By Ben Fox Rubin
Medtronic Inc. said Tuesday it had settled a product liability
lawsuit relating to its Infuse bone graft, adding that it expected
to post a special charge of $120 million to $140 million in its
latest quarterly results stemming from hundreds of similar
suits.
The medical-device maker said it agreed to resolve claims of
about 950 claimants for a total payment of about $22 million. The
company said the settlement "is not in any way an admission of
liability or validity of any defense in the litigation."
The company added that it continues to stand behind its bone
graft, "which has been utilized in more than one million patients
since it was approved more than ten years ago, and will vigorously
defend the product and company actions in the remaining cases."
The quarterly charge accounts for the $22 million settlement,
the estimated settlement of the approximately 3,800 additional
filed and unfiled claims, and certain costs associated with these
settlements.
Earlier this month, the company said, a California trial judge
entered summary judgment in favor of Medtronic in the first Infuse
bone graft case scheduled to go to trial.
About 750 filed cases brought by roughly 1,200 individual
plaintiffs remain pending in various courts throughout the U.S. The
majority of these cases are still in the early procedural stages
and none have resulted in a finding of liability against Medtronic,
the company said Tuesday.
Some law firms have advised the company that they may bring a
large number of similar claims against the company in the future,
the company has disclosed. The company estimates those law firms
represent approximately 2,600 additional unfiled claimants.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@wsj.com
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