A federal jury in Dallas late Thursday rejected claims by an internal pharmaceutical industry whistle-blower that giant Abbott Laboratories wrongly induced physicians and hospitals to submit hundreds of millions in falsely coded claims to Medicare.
In a decade-old lawsuit, a former salesman for bile duct stents maker Guidant, which is now owned by Abbott, claimed the medical products manufacturer marketed its stents for unapproved longer term usage.
After a three-week trial, the jury in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn deliberated for three hours before returning a defense verdict.
Abbott Labs is represented in the case by Kirkland & Ellis partners Jim Hurst and Andrew Kassof from Chicago and Haynes and Boone senior litigation partner George Bramblett.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers are Chris Hamilton and Meagan Martin of Standly Hamilton in Dallas, as well as lawyers in Missouri and Washington, D.C.
Kevin Colquitt sued Abbott Labs in 2006 seeking $219 million in damages, which could have been tripled. In addition, Colquitt demanded hundreds of millions more in penalties under the federal false claims act.
Most of the money would have gone to reimburse Medicare, but lawyers said Colquitt would have been eligible to receive a sizable percentage of any judgment under the whistle-blower laws.
Hamilton, a lawyer representing Colquitt, told Bloomberg News that he plans to appeal the decision.
“We believe the evidence supports a finding that Abbott knowingly marketed and billed Medicare hundreds of millions of dollars in stents for unapproved uses that were not eligible for reimbursement under the rules,” Hamilton said.