Investor Asks To Replead Medtronic Securities Suit

Investor Asks To Replead Medtronic Securities Suit - 3/26/2009

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HEADLINES \| SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS \| COURT FILINGS LINKS TO OTHER NEWS \| NEWS ARCHIVE	HEADLINES ARCHIVED SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS ARCHIVED

SETTLEMENT NEWS:

Investor Asks To Replead Medtronic Securities Suit
Brendan Pierson

Securities Law 360. March 26, 2009
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EXCERPT: The lead plaintiff in a securities class action against Medtronic Inc. alleging that the company covered up fatal defects in its Sprint Fidelis defibrillator leads has asked to replead the case, which was dismissed earlier this month, in light of new information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The plaintiff, investor Stanley Kurzweil, said in a motion filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota that only days after the case was dismissed, the FDA produced over 2,000 pages of its internal reports and correspondence with Medtronic, in response to a year-old Freedom of Information Act Request. The new information will allow the plaintiff to plead a much more specific case, the motion said. When Judge Richard Kyle dismissed the complaint with prejudice on March 10, he said that it did not comply with the demanding pleading standards of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Under the PSLRA, plaintiffs alleging securities fraud based on material misstatements or omissions must “specify each statement alleged to have been misleading [and] the reason or reasons why the statement is misleading.” The law also requires that the claims imply intent to defraud on the part of the defendants. However, the plaintiff said Tuesday that “compelling, newly discovered evidence contained in the FDA documents suggests that lead plaintiff can replead in a manner that satisfies the rigorous standards of the Reform Act.” “Although lead counsel still is reviewing the FDA documents (and the FDA has informed lead counsel that additional documents will be forthcoming), it is apparent that the disclosures contained in the FDA documents confirm allegations going to the heart of lead plaintiff’s complaint,” the plaintiff said. For example, the plaintiff said, the FDA's documents show that Medtronic made false statements about the safety of its defibrillators in letters to doctors in 2007.

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