Case study

A US manufacturer of medical devices

Database mining, assessment and supplementation project

PA's Market Analytics specialists provided database mining, assessment and supplementary expertise to PA's litigation team to help a client prepare evidence for litigation. A manufacturer sought to demonstrate that two different versions of a device should be treated as two different and separate products, enabling the client to file an additional insurance claim.

PA staff first analyzed several available databases of claims for both devices and developed recommendations for sampling claims from each database. For each of the sampled claims, PA staff checked original court records to verify the accuracy of the information, fill in missing data and gather additional information required for statistical analysis. An integrated database was prepared by combining data from the existing and augmented databases.

The expanded database supported comprehensive statistical analyses of information on claims, claimant characteristics, settlement amounts and other factors to support the client's argument that claims from each device were materially different and should be considered separately for insurance claim purposes. PA staff also used the database to support extensive data mining and exploratory data analysis, designed to investigate alternative hypotheses and competing analytic strategies that could be employed by opposing counsel.

Based in part on PA's extensive analyses, the case was settled on terms very favorable to PA's client.