Regulatory and legal update - Civil litigation
- Collective and individual civil complaints have been filed in various jurisdictions globally, including but not limited to the United States, Australia, Canada, Israel and Chile. The complaints variously allege economic loss, personal injury and, in some cases, the need for medical monitoring related to devices subject to the Philips Respironics recall
- In the United States, as of January 2023, putative economic loss and medical monitoring class actions and approximately 320 personal injury lawsuits have been consolidated into a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in Pennsylvania and are currently pending
- In September 2022, the MDL court established a voluntary, court-approved census registry, and associated tolling, for potential claimants who have not filed claims, but may file claims in the future, relating to the recalled devices. As of January 27, 2023, approximately 20,000 individuals had joined the census registry. The company anticipates that the number of individuals on the census registry will increase in 2023
- In September 2022, the Court requested that plaintiffs resubmit consolidated or master complaints for their economic loss, medical monitoring and personal injury claims. Since then, the various Philips defendants have filed motions to dismiss each of these complaints on numerous grounds.
- Formal discovery has started, and it is expected to continue throughout 2023 and beyond
- SoClean, a manufacturer of ozone-based CPAP cleaning devices, filed an amended complaint against Philips and certain of its U.S. affiliates, including Philips Respironics, in October 2022 for alleged unfair competition, tortious interference with business relationships, defamation and commercial disparagement. Philips believes SoClean’s claims have no basis in fact or law and is seeking dismissal of the case in its entirety, including on the basis that the FDA has stated that CPAP ozone cleaners, like SoClean’s products, “are not legally marketed for this use.”
- In the Eastern District of New York, a securities class action suit was filed against the company in August 2021, alleging Philips’ statements in connection with the recall triggered a fall in stock price. Plaintiffs filed a Second Amended Complaint in November 2022. Philips will be moving to dismiss the Second Amended Complaint
- Given the uncertain nature of the relevant events, and of their potential impact and associated obligations, if any, the company has not provided for these matters