Atricure hit with shareholder suit, on top of DoJ suit
Lawyers for certain investors in AtriCure common stock have filed a class-action complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in Cincinnati alleging that the medical device company artificially inflated its share price.
Richard Wayne and William Flynn of Strauss & Troy filed the lawsuit on behalf of plaintiff Brian Halford, a purchaser of AtriCure stock who is not otherwise identified. The complaint stated it was being filed on behalf of people who bought AtriCure stock between May 10, 2007, and Oct. 31, 2008.
The latter date is the day the West Chester, Ohio-based AtriCure revealed that it was under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) for its marketing practices.
The lawsuit charges that AtriCure CEO David Drachman and Chief Financial Officer Julie Piton failed to disclose that the company was illegally promoting its surgical ablation devices, which cannot be promoted for sale because they are not approved by the FDA, causing the filing of false claims for reimbursement, and had issued false and misleading revenue and earnings reports that were not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
Other law firms representing the plaintiff were Glancy Binkow & Goldberg of Los Angeles, Howard G. Smith of Bensalem, Pa., and Saxena White of Boca Raton, Fla.
Richard Wayne and William Flynn of Strauss & Troy filed the lawsuit on behalf of plaintiff Brian Halford, a purchaser of AtriCure stock who is not otherwise identified. The complaint stated it was being filed on behalf of people who bought AtriCure stock between May 10, 2007, and Oct. 31, 2008.
The latter date is the day the West Chester, Ohio-based AtriCure revealed that it was under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) for its marketing practices.
The lawsuit charges that AtriCure CEO David Drachman and Chief Financial Officer Julie Piton failed to disclose that the company was illegally promoting its surgical ablation devices, which cannot be promoted for sale because they are not approved by the FDA, causing the filing of false claims for reimbursement, and had issued false and misleading revenue and earnings reports that were not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
Other law firms representing the plaintiff were Glancy Binkow & Goldberg of Los Angeles, Howard G. Smith of Bensalem, Pa., and Saxena White of Boca Raton, Fla.