Intuitive Surgical (NSDQ:ISRG) is facing a lawsuit from 1 of its insurers that alleges that the medical device company concealed legal claims filed over its da Vinci surgical robot.
The Illinois Union Insurance Co. filed the lawsuit last week in the U.S. District Court for Northern California, accusing Intuitive of revealing only 25 legal claims filed over the da Vinci device.
Intuitive had also agreed to extend the deadline for other lawsuits filed over the da Vinci device beginning in November 2012, but never told the insurance company about the deals, called "tolling agreements," the lawsuit claims.
"Plaintiffs did not know of the existence of the tolling agreements prior to the issuance of the policy, and had no means of learning of the existence of the tolling agreements and the increasing number of claimants being added to the tolling agreements because that information was known only to the defendant, defendant’s counsel, and the claimants’ attorneys," according to court documents. "Had plaintiff been informed of the tolling agreements and increasing number of claimants during the application process, plaintiff would not have proceeded with the application process and would have withdrawn any quote for the policy."
Illinois Union wants Judge Jon Tigar to rescind the policy it granted to Intuitive and order the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company to cover the legal costs of the lawsuit.
Intuitive spokeswoman Angela Wonson told MassDevice.com via email that the tolling agreements were "repeatedly disclosed" in regulatory filings.
"We have no comment on the lawsuit at this time," Wonson wrote.