In a closely watched class action involving medical devices, Judge Thomas C. Mummert III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Southeastern Division, granted C.R. Bard’s motion for summary judgment. Bard’s counsel, Winston & Strawn, retained Cornerstone Research to work with Professor Christopher James of the University of Florida who submitted an expert report to assess damages.
In his September 28, 2009, decision, Judge Mummert held that the plaintiffs failed to raise a “genuine issue that the antitrust violations alleged caused any proximate injury to hospitals” and dismissed all counts with prejudice. In so holding, Judge Mummert found that the plaintiffs had not produced any convincing evidence that C.R. Bard’s alleged conduct was anticompetitive.