Sep. 22, 2016
Allen J. Ruby
See more on Allen J. RubySkadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates
Ruby represents Sunnyvale-based Intuitive Surgical Inc., maker of a $1.5 million operating room robot known as the da Vinci system, in more than 100 of the 3,000 claims nationally by patients blaming surgery complications on the device. It's an example of the kind of high-stakes litigation he's familiar with after a career representing clients such as Barry Bonds, SanDisk Corp., the Oakland A's, Southwest Airlines Co., Facebook Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Bank of America Corp., the NFL and former San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales.
Plaintiffs in the da Vinci cases allege they or a family member underwent surgical procedures that utilized the system and sustained a variety of personal injuries and, in some cases, died.
Regarding the da Vinci cases, Ruby declined substantive comment but said, "Many are set for trial around the U.S. Most of what I've done is in California. These are product liability cases; the company denies the claims." Illustrating the potential liability his client believes it faces is a report in a regulatory filing that Intuitive has set aside about $100 million to resolve an unspecified number of the claims. "The next trial is set in San Jose around the end of October," Ruby said. Anderson v. Intuitive Surgical Inc., 13-cv-255586 (Santa Clara Super. Ct., filed Oct. 21, 2013).
In April, Ruby settled another Intuitive Surgical case on the third day of jury deliberations for an undisclosed amount. The plaintiff sought $30 million. As in several of the cases, Ruby faced prominent plaintiff's attorney Mark J. Geragos of Geragos & Geragos APC. Zarick v. Intuitive Surgical Inc., 12-cv-237723 (Santa Clara Super. Ct., filed Feb. 26, 2013).
This year's other major trial for Ruby was his win in June, mid-trial, for client FedEx Corp. on federal criminal charges of delivering drugs from online pharmacies to buyers without proper prescriptions. Ruby and co-counsel and Top 100 honoree Cristina C. Arguedas persuaded prosecutors to dismiss all charges after only three days of argument and testimony. Ruby credited Arguedas' opening statement as a high point of the trial. He said his own cross-examination of a lead Drug Enforcement Administration agent helped. "It brought into focus the extent to which the government chose not to take action against these pharmacies," he said. "Yet they were claiming FedEx should have acted." As he queried the witness, Ruby said Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer chimed in with an interrogation of his own, likely contributing to the prosecution's sense that things weren't going its way. "The judge pretty much took over and asked some pointed questions," Ruby said. U.S. v. FedEx Corp., 14-cr-3080 (N.D. Cal., June 17, 2016).
— John Roemer
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