Applicable Law in Hip Replacement Litigation

The High Court has decided that the the “event giving rise to damage” for the purposes of determining whether pre- or post-January 2009 legislation applied to defective hip prosthesis cases, was the manufacture or distribution of the prosthesis – not the suffering of symptoms.

This meant that the Private International Law Act applied, rather than Rome II, which in turn meant that the law to be applied to each case would be the law where the individual sustained injury.

The case also confirmed that the Consumer Protection Act does not apply where damage is suffered outside of the UK/EEA.