Mass Settlement in Defective Cardiac Defibrillator Claims

Brent Adams

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According to Medtronic Inc., it has reached a settlement agreement of $114.1 million in order to settle product liability lawsuits related to the company's Marquis line of implanted cardiac defibrillators.
The Minneapolis-based company, which makes implantable biomedical devices, will settle 2,682 cases for $95.6 million and $18.5 million in attorney's fees. However, according to the company, the settlement is not an admission of liability or the validity of any defenses in the suits.

In November of 2006, a motion by Medtronic to dismiss over 350 product liability lawsuits connected to a voluntary recall of implantable defibrillator heart devices in February of 2005 was denied by a federal judge.
The central issue in the product liability suits was an announcement by Medtronic in February 2005 of a potential battery shorting problem in various Marquis-brand defibrillators. The rate of failure was, and still is extremely low, but Medtronic voluntarily told doctors of the issue. In the U.S., 11,000 of the machines were removed surgically and replaced with another device. Another 2,000 removals took place overseas.
The suits' plaintiffs made the argument that Medtronic knew for years that a potential for product defects existed, but sold the devices anyway without advising patients that safer devices were available. The company countered by arguing that every obligation had been fulfilled in terms of reporting the problem, which included seeking and receiving approval from the FDA in 2003 to implement changes to the battery design.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Defective and Dangerous Products.