Report: Insurer accuses Intuitive of hiding over 700 injury claims

Two insurance companies are claiming that Intuitive Surgical (NSDQ:ISRG) failed to reveal more than 700 injury claims when it applied for liability coverage, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

Intuitive Surgical, maker of the prominent da Vinci surgical robotic platform, says the claims are false, and is accusing Illinois Union Insurance Co. and Navigators Specialty Insurance Co. of “acting deceitfully and breaking their contracts,” according to the report.

The dispute could end up leaving Intuitive Surgical self-insured for a one-year period if a federal judge decides in favor of the insurers, who provide $25 million in coverage to Intuitive.

Illinois Union claims Intuitive disclosed just 24 claims and failed to reveal 734 more when it applied for coverage in 2013. The insurer went on to call the move from Intuitive “a massive concealment of claims from an insurer, potentially the most egregious in history,” according to the report.

The insurer says it would have withdrawn its liability coverage offer if it had known that Intuitive entered into 100s of so-called tolling agreements, Bloomberg reports.

Navigators and Illinois Union are slated to go before U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco next Thursday as they seek a rescission request without a trial.

Intuitive argues that a rescission of the 2013 policy would be premature due to a number of factual issues in dispute, Bloomberg reports. The company is arguing that the policy application asked only about incidents “likely to result in a claim.”

The robotic surgery company countersued both insurers in October, Bloomberg said, after they refused to cover losses related to da Vinci claims.

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