endosettlement

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Welcome to the J & J Endosurgical Settlement website.

On December 31, 2008, the United States District Court for the Central District of California issued an Order certifying this lawsuit as a Class Action. If you are a member of the Class, your rights may be affected by that Order, and you must decide whether you want to remain a member of the Class for the Proposed Settlement or request exclusion from the Class and pursue on your own any claims that you may have.

Please read this information carefully. If you are a Class Member (as defined below), your rights will be affected by these proceedings and you may be entitled to receive benefits under the Proposed Settlement.

You are a member of the Direct Purchaser Settlement Class if you fit into this description: All persons and entities who made purchases of Defendants’ Relevant Endosurgical Products in the United States directly from Defendants at any time during the Class Period.

You are a member of the Indirect Purchaser Settlement Class if you fit into this description: All persons and entities who made purchases of Defendants’ Relevant Endosurgical Products in the United States other than directly from Defendants at any time during the Class Period.

The Defendants are Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems, Inc., Ethicon, Inc., and Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc.

The Relevant Endosurgical Products are endosurgical trocars, clip appliers, specimen retrieval bags, endocutters, insufflation needles and tubing, surgical scissors, graspers, dissectors, surgical staplers, surgical procedure trays or kits containing these products, as well as related accessories. The Class Period is from December 19, 2001 through October 20, 2008.

It is possible to be a member of both Classes if you made both direct and indirect purchases.

The Defendants, their parents, subsidiaries, and affiliates, and the federal government are not Class Members.

WHAT IS THIS LAWSUIT ABOUT?

In a class action, one or more people called class representatives (in this case Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center and Bamberg County Memorial Hospital and Nursing Center) sue on behalf of people who have similar claims. The lawsuit claims that the Defendants violated antitrust laws by bundling endosurgical products with other products and by including anticompetitive provisions in their contracts with hospitals and group purchasing organizations. The lawsuit claimed that as a result, purchasers paid more for endosurgical products than they otherwise would have paid. The Defendants deny that they did anything wrong or that prices were too high.

THE RIGHTS OF THE CLASS MEMBERS:

If you are a Class Member, you have the following options:

	(1)		To qualify for a payment, you must submit a Claim Form by mail or online. A Claim Form is attached to the Notice. You may also complete a Claim Form by clicking on the “File a Claim Form Online” link at the left. Read the instructions carefully. If you mail the Claim Form, it must be postmarked by April 20, 2009. If you submit the Claim Form online it must be submitted by April 20, 2009.
	(2)		Unless you exclude yourself, you are staying in the Class, and that means that you can’t sue, continue to sue, or be part of any other lawsuit against the Defendants about the legal issues in this case. It also means that all of the Court’s orders will apply to you and legally bind you. The Settlement Agreement describes exactly the legal claims that you give up if you stay in the Class. You must follow the procedure described below to exclude yourself from the Class.

REQUEST FOR EXCLUSION:

To exclude yourself from the Proposed Settlement, you must send a letter saying that you want to be excluded from the Class. The letter must include the following information:

A statement indicating you want to be excluded from the Class,
The case name: In re: Endosurgical Products Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, and
Your name, address, telephone number, and your signature.

Your letter must be postmarked by April 20, 2009 and sent to:

Endosurgical Settlement
c/o Complete Claim Solutions, LLC
P.O. Box 24678
West Palm Beach, FL 33416

If you ask to be excluded, you will not get any payment from the Settlement Fund, and you cannot object to the Proposed Settlement. You will not be legally bound by anything that happens in this lawsuit. You may be able to sue (or continue to sue) the Defendants in the future.

IMPORTANT DATES & DEADLINE
Submit a Claim Form:	Postmarked or submitted online by April 20, 2009
Object:	Received by April 20, 2009
Go to a Hearing:	Received by April 20, 2009
Exclude Yourself:	Postmarked by April 20, 2009

Further information regarding the Action and the Notice may be obtained by clicking on the “Contact Information” link at the left.