CPAP Sleep Machine Nightmare – for both Consumers and Philips

St Louis, MOPhilips CPAP sleep machine recall has caused a rude awakening for thousands of users who rely on the sleep machine to get them through the night – alive. Meanwhile, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation will discuss next month the future of sleep machine lawsuits throughout the federal court system.

JPML Hearing

As a growing number of CPAP/BiPAP machine lawsuits are filed, The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) is set to discuss how to best manage the sleep machine cases throughout the federal court system and decide upon the future of Philips Respironics lawsuits.

Thomas R. Starner was the first sleep machine user on July 7 to file a lawsuit. He has now brought a motion to the JPML requesting that his case and all similar complaints filed brought throughout the federal court system be consolidated for pretrial proceedings as part of a Philips DreamStation MDL before U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Savage, as reported by AboutLawsuits.com.

On July 29 Philips agreed that the cases should be centralized but requested the litigation be consolidated in the District of Massachusetts. A hearing set for the end of September in St. Louis, Missouri will decide where the litigation will be best managed.
Starner asserts that he incurred substantial expenses to replace the devices and experienced chest tightness and respiratory irritants during his use of the Philips’ CPAP machines.  According to Starner’s lawsuit,

“Since being notified of the recall, Plaintiff has experienced anxiety concerning the potential serious health risks he is facing from possible exposure to off gassed or degraded PE-PUR Foam in the recalled devices.

Starner seeks to recover damages based on, inter alia, Philips’ breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranties, misrepresentations, omissions, and breaches of state consumer protection laws in connection with its manufacture, marketing and sales of devices containing PE-PUR Foam on behalf of himself and the proposed Class and Subclass.

In addition, Plaintiff Starner seeks medical monitoring damages for users of Philips’ devices identified in the Recall Notice, who are at risk of suffering from serious injury, including irritation (skin, eye, and respiratory tract), inflammatory response, headache, asthma, adverse effects to other organs (e.g., kidneys and liver) and toxic carcinogenic affects.”

Case number 2:21-cv-02925 was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on July 1.

Sleep Machine Class Action Lawsuit Filed in California

Another class action lawsuit was filed August 25 in in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division. A Los Angeles woman claims she bought a Philips DreamStation Bi-PAP machine for about $900 to treat sleep apnea – she was diagnosed in 2019. The plaintiff states in her complaint that she would never have purchased the Philips machine had she known about potential problems with the sound abatement foam. Further, Philips failed to replace or repair her machine, or to provide any assistance. Because of the recall, she purchased a replacement machine, the ResMed Airstation 10 Auto Set, for $937.38.

She intends to represent herself and all others similarly situated in California and seeks compensatory and punitive damages.  Given the recall for millions of machines in June 2021, attorneys are expecting many more complaints.

In its financial report the Dutch manufacturer, Koninklijke Philips, N.V. made over $23 billion in revenue in 2020. It is expected to have its own nightmares with massive liability from lawsuits and CPAP machine settlements over the next few years.