O'Shea v. Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.

Patrick O'Shea (plaintiff) received a knee implant made by Zimmer Biomet (defendant), and seven years later part of it broke; his surgeon, who discarded the broken original part, said he had never seen a similar failure and that neither O'Shea's weight nor leg deformity caused it, though he was not a Biomet implant expert. O'Shea sued for manufacturing defect without retaining a specialized expert, but a Biomet internal complaint-handling form showed an employee had checked "yes" that the implant failed to perform as intended, explained the part broke under conditions it was not designed to break under, and checked "no" (rather than leaving blank or marking "not applicable") when asked whether other conditions contributed to the failure. Biomet moved for summary judgment, arguing Georgia law required expert testimony to establish a manufacturing defect.