Boston Scientific/Guidant class action
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Bellwether suit in the product liability class action against Boston Scientific/ Guidant stemming from Guidant implantable defibrillator recalls in 2006 will go to a jury trial. On June 12, the U.S. District Court of Minnesota denied Boston Scientific's motions to dismiss claims by a California ICD recipient that Guidant failed to appropriately disclose information about potential device malfunctions. "This case concerns the issues of whether, how, and to whom information was shared (and to whom it should have been shared) about a device with an alleged defect and the cause of that alleged defect," Judge Donovan Frank says in his ruling. According to Boston Scientific's first-quarter 2007 report filed in May with the Securities & Exchange Commission, the firm expects the Guidant recall class actions to eventually cost $732 million (1"The Gray Sheet" July 24, 2006, p. 10)...