Fla. Judge Orders Ethicon to Produce Documents Relating to Predicate Devices in Stapler Case

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Florida federal judge has ordered Ethicon Inc. (NYSE: J&J) to produce documents related to predicate devices in a suit involving the company’s Contour Curved Cutter Stapler, finding Ethicon failed to show how the materials are not relevant to the plaintiff’s case.

Magistrate Judge E. Thomas Morris of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida noted that Ethicon had informed the Food and Drug Administration that the predicate devices are “substantially equivalent” to the surgical stapler at issue in this action.

Leander McLane sued Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc., alleging that the Ethicon Contour Curved Cutter …