TORONTO, April 23, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- A class action has commenced against Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) claiming that the company and its subsidiaries, Lifescan Inc. and Lifescan Canada, manufactured defective glucose monitors used by people with diabetes, under the name SureStep. The claim alleges that the defective monitors displayed inaccurate blood glucose readings, failing to indicate dangerously high blood glucose levels. The claim alleges that users experienced severe adverse reactions, which in some cases resulted in death. Consumers are seeking general damages in the amount of $500 million, plus punitive damages and other relief.
The SureStep glucose monitors were sold to consumers despite Johnson & Johnson's alleged knowledge of the following two latent design and manufacturing defects:
a) Due to an allegedly defective test strip and accompanying meter,
the SureStep system allegedly falsely displayed a low glucose
reading without the user receiving an indication that an error
had occurred.
b) An inaccurate error message allegedly occurred when a user's
blood glucose level was above 500 mg/dl, which did not alert
users of their dangerously elevated blood glucose level.
This allegedly led to the user's failure to take immediate
corrective medical action.
Kirk Baert of the Toronto law firm Koskie Minsky added, "There can be no compromises when people's health and well being are at stake."
In the United States, Johnson & Johnson paid the Government $60 million after having pleaded guilty to criminal conduct following a grand jury investigation.
Koskie Minsky is experienced in handling complex class actions involving pension rights, wrongful dismissal, securities and shareholder misrepresentation, product liability, insurance, consumer protection, transportation disasters and others. Lexpert recognizes lawyers at the firm as being leading practitioners in the area and in related areas of law. We have achieved recoveries for class members in many of these cases, and also act as consulting counsel for plaintiffs and defendants in class actions.
For further information please visit www.koskieminsky.com and click on class actions.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca
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CONATCT: Koskie Minsky
Kirk Baert
(416) 977-8353
Public Perspectives Inc.
Denise Riposati
(416) 595-2069