Stryker Sues DOJ Over "Oppressive" and "Overly Broad" Subpoenas
BY LAUREN UZDIENSKI, AUGUST 22, 2008
Almost a year following the settlement in its physician-payment investigation, the DOJ just won't leave Stryker alone, or so Stryker claims in a new legal action revealed this week. The company filed suit in U.S. District Court in Newark, NJ, saying they received "oppressive" and "overly broad" subpoena requests during a DOJ investigation of possible violations of the False Claims Act and the Stark and Anti-Kickback laws.
The company says the DOJ is acting with intent to "harass and harm" them and that they've supplied 300,000 pages of documents to assist in the investigation. They add that the DOJ responded on August 8th saying the investigation would continue, even though Stryker says they've given "convincing evidence" of their innocence.
Stryker is asking the court to throw out the subpoenas and issue a permanent injunction to keep them from being enforced. This may be the boldest and most public challenge we've seen to the post-settlement climate of surveillance and transparency for orthopedic companies, and we'll be watching closely to see how the DOJ responds.
