Lifescan Settles Defect Suit for $45 Million

Lifescan Inc., a maker of diabetes monitors, agreed to pay $45 million to diabetics in the United States to settle a class-action suit that claimed its products were dangerously defective.

Lifescan, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, didn’t admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, which was reached Monday just before jury selection was about to begin. A federal judge indicated he probably will approve the settlement.

The Milpitas, Calif.-based company also had to pay $60 million last year after pleading guilty to charges that it knew about two defects in its SureStep glucose meter but failed to disclose the problems before putting the device on the market in 1996.

The suit settled this week applies to as many as 400,000 diabetics who bought SureStep meters before August 1997, when the company fixed the problem.