Cochran v. Smith & Nephew, Inc.

260 F. Supp. 3d 979
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. Illinois
DecidedMay 22, 2017
DocketCase No. 16-1121
StatusPublished

This text of 260 F. Supp. 3d 979 (Cochran v. Smith & Nephew, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cochran v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., 260 F. Supp. 3d 979 (C.D. Ill. 2017).

Opinion

ORDER AND OPINION

James E. Shadid, Chief United States District Judge

This matter is now before the Court on Defendant’s [17] Motion for Summary Judgment, For the reasons set forth below, Defendant’s- Motion [17] is GRANTED.

[981]*981Background

On May 8, 2014, Plaintiff Doris Cochran filed a products liability action against Defendant Smith & Nephew, Inc. (“SNI”) and four other affiliates in the Circuit Court of the Tenth Judicial Circuit in Tazewell County, Illinois. On June 30, 2014, Defendants removed the action to this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1441 and 1446, See Cochran v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., No. 14-1264 (C.D. Ill. 2014). This Court had subject matter jurisdiction over the action because there was complete diversity of citizenship among the parties. See 28 U.S.C. § 1332. On August 15, 2014, Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed all Defendants except SNI, and on April 29, 2015, this Court granted Plaintiffs motion to voluntarily dismiss “in accordance with the record made by Defendants in their response.” 1

The instant action was filed by Plaintiff on April 21, 2016, naming SNI and Neu-bauer Perkins, Inc. (“NPI”) as Defendants. Counts 1 and 2 of the Complaint stated claims of strict and negligent product liability against SNI. Because Plhintiff and NPI were both alleged to be citizens of Illinois, the Court ordered Plaintiff to file an amended complaint - alleging ■ an adequate basis for this Court’s jurisdiction. See 28 . U.S.C. § 1332(a); Doc. 2. On May 4, 2015, instead of amending the Complaint, Plaintiff filed a motion to. remand. The Court denied that motion on September 15, 2016, and gave the Plaintiff leave to amend her Complaint to remedy the jurisdictional defect by removing NPI- Doc. 14. After Plaintiff amended her Complaint, SNI, the only remaining Defendant, filed a Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 17), to which Plaintiff has responded (Doc. 24).

The parties agree that the following, taken from Defendant’s statement of undisputed material facts, are not in dispute. See Doc. 17, at 2-5. On September 16, 2009, Plaintiff Cochran underwent a right hip arthroplasty by orthopedic surgeon Donald Mitzelfelt, M.D. Doc, 17-1, at 18, 60 (Cochran Dep.). During that procedure, Dr. Mitzelfelt implanted the device at issue — the Smith & Nephew R3 Acetabular System with R3 Metal Liner — into Ms. Cochran’s right hip. Id. at 18. On July 4, 2010, Plaintiff, injured her hip (Id. at 82), and on November 18,2010, Plaintiff underwent a revision surgery on her right hip. Id. at 90, Dr. Mitzelfelt removed the implant at issue and replaced it with another hip prosthesis. Id.

Three and a half years later, on May 8, 2014, Plaintiff filed her original complaint against Smith & Nephew in the Circuit Court of Tazewell County. Doc. 17-2. On June 30, 2014, Smith & Nephew removed plaintiffs state court lawsuit to this Court. Id. at 12, Following reiftoval, discovery commenced, and on April 21, 2015, defense counsel deposed Plaintiff. See Doc. 17-2. One day after her deposition, on April 22, 2015, the. Plaintiff filed her Motion for Voluntary Dismissal. See Doc. 17-3. SNI filed a. Response to' Plaintiffs Motion for Voluntary Dismissal, acknowledging its agreement to the dismissal in order, to save costs and unnecessary expenses, but ■requesting that: “In .the event Ms. Cochran refiles .her-lawsuit ... discovery be stayed and the very first and initial matter to be addressed by the Court be the statute of limitations issue.” Doc. 17-4. On April 29, 2016, the Court granted Plaintiffs Motion for Voluntary Dismissal “in accordance with the record made by De[982]*982fendants in their response.” See 4/29/15 Text Order, Doc. 17-5.

After Plaintiff refiled her complaint on April 21, 2016 and the motion to remand was denied, Plaintiff filed the current Amended Complaint on September 28, 2016. See Plfs Am. Comp, Doc. 17-6. Plaintiffs Amended Complaint contains four counts against Smith & Nephew for strict product liability, negligent product liability, breach of implied warranty, and breach of express warranty.2 On October 12, 2016, 2016, SNI filed its answer and affirmative defenses. Doc. 17-7.

Plaintiff disputes only two of the statements in Defendant’s statement of undisputed facts. First, Plaintiff disputes she broke her hip on July 4, 2010, or that she knew she had a claim against SNI on that date. See Doc. 24, at 4 (Plfs Response). Second, Plaintiff disputes that she knew she had a claim when she requested to keep the explanted R3 Acetabular System and its R3 metal liner from her November 2010 revision surgery. Id. at 10-11.

Legal Standard

Summary judgment is appropriate where the movant shows, through “materials in the record, including depositions, documents, electronically stored information, affidavits or declarations, stipulations ... admissions, interrogatory answers, or other materials” that “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56. In resolving a motion for summary judgment, “[tjhe court has one task and one task only: to decide, based on the evidence of record, whether there is any material dispute of fact that requires a trial.” Waldridge v. Am. Hoechst Corp., 24 F.3d 918, 920 (7th Cir. 1994); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). When presented with a motion for summary judgment, the Court must construe the record “in the light most favorable to the nonmovant and avoid[] the temptation to decide which party’s version of the facts is more likely true.” Payne v. Pauley, 337 F.3d 767, 770 (7th Cir. 2003). If the evidence, however, is “merely colorable, or is not significantly probative or merely raises ‘some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts,’ summary judgment may be granted.” Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505. Thus, in order to overcome the undisputed facts set forth in a defendants’ motion for summary judgment, a plaintiff cannot rest on the allegations in his complaint but must point to affidavits, depositions or other evidence of an admissible sort that a genuine dispute of material fact exists between parties. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(e)(2); Behrens v. Pelletier, 516 U.S. 299, 309, 116 S.Ct. 834, 133 L.Ed.2d 773 (1996).

Analysis

(A) The Statute of Limitations for Products Liability Actions in Illinois

In Illinois, the statute of limitations for products liability actions is set forth in Section 13-213 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure.

Related

Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Behrens v. Pelletier
516 U.S. 299 (Supreme Court, 1996)
Sandra L. Waldridge v. American Hoechst Corp.
24 F.3d 918 (Seventh Circuit, 1994)
Barbara Payne v. Michael Pauley
337 F.3d 767 (Seventh Circuit, 2003)
Knox College v. Celotex Corp.
430 N.E.2d 976 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1981)
Golla v. General Motors Corp.
657 N.E.2d 894 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1995)
Nolan v. Johns-Manville Asbestos
421 N.E.2d 864 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1981)
Janetis v. Christensen
558 N.E.2d 304 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1990)
Mitsias v. I-Flow Corp.
959 N.E.2d 94 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2011)
Mitsias v. I-Flow Corporation
2011 IL App (1st) 101126 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2011)
Guarantee Trust Life Insurance Co. v. Kribbs
2016 IL App (1st) 160672 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
260 F. Supp. 3d 979, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cochran-v-smith-nephew-inc-ilcd-2017.