Guidant News

An Ontario judge has certified a national class-action suit against a company that makes heart pacemakers.

The action against Guidant Corp., which was purchased a few years ago by U.S.-based Boston Scientific, is on behalf of a class of 28,443 individuals for claims related to the products.

Guidant began a series of warnings or recalls in 2005 on a number of its pacemakers and defibrillators.

A Canadian court has given the go-ahead to a class action lawsuit against Guidant Corp. that alleges the U.S. company knew of defects in its line of defibrillators, lawyers said on Thursday.

Lawyers involved in the lawsuit said the Ontario Superior Court certified the suit in a decision release on Thursday.

A national class-action lawsuit against a maker of faulty defibrillators and pacemakers has drawn interest from people in this province.

But it's too early to tell exactly how many from Newfoundland and Labrador will qualify as part of the class if the suit against Guidant Corp. proceeds and compensation is awarded.

Brad Robitaille, a managing partner with Greg Monforton and Partners in Windsor, Ont., said his firm has received correspondence from "about a half-dozen" residents of this province.

Sometimes the best acquisitions are the ones that don't get made.

Just ask U.S. consumer and health product giant Johnson & Johnson, which earlier this year lost a long and tangled takeover battle for medical device manufacturer Guidant Corp. to Boston Scientific Corp. J&J walked away with a $705 million (U.S.) break fee, and moved on with a smile to buy Pfizer Inc.'s consumer health products unit for $16.6 billion just this week.

By contrast, Boston Scientific, which laid out $27.5 billion in cash and shares for Guidant, has bought itself what, so far, looks like a massive and costly series of headaches, in the form of product recalls and lawsuits.

Boston Scientific Corp. on Monday recalled nearly 23,000 pacemakers and defibrillators that could fail because of an electrical flaw, and the company asked doctors to check 27,000 patients already implanted with potentially faulty devices.

The announced marked the second time Boston Scientific has issued a warning about products of the former Guidant Corp. since the Natick, Mass.-based company bought Guidant in April for $27 billion.

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Greg Monforton and Partners has grown to a highly respected products liability law firm with offices conveniently located throughout Windsor and Essex County, together with affiliate relationships with law firms throughout Ontario, Canada and the United States.

We are committed to protecting the rights of individuals injured by defective products. The firm never represents insurance companies or product manufacturers. We only help people.