Johnson & Johnson (J&J) suffered another tough legal blow on Thursday, when a federal jury in Dallas ordered its DePuy Orthopaedics division to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs who alleged that they were injured by the company's Pinnacle hip implants.

The federal jury sided with the plaintiffs that the Pinnacle hip implants were designed defectively and that the company failed to warn patient's about the looming risks.

A plaintiff's lawyer, Mark Lanier, welcomed the verdict and stressed that it was a loud and clear message that J&J needs to clean up a really nasty part of its business.

The total verdict amount of $1.041 billion includes $32 million in compensatory damages, with the rest being punitive damages. However verdicts of such huge sizes are often reduced or scaled back by courts.

The company has been hit with as many as 8,400 lawsuits over the controversial devices. The cases have been consolidated in Texas federal court, and test cases have been chosen for trial. The outcomes of the test cases will help gauge the remaining claims' value.

J&J denied any wrongdoing arising from the development and advertising of the devices, and declared that it would appeal the verdict.