Edwards Lifesciences, the maker of artificial heart valves, has agreed to pay $39 million to settle a lawsuit brought by investors who say they were misled about the company’s growth. Anyone who bought or otherwise acquired Edwards common stock from Feb. 6 through July 24, 2024 can ask for a share, and claim forms are due Dec. 2, 2026, the settlement website says.
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What the investors sued over
The case is Patel v. Edwards Lifesciences Corp., filed in federal court in the Central District of California. The lead plaintiffs allege that Edwards and its chief executive, Bernard J. Zovighian, made false or misleading statements to investors about the growth prospects of the company’s TAVR heart valve business, according to the summary notice. Edwards and Zovighian deny any wrongdoing, and the settlement is not an admission that the claims were valid.
The money is a single $39 million cash payment. The summary notice names Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann as lead counsel and Kroll Settlement Administration as the claims administrator. The hearing before Judge Anne Hwang in Los Angeles is set for Dec. 16, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
Anyone who held Edwards shares in a brokerage account, an IRA or a trust during those months is a possible class member, and each separately managed account or legal entity files its own claim. The question for each holder is whether the shares were bought inside the class period, and the broker records that prove it.
An Edwards claim is built from trade dates and share counts, and the form is due Dec. 2. The Settlement & Refund Recovery System includes a step-by-step filing walkthrough for claims that need records and proof, so each date and share count is ready before the form opens.
Get the filing walkthrough for the Edwards claim with the Recovery System →
How payouts are worked out
There is no flat check for each person. The fund is divided pro rata under a plan of allocation, according to Claim Depot, a site that tracks settlements. Shares sold before the market closed on July 24, 2024 count as a recognized loss of $0. Shares sold from July 25 through Oct. 22, 2024, and shares still held on Oct. 22, use formulas built on the purchase price, the sale price and average closing prices. Negative results are set to $0, and if total claims exceed the net fund, every payment is cut proportionally.
OpenClassActions puts the estimated recovery at about $0.66 per eligible share before fees and expenses, a figure that can move up or down depending on how many valid claims arrive. Claim Depot lists attorneys’ fees of up to $9,750,000 and expenses of up to $195,000, with administration costs still to be determined. Payments under $10 are not issued.
Those numbers show the scale. An investor with 500 qualifying shares would see an estimate near $330 before fees at $0.66 a share, and that is an estimate on one number, not a quote from the administrator. Small holders can fall below the $10 floor.
Dates beyond the claim deadline
The Dec. 2 date is not only for claims. The summary notice says requests to be excluded and objections to the deal must also be received by Dec. 2, so a holder who wants to sue separately cannot wait until the hearing. Money comes only after the court gives final approval and any appeals are resolved, per Claim Depot, so a payment is unlikely to arrive for months.
What the claim form asks for
The online form asks for the last four digits of a Social Security or taxpayer ID number, the shares held on Feb. 6, 2024 and again on Oct. 22, 2024, and the date, size and price of each purchase and sale between those dates. Claim Depot says supporting papers can be broker confirmation slips, account statements or a broker-authorized statement showing the same details. Joint owners must each sign, and anyone filing for an estate or a trust must show proof of authority.
Pulling the records before Dec. 2
The free route is the claim form on the Edwards securities settlement site. Kroll’s phone line, listed in the summary notice, is 1-833-930-0555. Filing is done through that site.
The records are the slow part. The class period reaches back more than two years, so asking the brokerage for statements covering Feb. 6 through Oct. 22, 2024 should happen first. For shares bought and sold inside an IRA, the statements come from the IRA custodian.
Once the papers are in hand, list each purchase and sale by date, share count and price on one page. Mark which shares were sold before July 24, 2024, since those count for $0, and which were still held in late October. Keep the confirmation page after the form is submitted.
Edwards is one of many open settlement deadlines
Investor claims like Edwards run alongside consumer settlements that each have their own cutoff. MoneyPilot lists open class-action settlements and shows which ones may match you, and it tracks deadlines and payout status. It is a paid subscription service.
Track open class-action settlement deadlines with MoneyPilot →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
