Last week a federal judge asked prosecutors and the FBI to look into possible witness tampering.
Lawyers for Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) in a bellwether trial over metal-on-metal hip implants made by J&J subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics yesterday denied witness tampering allegations leveled by the lead plaintiff’s attorney.
Last week a federal judge in Texas took the unusual step of asking federal prosecutors and the FBI to probe the possible witness tampering. Mark Lanier, lead attorney for the plaintiffs in one of six cases being tried in the U.S. District Court for Northern Texas bellwether before Judge Ed Kinkeade, raised the tampering issue during an Oct. 16 hearing based on a conversation between a DePuy sales rep and a surgeon who’s a witness in the case.
