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Class Cert Reversed Again in St. Jude Medical

By James M. Beck and Mark Herrmann

Earlier today, the Eighth Circuit reversed certification of a class in a heart valve case. Here's a link to St. Jude Medical, Inc., Silzone Heart Valve Prods. Liab. Litig, No. 06-3860, slip op. (8th Cir. Apr. 9, 2008).

Are we quick, or what?

Here's the court's summary of its holding:

In litigation concerning the Silzone prosthetic heart valve, the district court erred in certifying a consumer protection class of plaintiffs; the record shows that there are material variations in the representations made concerning the valve, as well as material differences in the kind and degree of reliance; since the trial will require physician-by-physician inquiry into each doctor's sources of information about the valve, the case is not suited for trial as a class action; class certification was inappropriate for the further reason that the record shows that individual issues would predominate the remedial phase of the proposed class action, as plaintiffs have requested highly individualized medical monitoring as part of the remedy.

We'll try to add some meat to these bare bones when we have a chance to read the thing and work up the energy to write about it.

Full post as published by Drug and Device Law on April 09, 2008 (boomark / email).