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Medtronic: $75 million to settle suits
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Medtronic Inc. has agreed to pay more than $75 million to settle suits claiming it hid defects in its defibrillators, people with direct knowledge of the accord said.
The settlement will resolve about 2,000 claims over battery defects in Medtronic's implantable defibrillators, which automatically send electric jolts to correct heart rhythms that are potentially fatal, according to three people familiar with the agreement.
"There is nothing new to report on this case," said Rob Clark, a spokesman for Fridley-based Medtronic.
The settlement is conditioned on Medtronic's being able to get about 90 percent of the claimants to sign onto the accord, which was negotiated last month, the people said.
Battery failures and other glitches in the devices prompted voluntary recalls by Medtronic and rivals Guidant Corp. and St. Jude Medical Inc. starting in 2005, shrinking global sales of defibrillators to $5.6 billion last year from $6 billion.
Medtronic's shares fell 15 cents to $52.08 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading Thursday.
Boston Scientific Corp., which acquired Guidant last year, agreed last week to pay $195 million to satisfy about 4,000 claims that its defibrillators were defective.
The Medtronic settlement is designed to end more than 1,400 defibrillator suits that have been consolidated in federal court in Minneapolis, people familiar with the deal said. U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum is overseeing those cases. The accord also aims to end suits filed in Minnesota state courts, as well as claims not yet filed, the people said.
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