Cook Medical Asks Court To Drop Fraud IVC Filter Claims

Introduction

Cook Medical Inc. has filed a motion seeking the dismissal of fraud claims brought by plaintiffs in the IVC filter multidistrict litigation, stating that the cases failed to plead all the elements necessary to establish fraudulent concealment.

According to a motion filed on June 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Cook asserted that "plaintiffs' pleading of fraudulent concealment is indefinite and non-specific, and it provides none of the detail necessary to state a claim sufficient to toll the statute of limitations."

The MDL includes 27 such cases against Cook and others that were filed in federal court in 11 different states. Each lawsuit claims that the company and others associated with the filters' manufacturing and sales knew about the defects in Cook's inferior vena cava filters yet hid them from the patients and doctors. The plaintiffs have also alleged that this coverup, in turn, delayed them from filing suit.

Three cases involving Cook Medical went for trial in the MDL, of which the first one ended in a jury verdict in Cook's favor in November 2017. The second was tossed in March 2018 as time-barred, and the latest was sent back to trial by U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young in January over "hearsay" evidence that incorrectly influenced the jury, reversing a $3 million verdict awarded to the plaintiff.

An Inferior vena cava filter (IVC filter), earlier popularly known as Greenfield filter, is a medical device implanted in the inferior vena cava just below the kidneys to capture blood clots, preventing them from reaching the heart and lungs, thereby, safeguarding against life-threatening pulmonary emboli (PE). IVC filters were cleared for use through the 510(k) process since 1976 however, in 2010 the FDA issued a device safety communication after reviewing more than 900 adverse events related to the devices over a period of five-years C.R. Bard, Inc. and Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. (collectively, Bard) and Cook Incorporated, Cook Medical LLC, and William Cook Europe ApS (collectively, Cook) are the main manufacturers of retrievable IVC filters. Other manufacturers include Argon Medical Devices, Cordis Corporation, Rex Medical, Johnson & Johnson, ALN, B. Braun Medical, and Rafael Medical.

Nearly 7,000 cases are pending against Cook, which is centralized under MDL No. 2570 in the Southern District of Indiana and assigned to District Judge Richard L. Young and Magistrate Judge Tim A. Baker for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings.

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