Abbott Laboratories urged the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to reject a request to consolidate federal lawsuits involving its spinal cord stimulators.
The company currently faces about 23 spinal cord stimulator claims, according to court documents reviewed by Becker’s. In its Aug. 4 filing, Abbott argued the cases are “highly individualized” and “plaintiff-specific,” involve various injuries and do not share a specific alleged device defect.
Two plaintiffs with pending Abbott spinal cord stimulator lawsuits had asked the panel to establish a separate multidistrict litigation for claims involving Abbott products and assign the proceedings to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
The request follows the panel’s decision in June to establish an MDL in the Central District of California for spinal cord stimulator lawsuits involving Boston Scientific. The panel had previously rejected a request to create one industry-wide MDL involving different spinal cord stimulator manufacturers.
In March, patients filed lawsuits against four spinal cord stimulator manufacturers — Abbott, Boston Scientific, Medtronic and Nevro — alleging their devices caused injuries including electric shocks, worsening pain, neurological injury and repeated corrective surgeries.
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