Guidant

1. Boston Scientific Recalls 2 Types Of Defibrillator

Monday, Mar 15, 2010

Boston Scientific Corp. has announced it is recalling two defibrillator types because it failed to inform the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of manufacturing process changes.

2. Calif. Appeals Court Backs MDA Preemption Clause

Wednesday, Mar 10, 2010

A California appeals court has affirmed a finding that state law claims against Guidant Corp. and others responsible for the allegedly defective Ancure Endograft System are preempted by the Medical Device Amendments of 1976, furthering the Riegel decision's reach.

3. Arnold & Porter Star Opts For Davis Polk, Not Retirement

Tuesday, Mar 02, 2010

Arnold & Porter LLP's loss is Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP's gain, with the firm's former chairman, 69-year-old Michael N. Sohn, relinquishing his position as partner to join Davis Polk as counsel due to Arnold & Porter's mandatory retirement policy.

4. DOJ Charges Guidant In Faulty Defibrillator Case

Thursday, Feb 25, 2010

The U.S. Department of Justice has formally filed criminal charges against Boston Scientific Corp. unit Guidant LLC, claiming the company concealed significant safety problems with some of its cardiac defibrillators in violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

5. J&J Can't Revive Claims Against Abbott, Boston Sci

Thursday, Feb 18, 2010

A federal judge has ruled that Johnson & Johnson cannot amend its complaint to resurrect its breach of contract and anti-competitive conduct claims against Abbott Laboratories and Boston Scientific Corp. in a $5.5 billion suit over its failed bid to acquire Guidant Corp.

6. A Response To 'NuvaRing Meets Iqbal'

Thursday, Feb 04, 2010

In a recent Law360 guest article, NuvaRing Meets Iqbal, the authors argue that multidistrict litigation master complaints should not be dismissed for failing to meet the U.S. Supreme Court's pleading requirements under Twombly and Iqbal. Our position is that MDL courts should dismiss insufficiently pled master complaints, and we suggest a potential solution to achieve that objective, say Paul E. Benson, Nathaniel Cade Jr. and Adam E. Witkov of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP.

7. SLU Hospital Escapes Guidant Defibrillator MDL

Tuesday, Jan 19, 2010

Saint Louis University Hospital has won its way out of the massive multidistrict litigation involving Guidant Corp.'s recalled implantable heart defibrillators because a group of plaintiffs failed to file a health care affidavit within the required period of time.

8. Abbott, Others Marketed Stents Off-Label: Suit

Friday, Jan 15, 2010

Boston Scientific Corp., Abbott Laboratories and Cordis Corp. engaged in an off-label marketing scheme to promote digestive tract stents for unapproved use in other parts of the body, according to a recently unsealed whistleblower suit by a former medical device executive.

9. High Court Rebuffs Boston Scientific Section 271(f) Suit

Monday, Jan 11, 2010

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a Boston Scientific Corp. subsidiary's appeal of its infringement suit against St. Jude Medical Inc. over patents covering implantable defibrillators, leaving in place a federal appeals court ruling that 35 U.S.C. Section 271(f) does not apply to method patents.

10. Product Liability Defense Firms Of The Year

Friday, Jan 01, 2010

For Law360’s top product liability defense teams, consumer fraud suits, forum shopping, suits claiming injuries to children and infants, and populist outrage aimed at high-powered companies turned out to be the biggest challenges of 2009.

11. Boston Scientific To Pay $296M To Settle Probe

Friday, Nov 06, 2009

Boston Scientific Corp. subsidiary Guidant Corp. will plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges and pay $296 million to end a U.S. Department of Justice probe into cardiac defibrillator product advisories it issued.

12. Guidant Investors Lose Bid To Revive Class Action

Wednesday, Oct 21, 2009

Guidant Corp. has prevailed in a challenge by investors to the dismissal of a putative securities class action that alleged the medical device maker glossed over problems with its defibrillators and their impact on its aborted merger with Johnson & Johnson, leading to billions of dollars in shareholder losses.

13. Guidant Found Not Liable In Shocking Pacemaker Suit

Monday, Sep 21, 2009

Boston Scientific Corp. unit Guidant Corp. has won a suit against a Pennsylvania pacemaker recipient who claimed that Guidant representatives present at the operation to install the device failed to correct an alleged error by the doctor.

14. Guidant Cleared In Death Of Toddler With Pacemaker

Thursday, Sep 10, 2009

Guidant Corp., a subsidiary of Boston Scientific Corp., has been found not liable by an Indiana county jury in a wrongful death suit brought by the family of a 14-month-old girl who died in 2005 after a Guidant pacemaker was implanted in her heart.

15. Method Patents Not Covered By 271(f): Fed. Circ.

Wednesday, Aug 19, 2009

In Cardiac Pacemakers Inc.’s long-running patent infringement fight against St. Jude Medical Inc. over implantable defibrillators, a federal appeals court has ruled en banc that a statute used by patent holders to assert patents to products originating in the U.S. and assembled in other countries does not apply to method patents.

16. Weighing Layoffs After Mergers And Acquisitions

Thursday, Jul 30, 2009

What happens when layoffs are made in connection with a merger or acquisition and the employer seeks releases from the terminated employees, particularly for age discrimination claims? There are certain issues that companies should consider when faced with this scenario, say Cheryl R. Saban and Christopher Reilly of Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP.

17. Device Makers Engaged In Off-Label Scheme: Suits

Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009

A group of major medical device makers carried out a coordinated nationwide sales campaign to entice physicians and hospitals to use their products for off-label purposes, causing increased Medicare costs due to inappropriate inpatient surgical procedures, according to complaints unsealed Monday.

18. Guidant Judge Rejects 3rd Party Payor Claims Again

Thursday, Jul 02, 2009

A federal judge has refused to reconsider a 2007 dismissal of proposed class action claims third-party health care providers brought against Guidant Corp. over its recalled implantable heart defibrillators, noting that much of the request was "an attempt to relitigate old issues."

19. Last Acculink Claim Against Abbott Nixed

Thursday, Jul 02, 2009

A federal judge has thrown out the lone remaining claim in a product liability lawsuit brought by a man who was partially blinded during a stent procedure in which Abbott Laboratories' blood clot-capturing Acculink system failed to prevent a stroke.

20. Investor's $70M Suit V. Abbott Sent To Arbitration

Friday, May 29, 2009

An appellate court has dismissed a $70 million lawsuit accusing Abbott Laboratories of cheating a Cayman Islands-based investment firm out of royalties when the pharmaceutical company stopped developing the ZoMaxx stent, sending the dispute into arbitration.