Judge dings Neovasc for another $21m in spat with Edwards Lifesciences unit CardiAQ Valve

A federal judge in Boston yesterday added another $21 million to the judgment against Neovasc (NSDQ:NVCN) in a trade secret spat with Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) subsidiary CardiAQ Valve that’s already cost Neovasc some $91 million.

A jury in May awarded $70 million to CardiAQ after finding that Neovasc misappropriated trade secrets in developing its Tiara transcatheter mitral valve replacement device. Edwards inherited the lawsuit when it acquired CardiAQ Valve for $400 million in August 2014.

A federal judge in Massachusetts added $21 million in enhanced damages to the decision last November. CardiAQ asked Judge Allison Burroughs of the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts to also award pre- and post-judgment interest.

Yesterday Burroughs obliged, tacking on $20.7 million in pre-judgment interest and $2354.27 per day in
post-judgment interest from Nov. 16, 2016, “until judgment is satisfied,” according to court documents.

“The jury concluded that CardiAQ should have received $70 million in 2010, and CardiAQ is therefore entitled to prejudgment interest on that figure,” Burroughs wrote. “The jury was instructed that the damages award should reflect what Neovasc would have paid in 2010, not what CardiAQ should receive today, and there is no reason to believe the jury strayed from that instruction.”

Neovasc also argued that the pre-judgment interest would be a de facto windfall for CardiAQ Valve, but Burrough’s disagreed.

“[T]here is no reason to believe that an award of prejudgment interest would constitute a windfall. Instead, such an award will fulfill the intended purpose [of the relevant statute] – to compensate CardiAQ for its inability to use the money that Neovasc should have paid it in 2010,” she wrote.

Neovasc did not dispute that CardiAQ should get post-judgment interest, according to the documents. The judgment, including the monetary awards, are stayed pending Neovasc’s appeal, although the company did post a $70 million bond in connection with the stay.

The company said it plans to pursue an expedited appeal.

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