviewed. This is the plaintiffs' lawyer's account of the case and of Exactech's position. - Response: On 9 June 2023 the Petty and Miller defendants and the Miller family holding companies moved to dismiss the Starling case; the Exactech defendants answered the Sindicich complaint on 19 December 2023 and Hillman Supply Company filed an answer with affirmative defences and a jury demand on 26 December 2023. - Outcome: The Starling and Sindicich cases were closed on 29 October 2024 because of the bankruptcy filed in the Exactech master case. ## The Australian class action - Analysis: In Australia Simon Harrold sued Exactech Australia and Exactech, Inc. in the Federal Court in September 2024 on behalf of about 5,000 patients, alleging manufacturing and packaging defects. The parties settled by a deed of 29 May 2025 for about A$8.7 million, funded by insurance, the Australian subsidiary and the lenders, and Justice Jackman approved the settlement on 13 November 2025. [s-d197] [s-d214] - Response: The respondents denied liability; the settlement was made without admission of liability. The settlement was made without admission of liability. ## Sources - [s-d351] Transfer order, MDL No. 3044, United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, 2022-10-07 - [s-d322] Court record source · s-d322 - [s-d219] Memorandum and Order, In re Exactech Polyethylene Orthopedic Products Liability Litigation, No. 22-MD-3044 (E.D.N.Y.), U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), U.S. Courts collection, 2024-03-07 - [s-d24] Court record source · s-d24 - [s-d7] Court record source · s-d7 - [s-d294] Media source · s-d294 - [s-d293] Court record source · s-d293 - [s-d349] Court record source · s-d349 - [s-d218] Court record source · s-d218 - [s-d307] Media source · s-d307 - [s-d197] Court record source · s-d197 - [s-d214] Harrold v Exactech Australia Pty Ltd (No 2) [2025] FCA 1412, Federal Court of Australia, 2025-11-13