Barrack, Rodos & Bacine Files Class Action Lawsuit Against St.
Jude Medical, Inc.
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Barrack, Rodos
& Bacine announces that it has filed a class action lawsuit in
the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, Freedman v. St. Jude Medical,
Inc., et al., No. 12-03070-RHK-JJG, on behalf of purchasers of
common stock of St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE: STJ) during the
period from October 17, 2012 through
and including November 20, 2012 (the
"Class Period").
The complaint charges St. Jude and its chief executive with
violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. St. Jude
manufactures and markets medical device products, including the
leads that connect implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) to the
heart.
The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, St. Jude
issued a series of misleading statements concerning an inspection
by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the company's
Sylmar, CA production
facility. In 2011, one type of ICD lead manufactured by St.
Jude, known as the Riata, was recalled due to instances in which
the insulation of the Riata leads had experienced so-called
"inside-out" abrasion failures. In the wake of this recall,
investors expressed significant interest in the performance of a
next-generation ICD lead manufactured by St. Jude, known as the
Durata. On October 17, 2012, on
St. Jude's third quarter earnings conference call, St. Jude stated
that an ongoing FDA inspection of the company's Sylmar, CA facility was likely to result in
the issuance of a "Form 483," a form used by FDA investigators to
note objectionable conditions or practices, and could ultimately
result in the FDA issuing a Warning Letter to the company.
Company officials declined to specify the nature of the problems at
the facility or the products affected by them. One week
later, St. Jude publicly released a heavily redacted version of the
Form 483 that the company had received from the FDA. Among
other information concealed were the names of any St. Jude
products. Defendants knew, but failed to disclose, that most
of the observations of objectionable conditions listed on the Form
483 related to the Durata product.
On November 20, 2012, after the
close of the market, media outlets reported on the FDA's release of
its own version of the same Form 483 issued to the Sylmar, CA facility, which showed that most of
the identified problems pertained to the Durata lead. On this news,
St. Jude stock fell by $4.34 or 12%,
to close the next day at $31.37 on
heavy volume.
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers
of St. Jude common stock during the Class Period. The
plaintiff is represented by Barrack, Rodos & Bacine, which has
significant experience in prosecuting shareholder claims on behalf
of investors in cases involving FDA-regulated companies. For
more than 35 years, Barrack, Rodos & Bacine has successfully
litigated major securities actions in courts throughout the United
States. As compiled by the Securities Class Action
Clearinghouse at Stanford University
and Cornerstone Research, Barrack, Rodos & Bacine has served as
a lead counsel in some of the most successful securities class
action cases, recovering over $11
billion for injured investors over the past dozen years,
including three of the top ten case settlements.
If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court
no later than 60 days from today. To discuss your rights
regarding the appointment of lead plaintiff and for additional
information about your interest in this class action, please
contact plaintiff's counsel, Barrack Rodos & Bacine, at
215-963-0600, or via e-mail to Robert A.
Hoffman at rhoffman@barrack.com. A copy of the
complaint is available from the Court or from Barrack Rodos &
Bacine by visiting our website at www.barrack.com/news.html.
SOURCE Barrack, Rodos & Bacine