Medtronic has settled most of the 2600 lawsuits over defective defibrillators
Medtronic Inc. won approval to end the consolidation of more than 2,600 lawsuits over defective defibrillators after reaching a $114 million settlement. U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum in Minneapolis said he would disband the consolidation of lawsuits over Medtronic's Marquis line of defibrillators now that almost all the patients who asserted the devices malfunctioned have resolved their claims. The decision ends the majority of litigation over the defibrillators, which patients contend failed to help during heart attacks because of battery defects. The settlement resolves 2,682 claims filed since 2005 over the implantable defibrillators. There are still 19 defibrillator patients who have refused to settle their cases and will have a chance to press their claims at trial. Medtronic still has pending litigation in its defective Spring Fidelis leads in another version of their defibrillators.
