Fairness Hearing For Philips CPAP Recall Medical Monitoring Settlement Set for October

In October, the U.S. District Judge presiding over all federal Philips CPAP recall lawsuits will hold a hearing to decide on the fairness of a proposed class action settlement, which would provide $25 million to cover future medical monitoring of former users exposed to toxic sound abatement foam inside the breathing machines that is known to increase the risk of cancer and other injuries.

Philips announced in April that it has agreed to pay $1.1 billion to resolve tens of thousands of individual personal injury claims, as well as a medical monitoring class action lawsuit, all of which were filed in the wake of a massive Philips CPAP recall first announced in July 2021.

The recall impacted millions of devices sold over the past few decades that contained a polyester-based polyurethane (PE-PUR) foam, which was intended to help reduce noise and vibrations while the machines were used at night. However, the foam has now been found to degrade and release toxic chemicals or gasses directly into the CPAP machine’s air pathways, increasing the risk of cancer, lung damage, respiratory injuries and other health problems.

In September, Philips announced it will pay at least $445 million in a CPAP recall economic loss class action settlement to individuals who bought, rented or leased one of the impacted devices, and another $34 million to health insurance companies and others who paid to reimburse users to replace the machines.

The second, larger deal announced in April providers another $1.1 billion to resolve most of the remaining individual complaints filed by former users, as well as the medical monitoring class action claims that remained outstanding. Insurers will pay $40 million of that settlement amount, but the rest will come from the company’s revenues.

Late last month, U.S. District Court Judge Joy Flowers Conti, who has been presiding over the centralized pretrial proceedings of all federal Philips CPAP recall lawsuits over the last few years, granted preliminary approval (PDF) of the $25 million Philips CPAP medical monitoring settlement agreement.

The preliminary approval gives settlement class members 90 days from the publication of the order, issued on June 27, to object to the proposed settlement. She has scheduled a final fairness hearing to be held on October 30, 2024.