Partial Summary Judgment OKd in Medtronic Pump Case

The DC federal court has granted in part and denied in part Medtronic’s motion for summary judgment in a case involving a mechanical pump and associated infusion set used to administer insulin to a diabetic woman. The woman, a college sophomore in 2007, experienced severe hypoglycemia in her dorm room and suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of the low blood sugar levels. She now lives in a group home in a persistent vegetative state and the suit was brought by her parents against Medtronic and against Unomedical Devices, which manufactured and assembled the infusion set.

The complaint contains 25 state law claims concerning the two medical devices that the court generally grouped into five categories — negligence claims, common law strict liability, express warranty claims, failure to warn claims, and claims that the family is entitled to punitive damages because each company “acted maliciously, willfully, wantonly, and recklessly without regard to the safety of others.”

The court noted that the sides have completed fact discovery but not expert discovery, and have pared down the charges against Unomedical to failure to warn claims. The court approved Unomedical’s motion for summary judgment on the basis of the statute of limitations.

It granted summary judgment to Medtronic on all claims pertaining to the pump except a manufacturing defect claim and the failure to report claim for the infusion set because all other claims in that category are preempted by federal law. It also granted summary judgment to Medtronic on the breach of warranty claim because the statements on which the claim was based do not create an actionable warranty. And it granted the company summary judgment on the standalone punitive damages claim because such a claim is not recognized under DC law.

However, the court said, any ruling on the availability of punitive damages as a remedy is premature prior to completion of expert discovery. Finally, the court said it sees no other basis for granting summary judgment in Medtronic’s favor on the infusion set claims involving negligent design, manufacture, labeling, and failure to warn, although the company could seek summary judgment on causation grounds after expert discovery is completed.