January 6, 2009
Federal Medtronic Sprint Fidelis Lead Cases Dismissed with Prejudice on Grounds of Federal Preemption
All Medtronic Sprint Fidelis defibrillator lead lawsuits pending across the country were previously consolidated before Judge Richard H. Kyle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Early on in this litigation, Medtronic filed a motion to dismiss these lawsuits on the basis that federal regulatory preemption blocked the filing of these types of cases in state court against the company since the FDA had already approved the Medtronic lead device under federal regulations. Unfortunately, on January 5, 2009, Judge Kyle issued a ruling in favor of Medtronic whereby all individual lawsuits pending against Medtronic were dismissed with prejudice.
