SEC filing shows status of B&L suits

10/23/2007 -   Bausch & Lomb Inc. had been targeted by 573 ReNu with MoistureLoc-related product liability suits as of Oct. 16.

    Of 225 cases filed in U.S. federal courts, 209 were transferred by a judicial panel to the U.S. District Court of South Carolina. Other federal claims were consolidated in a single class action by a federal judicial panel in August and then dismissed this month by a U.S. district judge in South Carolina, the eye-care company stated in a premerger Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday.

    Of 344 ReNu with MoistureLoc claims filed in state courts, 308 cases had been consolidated in state Supreme Court in New York City, the filing adds.

    Bausch & Lomb pulled ReNu with MoistureLoc from store shelves last year after the Centers for Disease Control warned wearers of soft contact lenses to beware of fusarium keratitis, a source of potential serious fungal eye infection. Asian health officials previously had linked ReNu with MoistureLoc to the fungal infection.

    In dismissing the consolidated federal case, U.S. District Judge David Norton cited discrepancies in how various state laws would deal with the product-liability claim, federal court records show. His decision to dismiss the case without prejudice did not deal with the complaints’ merits, however, leaving a door open for plaintiffs to continue to press claims.

    It is not possible to estimate damages for which ReNu with MoistureLoc complaints could leave it liable, Bausch & Lomb states in the SEC filing.

    Bausch & Lomb shareholders voted last month to accept Warburg Pincus LLC’s $65-a-share purchase offer. Bausch & Lomb officials said then that the deal, which would take the company private, could close by the end of this month. The new SEC filing does not project a closing date.

    Bausch & Lomb shares (NYSE: BOL) were trading midday at $64.89—up slightly.