Medtronic Inc., agreed to pay $75 million in order to settle lawsuits claiming the company concealed defects in its defibrillators, Bloomberg News reported on July 20, 2007. The settlement aims to resolve approximately 2,000 claims that said the batteries in Medtronic’s implantable defibrillators were defective.

Bloomberg’s sources said the Medtronic defibrillator settlement is contingent on 90 percent of the claimants agreeing to the $75 million accord. Medtronic gave itself the right to withdraw from the settlement if less than 90 percent of the claimants sign.

The potential Medtronic settlement comes after Medtronic recalled some 87,000 defibrillators. The recalled Medtronic medical devices cost about $30,000 each.

And while some lawyers representing plaintiffs in the suits declined to comment on the potential settlement, some say they will move on with product liability litigation against Medtronic.

“All I can say is that we are continuing to press our cases and hope to be able to bring some of them to trial in 2008,” one California-based lawyer representing 80 clients, said.

Source: Jef Feeley, “Medtronic Has $75 Million Defibrillator Settlement, People Say,” Bloomberg, July 20, 2007.