Claims Administration Update
The claim period is closed. The deadline to submit a claim was January 10, 2020.
The Referee completed his review of the explant claimants applications, and claims for reimbursement of expenses. His decisions are being sent out to the claimants, and are final, except for cases where the Referee denied a claim for a payment from the Extraordinary Injury Fund. Those claimants have 10 business days from the delivery of the Referee’s decision to ask the case management judge to review the decision. All such requests should be forwarded to Class Counsel at email: reception@waddellphillips.ca , fax: 416-477-1657, or by mail to Defibrillator Class Action, Waddell Phillips PC, 36 Toronto St., Toronto, ON M5C 2C5. Class counsel will forward the requests to the judge.
Once the appeal period from the Referee decisions is complete, and the judge has resolved any review requests, the Claims Administrator will be able to ascertain the total compensation for each eligible explant patient and the derivative claimants, and the funds will be disbursed. Currently we anticipate the payments will be made by the end of January, 2021.
Status of the Action
The Action has been Certified as a Class Proceeding
This action was certified as a class action on April 23, 2019 with the consent of the Defendants, solely for the purpose of effecting a settlement of the action. The deadline for opting out of the class action has now passed. In order to make a claim use one of these claim forms:
- Patient Class Member Claim Form
- Patient Class Member Claim Form (French)
- Derivative Class Member Claim Form
- Derivative Class Member Claim Form (French)
The Settlement Agreement
The Plaintiffs entered into a Settlement Agreement with the Defendants, which has been approved by the court as being fair and reasonable and in the best interests of the Class. The Settlement resolves all the claims asserted against the Defendants in this class action. The Defendants continue to deny any liability to the Class, and have been grated a full release as part of the settlement approval.
A Short-Form Notice advising Class members of the certification order and the motion for settlement approval are being sent out by mail to all class members for whom St. Jude has records.
You can learn more about the proposed Settlement and how it will affect the class members by reading the Long-Form Notice.
In general, the Settlement will result in payments to Eligible Explant Claimants of as much as $10,000, more or less, plus additional compensation for complications arising from the surgery. Other members of the Class will receive up to either $100 or $500 depending upon when they were implanted with an affected defibrillator. Class members may also be reimbursed for out of pocket expenses of up to $500.
The terms for the distribution of the settlement funds, including proposed shares for different class members, can be found at Schedule G of the Settlement Agreement, and are explained at www.stjudeicdclaim.ca.
Further updates will be posted as the case progresses. You may also review the case updates on the website of our co-counsel, Waddell Phillips Professional Corporation at: https://waddellphillips.ca/class-actions/st-jude-defibrillator-class-action/.
Documents
- Settlement Approval Order
- Settlement Agreement
- Plaintiffs’ and Class Counsel’s Combined Factum for Settlement and Fee Approval
- Issued Certification Order
- Reasons for Decision on Certification
- Amended Amended Statement of Claim
- Short-Form Notice of Settlement
- Short-Form Notice of Settlement (French)
- Long-Form Notice of Settlement
- Long-Form Notice of Settlement (French)
