Bakersfield, Calif.-based Bahamas Surgery Center must vacate its portion of a $24 million class-action lawsuit ruling against surgical gown maker Halyard Health, Law360 reports.
What you should know:
1. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit dismissed a class-action lawsuit against Halyard Health because the plaintiff and class representative, Bahamas Surgery Center, could not prove it bought surgical gowns from Halyard and had no injuries traceable to Halyard.
2. The lawsuit stemmed from a 2014 filing that accused Kimberly-Clark, the former owner of Halyard Health, and Halyard of falsely representing how effective the gown was at blocking the spread of pathogens.
3. In 2017, a California jury ordered both companies to pay $450 million in damages. A judge later reduced the award to more than $20 million.
4. Kimberly-Clark later argued that the district court should've decertified the class because a named plaintiff didn't have standing to pursue the claims against the companies, to which the Ninth Circuit Court agreed, in a split decision.
5. Law360 could not reach representatives of the surgery center for comment.