--- title: "Product-liability suits in the United States" language: en canonical: https://dossiertwist.com/dossiers/exactech/product-liability-suits/ as_of: 2026-10-16 keywords: ["Exactech","TPG","Osteon Holdings","TPG VII Osteon Holdings","Advita Ortho","Exactech Settlement Trust","polyethylene recall","Connexion GXL","Optetrak","Truliant","Equinoxe","vacuum bag packaging","EVOH","MDL No. 3044","Hospital for Special Surgery","Chapter 11","False Claims Act","Strategic Value Partners","William Petty","Jeffrey Binder"] --- # Product-liability suits in the United States **Question.** Who sued over the recalled implants, whom did they sue, and where did the cases stand when Exactech filed for bankruptcy? **Answer.** About 2,600 patients had sued Exactech by October 2024. Federal suits were centralised in 2022 as MDL No. 3044 in the Eastern District of New York, where plaintiffs also named TPG Inc. and the Osteon holding companies on a veil-piercing theory; the court dismissed those claims in March 2024. More than 740 suits were in a Florida master case that also named the Pettys, Gary Miller, the Miller family companies and the bag supplier Hillman; those cases were closed when Exactech filed for bankruptcy. Exactech defended its liability and failed to reach a settlement. ## How many suits - Analysis: According to the chief restructuring officer, about 2,600 patients, 1.7% of potentially affected U.S. patients, had sued Exactech in the United States after the recalls. All federal suits were consolidated on October 7, 2022 into a multidistrict litigation in the Eastern District of New York, with about 1,840 suits pending there at the petition date, and over 740 suits were pending in Florida state courts. Exactech defended its alleged liability, sought without success in 2022 to have the Florida cases dismissed on forum non conveniens grounds, and negotiated with counsel for the plaintiffs, making its most recent offer to resolve the MDL in mid-July 2024; no consensual resolution was reached. The trust's complaint counts more than 2,500 suits in federal, state and foreign courts at the petition date, including more than 55 unconsolidated suits in other state courts and more than 60 foreign actions. [src-003] [src-012] ## The multidistrict litigation - Analysis: By an order of October 7, 2022 the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralised 27 actions in eleven districts, and 48 potentially related actions, over injuries associated with polyethylene liners of certain Exactech hip, knee and ankle implants, before Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis as MDL No. 3044. The docket, In re Exactech Polyethylene Orthopedic Products Liability Litigation (No. 1:22-md-03044), lists as defendants Exactech, Inc., Exactech U.S., Inc., TPG Capital, TPG Inc., TPG Partners VII, TPG Genpar VII, TPG Genpar VII Advisors, Osteon Holdings, Osteon Merger Sub and Osteon Intermediate Holdings II, among others. On March 22, 2023 the plaintiffs filed an amended master personal-injury complaint against Exactech, Exactech U.S., Osteon Holdings, Osteon Intermediate Holdings II, Osteon Merger Sub and TPG Inc. A plaintiffs' lawyer also described a separate federal suit in the Eastern District of Arkansas (No. 4:22-cv-136) over a Novation Connexion GXL hip liner; that court record is not in the retained material. [src-112] [src-105] [src-099] - Analysis: TPG Inc. and the Osteon companies moved in June 2023 to dismiss, arguing that the plaintiffs had not adequately pleaded indirect liability, including veil-piercing and successor liability, and on May 30, 2023 the magistrate judge had stayed discovery against them pending the motion. In March 2024 Judge Garaufis granted the motion, dismissing the "TPG Defendants" from all personal-injury actions originally filed in eighteen listed states that had named TPG and its non-Exactech affiliates; the claims against Exactech continued. The decision records the plaintiffs' allegation that Osteon Intermediate Holdings II and Exactech were joint policyholders on a certificate of insurance. The Settlement Trust says TPG had been named with Exactech in several earlier suits, and that Kirkland & Ellis appeared in early March 2023 for the TPG entities but not for Exactech. These are allegations in the Settlement Trust’s pending complaint and have not been adjudicated. [src-105] [src-061] [src-012] ## The Florida master case - Analysis: Dockets of product-liability suits filed in the Alachua County circuit court in 2022 and 2023 under the Florida master case (No. 2022 CA 002670), including case 2022 CA 2702, name as defendants Exactech, Inc., Exactech U.S., Inc., the packaging supplier Hillman Supply Company, William Petty, Betty Petty, David Petty, Gary Miller, Miller Family Holdings, LLC and Miller Family Holdings, Inc. Hillman answered with affirmative defences and a jury demand in December 2023, and the founders and the Miller family companies moved to dismiss in June 2023. The cases were closed on October 29, 2024 on account of the bankruptcy filed in the Exactech master case. According to the trust, the first bellwether hip trial had been set for December 2024 after fact and expert discovery, and the bankruptcy prevented it. These are allegations in the Settlement Trust’s pending complaint and have not been adjudicated. [src-060] [src-092] [src-110] [src-012] ## Sources - [src-003] Court record source · src-003 - [src-012] Court record source · src-012 - [src-112] JPML transfer order, In re Exactech Polyethylene Orthopedic Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3044, U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, 2022-10-07 - [src-105] Court record source · src-105 - [src-099] Media source · src-099 - [src-061] Memorandum and order, In re Exactech Polyethylene Orthopedic Products Liability Litigation, No. 22-MD-3044 (E.D.N.Y.), U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (via GovInfo), 2024-03 - [src-060] Court record source · src-060 - [src-092] Court record source · src-092 - [src-110] Court record source · src-110