Rigrodsky & Long, P.A.

  • Do you, or did you, own shares of Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ GS: ISRG)?
  • Did you purchase your shares before October 19, 2011, or between October 19, 2011 and April 18, 2013, inclusive?
  • Did you lose money in your investment in Intuitive Surgical, Inc.?
  • Do you want to discuss your rights?

Rigrodsky & Long, P.A., including former Special Assistant United States Attorney, Timothy J. MacFall, announces that a complaint has been filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of all persons or entities that purchased the common stock of Intuitive Surgical, Inc. ("Intuitive" or the "Company") (NASDAQ GS: ISRG) between October 19, 2011 and April 18, 2013, inclusive (the "Class Period"), alleging violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against the Company and certain of its officers (the "Complaint").

If you purchased shares of Intuitive during the Class Period, or purchased shares prior to the Class Period and still hold Intuitive, and wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact Timothy J. MacFall, Esquire or Peter Allocco of Rigrodsky & Long, P.A., 825 East Gate Boulevard, Suite 300, Garden City, NY at (888) 969-4242, by e-mail to info@rigrodskylong.com, or at: http://www.rigrodskylong.com/investigations/intuitive-surgical-inc-isrg.

Intuitive designs, manufactures and markets da Vinci Surgical Systems and related instruments and accessories, which taken together, are advanced surgical systems that the Company believes represents a new generation of surgery. The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements, and omitted materially adverse facts, about the Company's business, operations and prospects. Specifically, the Complaint alleges that the defendants concealed from the investing public that: (a) defects in the da Vinci Surgical System had caused a substantial number of patient injuries resulting in adverse incident reports prior to and during the Class Period; (b) not all of these adverse incident reports were being reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"), exposing the Company to significant regulatory risk and potential criminal sanctions; (c) Intuitive knew, based on the receipt and review of adverse incident reports and its executive's knowledge of the then-ongoing discussions with the FDA during the Class Period that there was a substantial risk that the FDA might limit or restrict sales and marking of the da Vinci Surgical System; (d) Intuitive was engaging in sales practices that violated community standards and their own protocol agreed upon with the FDA, further exposing the Company to criminal and civil sanctions; (e) Intuitive was exposed to hundreds of millions of dollars in potential civil liability to injured and deceased patients and their families; (f) Intuitive failed to properly reserve for potential liability to civil litigants; and (g) as a result, defendants lacked a reasonable basis to make positive statements about the safety and effectiveness of the da Vinci Surgical System, the Company's business metrics and its Class Period financial results and outlook. As a result of defendants' false and misleading statements, the Company's stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period.

According to the Complaint, on April 18, 2013, CNBC's Investigations, Inc. broadcast an expose on the da Vinci Surgical System consisting of interviews with, among others, doctors, lawyers, and patients who have filed lawsuits against Intuitive claiming they suffered injury while being operated on by surgeons using the da Vinci Surgical System. During the broadcast, CNBC referenced the FDA's MAUDE database, which contains voluntary reports by manufacturers concerning adverse events involving medical devices, including reports of injuries and deaths associated with use of the da Vinci Surgical System. A former Intuitive employee, interviewed by CNBC during the show on condition of anonymity, stated that she recalled instances of da Vinci-related complications that were not reported in MAUDE, and contended that the MAUDE database is "significantly understated in terms of [da Vinci-related] complications."

Following this broadcast, shares in Intuitive fell $8.62 on April 19, 2013, on volume of over 1.5 million shares. Overall, shares in Intuitive dropped almost 19% from a Class Period high of $594.89 per share to the April 19, 2013 close price of $484.75.

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than June 25, 2013. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. Any member of the proposed class may move the court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.

While Rigrodsky & Long, P.A. did not file the Complaint in this matter, the firm, with offices in Wilmington, Delaware and Garden City, New York, regularly litigates securities class, derivative and direct actions, shareholder rights litigation and corporate governance litigation, including claims for breach of fiduciary duty and proxy violations in the Delaware Court of Chancery and in state and federal courts throughout the United States.

Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Rigrodsky & Long, P.A.
Timothy J. MacFall, Esquire
Peter Allocco
888-969-4242
516-683-3516
Fax: 302-654-7530
info@rigrodskylong.com
http://www.rigrodskylong.com