CONMED Awarded $12.2M in Punitive Damages from SurgiQuest

CONMED Corporation announced that a jury in the United State Federal District Court for the District of Delaware returned a verdict finding CONMED’s subsidiary, SurgiQuest, liable for $2.2 million in compensatory damages with an additional $10.0 million in punitive damages. The jury verdict relates to the litigation between SurgiQuest and Lexion Medical LLC that CONMED acquired in connection with its acquisition of SurgiQuest, as disclosed in CONMED’s Form 10-K dated February 27, 2017. The litigation first began in 2013, prior to CONMED’s acquisition of SurgiQuest in January 2016. The underlying claims are that SurgiQuest previously engaged in false advertising in marketing literature related to the AirSeal system.
 
“While we are disappointed in the jury’s verdict, we intend to pursue all post-trial and appellate remedies,” said Daniel S. Jonas, Esq., CONMED’s executive vice president, legal affairs and general counsel. “This litigation will have no impact on the availability of, or CONMED’s ability to distribute, our AirSeal access port or the AirSeal IFs unit.”
 
“While we respect the jury’s verdict, this litigation does not take away from the outcomes experienced by the surgeons who have used the AirSeal in more than 600,000 surgeries to date. These products are the most technologically advanced and provide the only integrated access management system for robotic and laparoscopic surgery on the global market,” said Curt R. Hartman, CONMED’s president and CEO.