Orthofix Must Defend Merger-Tied Investor Claims Over Misconduct

Orthofix Medical Inc. and certain leadership must face investor claims that it failed to include misconduct-related settlement disclosures in paperwork for a 2023 merger with SeaSpine Holdings Corp.

The paperwork saying SeaSpine hadn’t had a such a settlement in the past four years was “clearly a misrepresentation” because of a 2021 court-approved agreement to resolve female employees’ class allegations, Judge Rodney Gilstrap said Monday. But the five other alleged categories of misstatements about leadership qualifications and corporate culture were immaterial puffery, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas judge said, mostly dismissing the investors’ proposed class action ...