Act Quickly - The Statute of Limitations is Approaching

If you are one of the 37,000+ people who have received defective DePuy hip implants and are thinking about joining the rapidly-growing ranks of plaintiffs against this corporation, don't think about it too much longer. Your window of opportunity may be closing soon.

The legal term for this "window of opportunity" is known as a statute of limitations. This refers to the period of time within you must file a lawsuit or forever forfeit your right to do so. (Statutes of limitations also exist in criminal law for many misdemeanors, such as minor traffic offenses.)

Those in the legal profession say that the "clock starts running" at the time the cause of action was known (or should have been known). In the case of DePuy implant patients, this would be August of 2010, when it was finally acknowledged in the U.S. that the implants were failing in large numbers and the company began its recalls.

As of this writing (November 2011), it has now been well over a year since those recalls were issued. The statute of limitations for an injury lawsuit is twelve months. In others however, it is two years (a few states allow a longer period). If you live in a state with a one-year statute of limitations and haven't yet contacted a lawyer however, all may not be lost. Most jurisdictions allow for tolling, which means that a statute of limitation may be delayed under certain circumstances. The decision as to whether or not to allow this usually rests with the judge in the case. Grounds for tolling may exist if a patient with a hip implant was not experiencing any health difficulties as a result of the device until well after the recall. In such a case, an attorney may petition the court to extend the statute of limitation.

It is best not to take this for granted, however. Even if you are not experiencing adverse health conditions from a DePuy hip implant, you should contact an experienced personal injury or product liability lawyer as soon as possible in order to protect your rights.