Shareholder sues Medtronic over plan to cover execs' $58m tax tab
October 7, 2014 by Brad Perriello
A Medtronic shareholder sued the company last week over its plan to cover nearly $58 million in taxes its pending, $43 billion buyout of Covidien would incur for its top executives.
U.S. tax laws impose a 15% excise tax on stock owned by executives and directors for the 6 months before and after a merger transaction. Although it’s said all along that it will offer an excise tax “gross-up” to cover executives from the tax, Medtronic revealed in an August 26 regulatory filing the details of the coverage. Read more
Report: Bard's mesh settlement is worth $21m
October 9, 2014 by Brad Perriello
The deal between C.R. Bard and a pair of law firms representing 500 plaintiffs in product liability lawsuits brought over its pelvic mesh implants is reportedly worth $21 million.
It’s the 1st time Bard has agreed to settle any of the lawsuits filed over its mesh, which is used to treat female urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. Read more
Covidien's Ev3 logs a pair of legal wins over Appriva, whistleblower
October 8, 2014 by Brad Perriello
Covidien subsidiary Ev3 logged a pair of legal wins in recent weeks when the Delaware Supreme Court overturned a $250 million loss to Ev3 acquisition Appriva Medical and a federal judge in Massachusetts tossed a whistleblower’s lawsuit.
The Delaware Superior Court ruled in 2013 that ev3 broke its contract with Appriva Medical when it denied the $175 million milestone for Appriva’s Plaato device, which it acquired in August 2002 for a $50 million cash payment plus milestones. Read more
BD loses bid to overturn $114m antitrust loss to Retractable Technologies
October 8, 2014 by Brad Perriello
Retractable Technologies won another round in its war with Becton Dickinson & Co. over safety syringe technology when a Texas federal judge declined BD’s bid to overturn a $113.5 million ruling that it violated the Lanham Act’s false advertising proscription.
Judge Leonard Davis of the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas on Sept. 30. denied BD’s motion for judgment as a matter of law. Read more
Ex-Oriole DeCinces fights insider trading charges
October 8, 2014 by Brad Perriello
Doug DeCinces, the ex-Orioles player accused of insider trading on information he got from former Advanced Medical Optics CEO James Mazzo ahead of the company’s $2.8 billion acquisition by Abbott, wants 19 charges dropped from his indictment.
Mazzo also allegedly tipped DeCinces to AMO’s 2007 buyout of IntraLase, federal prosecutors say. In 2012 they accused DeCinces of passing the inside information along to 3 of his friends to make up for bad investment advice he’d given them previously. Read more
