Plaintiffs Drop Class-Action Suit Against Diagnostics Company

By Heather van Blokland
Published: Thursday, September 14, 2017 - 4:34pm
Updated: Friday, September 15, 2017 - 7:14am

After two years of court battles, a class-action lawsuit originally filed against Tucson-based Accelerate Diagnostics — and subsequent appeals — will not be heard.

Attorneys representing Accelerate said this case should have never been brought against the company and two of its executives. The lawsuit, filed in 2015, said the defendants violated the Securities and Exchange Act by making false statements about one of its products.

“And so that’s what the case is all about, whether or not we had violated securities law by misleading investors through various statements to the public and to the SEC,” said Blair Taylor, in-house counsel for the company.

Accelerate Diagnostics specializes in studying antibiotic resistance and healthcare-associated infections. In January of last year, the U.S. District Court in Arizona granted the defendants motion to dismiss the case, with prejudice. An appeal was then filed by the plaintiffs challenging the decision of the district court by filing with the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Now, a year and a half later, the plaintiffs are dropping the lawsuit against the company and its executives, and will not seek additional settlement. No explanation was given by the former plaintiffs as to why.

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