High Court Refuses Shiley Appeal Case
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the dismissal of an appeal that would have challenged a $215-million court settlement reached two years ago in the Shiley heart valve case.
The decision clears the way for payments to more than 50,000 recipients of potentially defective heart valves made by Irvine-based Shiley, a unit of Pfizer Inc. in New York.
The settlement, reached in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, also includes money for research into detection of defective valves and an advisory panel to issue guidelines that could help patients implanted with the devices.
James Capretz, a Newport Beach lawyer who won an undisclosed settlement for about 300 heart-valve recipients in Orange County Superior Court last year, said Monday that “the Cincinnati case is of major significance to Pfizer and thousands of implantees. This final dismissal by the Supreme Court is extremely important.”
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