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Hospital gowns didn’t protect as promised, jury says in $454-million fraud verdict

The world headquarters of Kimberly-Clark Corp. in Irving, Texas.
(Donna McWilliam / Associated Press)
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Kimberly-Clark Corp. and its spinoff medical technology firm Halyard Health have been hit with $454 million in compensatory and punitive damages, after a federal jury found the companies misled California buyers about the impermeability of their MicroCool surgical gowns.

Jurors in Los Angeles returned the verdict Friday in a class-action lawsuit brought by more than 400 hospitals and health centers in California.

The lawsuit claimed the gowns were falsely represented as providing protection against serious diseases such as Ebola.

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Michael Avenatti, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said during closing arguments that the case was about failure to disclose important facts to purchasers.

Kimberly-Clark said in a statement Monday that it would appeal the verdict, which it called baseless and excessive. The company says nearly 70 million MicroCool gowns have been sold without a single injury complaint.

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