Shiley Settles Claims of 333 Recipients of Heart Valves : Litigation: Agreement is first among individuals not part of class-action suit. Each would get up to $300,000, documents show.

IRVINE — The manufacturer of a potentially defective heart valve said Tuesday that it has settled claims with 333 recipients, the company’s first major agreement with individuals who chose not to take part in a class-action settlement last summer.

Although Shiley Inc. in Irvine and its corporate parent, Pfizer Inc. in New York, would not disclose terms of its agreement with the Minneapolis law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, documents obtained by The Times show that Pfizer will pay the law firm’s clients a total of $35 million. Each recipient would receive from $40,000 to $300,000, depending on circumstances.

In exchange, the firm’s clients have agreed to drop their lawsuits pending in Orange County Superior Court. Most claims were filed by recipients whose valves have not fractured but who live in fear that they will.

The recipients or their survivors will still be able to sue Pfizer if the valves do fracture, or if they are injured during valve-replacement surgery, said Bruce Finzen, a lawyer with the Robins, Kaplan firm. His clients, whose suits had been pending as far back as 1986, include 156 recipients from the United Kingdom and Sweden. The rest are from the United States. Together they represent about 40% of valve recipients who did not join the class-action lawsuit.

“We’re happy with the settlement,” Finzen said. “We’re pleased.”

The Bjork-Shiley Convexo/Concave valves were sold from 1979 to 1986 and have been implanted in about 51,000 people worldwide. Of those, about 300 have died when the struts in the valves came apart.

In a statement, Pfizer said the settlement will have “no material adverse effect” on the company’s financial position. The company said it will make the payments from reserves and through insurance coverage.

In Tuesday’s trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Pfizer’s stock closed at $79, up 25 cents.

The Minneapolis firm’s clients were among 850 heart-valve recipients who decided not to take part in a $215-million class-action settlement that was approved by a federal court in Cincinnati in August.

The class-action settlement, which is being appealed, includes $2,500 to $4,000 for each implant recipient for medical or psychological consultations. It also sets aside $75 million for research on procedures to detect flawed valves, including an X-ray technique that has showed signs of success in early stages of study.

As word leaked out over the last month of the terms of the most recent settlement, other lawyers who have clients with cases still pending have argued that Pfizer made a substantially better offer to the Robins, Kaplan clients.

“That doesn’t seem fair,” said Elaine Levenson, a valve recipient who founded a Pittsburgh support group. She questioned whether Shiley was negotiating with the Robins, Kaplan firm at the same time the court was considering the class-action agreement.

Irvine lawyer James Capretz, whose firm represents 300 recipients who have suits still pending, called on Pfizer to disclose terms of the Robins, Kaplan settlement in court.

“If a significant inequity exists, then it must be resolved by the court,” Capretz said.

Pfizer spokesman Rick Honey said the two settlements, however, are like “apples and oranges.”

“The point is they are two different settlements,” he said. “The Robins, Kaplan clients are not eligible for (the class-action settlement) benefits, which can be substantial.”

Finzen said that, because the agreement is confidential, it is “fruitless to make the comparison.”

Benefits available to class-action recipients but not to the Robins, Kaplan clients include guaranteed compensation of $500,000 to $2 million if a valve fractures, as well as payments for valve replacement surgery. That includes medical, lost-income and long-term-disability benefits.