Goldman Ismail Wins Summary Judgment for Medtronic, Inc.
A Goldman Ismail team led by partners Joe Tomaselli and Rami Fakhouri successfully obtained summary judgment and dismissal with prejudice of all claims brought against Medtronic, Inc. and two of its field representatives in a lawsuit pending in Illinois state court. The Court ruled that the representatives had no duty, nor did they assume a duty, to intervene in a patient's medical care and override the treatment decisions of the patient's healthcare providers, stating that "[p]utting such a duty on the Medtronic defendants would exceed the scope of their duties as field representatives and impose a burden on Medtronic to monitor the actions of medical providers." The Court also held that Plaintiff's failure-to-warn claim was expressly preempted under 21 U.S.C. § 360k(a) and Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc., 552 U.S. 312 (2008). Assisting on this case were associates Michael Casner and Betsy Farrington.