Philips wants SoClean to pay part of settlement 

PITTSBURGH – Philips has sued SoClean in a bid to get the company, whose ozone cleaners it says “attacks” the foam in its CPAP devices, to pay part of its recently announced $1.1 billion settlement. 

Philips announced the settlement in April to resolve the personal injury litigation and the medical monitoring class action related to a recall of certain sleep and respiratory devices in the U.S.   

“(SoClean’s) negligent and intentionally misleading conduct has contributed to the negligence claims for which Philips are bearing or may in the future bear financial responsibility, making (SoClean) liable in contribution and indemnity for their relative culpability,” the lawsuit states. “Philips therefore brings this third-party complaint to ensure that, for any payment to a device user who used a SoClean device, (SoClean) is held accountable for their contributory liability to device user negligence claims.” 

Philips filed the lawsuit on May 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. 

At least 15% of device users are confirmed SoClean users, according to the lawsuit. 

This is only the most recent lawsuit between the two parties. Earlier this year, Philips filed a counter lawsuit against SoClean and its private equity owner, DWHP, arguing they "recklessly and unlawfully” marketed their ozone cleaning devices as compatible with its CPAP and BiPAP devices.   

SoClean originally sued Philips for $200 million in damages in 2021 for blaming its cleaners for problems related to the recall of certain Philips respiratory devices due to degradation issues with sound abatement foam.  

Philips has since conducted expansive testing that the company says has shown that ozone dramatically increases the risk that the foam will degrade in recalled devices.