Products Liability Law Reporter

A federal district court held that a products liability suit against the makers of a surgical device was untimely where the plaintiff reasonably could have discovered that the cause of the decedent’s death resulted from an intraoperative injury.

Leafy Ann Lundin underwent a laparoscopic colectomy in October 2021. During the operation, the treating physician used a LigaSure medical device. The LigaSure’s alarm sounded during the procedure, and the device allegedly experienced an electronic shortage. Lundin died in January 2022, and her cause of death was attributed, in part, to an intraoperative duodenal jejunal injury during the colectomy. Her estate sued Covidien Sales, LLC; Covidien LP; Covidien Holdings, Inc.; and Medtronic, Inc. (Medtronic defendants), among others, alleging negligence and wrongful death. The plaintiff asserted that the LigaSure was defective because of the electronic shortage during use and because it lacked adequate warnings. The defendants moved to dismiss.

Granting the motion, the court noted that under Or. Rev. Stat. §30.905(1), a products liability action must be commenced no later than two years after the plaintiff discovers or reasonably should have discovered the injury and the causal relationship between the injury, the product, and the defendant’s conduct. Here, the court found, the plaintiff could have discovered the cause of Lundin’s death by January 2022, when the death report was completed and available. The plaintiff’s claims against the Medtronic defendants were filed in March 2024—more than two years after the plaintiff reasonably should have discovered the cause of Lundin’s injury, the court said, concluding that the negligence suit was therefore time-barred.

The court also held that the wrongful death claim was, in part, one for products liability and that the plaintiff had also failed to state a sufficient claim in light of the failure to identify which component part of the LigaSure was defective and how the defendants’ warning was misleading and inadequate.

Citation: Hawkins v. Kaiser Found. Health Plan of the N.W., 2024 WL 2894771 (D. Or. June 10, 2024).