COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

6 Months Ended

Sep. 28, 2024

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

14. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

The Company is a party to various legal proceedings and claims arising out of the ordinary course of its business. The Company believes that, except for those matters described below, there are no other proceedings or claims pending against it the ultimate resolution of which could have a material adverse effect on its financial condition or results of operations. At each reporting period, management evaluates whether or not a potential loss amount or a potential range of loss is probable and reasonably estimable under ASC 450, Contingencies, for all matters. Legal costs are expensed as incurred.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, a putative class action complaint was filed against the Company in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois by Mary Crumpton, on behalf of herself and similarly situated individuals. The Company removed the case to the United States District Court for the Northern District Illinois. See Mary Crumpton v. Haemonetics Corporation, Case No. 1:21-cv-1402. In her complaint, the plaintiff asserts that between June 2017 and August 2018 she donated plasma at a center operated by one of the Company’s customers, that the center required her to scan her fingerprint on a finger scanner that stored her fingerprint to identify her prior to plasma donation, and that the Company’s eQue donor management software sent her biometric information to a Company-owned server to be collected and stored in a manner that violated her rights under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). The plaintiff seeks statutory damages, attorneys’ fees and injunctive and equitable relief. In March 2021, the Company moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction and concurrently filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim and a motion to stay. In March 2022, the court denied the Company’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction but did not address the merits of the Company’s other positions. In March 2023, the Company filed a second motion to dismiss the complaint, which is pending before the court. During the second quarter of fiscal 2024, the Company entered into a Memorandum of Understanding providing terms that would resolve the litigation and recorded an additional loss contingency related to this matter. In the third quarter of fiscal 2024, the parties requested preliminary court approval of a final settlement agreement, which was granted in February 2024, and the Company recorded an immaterial additional loss contingency related to settlement administration, resulting in an accrual of $8.7 million within Other current liabilities in its consolidated balance sheets. In March 2024, notice of the settlement was mailed to class members and the parties are now awaiting the complete administration of the settlement through the third-party administrator. In the first quarter of fiscal 2025, the Company issued payment of the $8.7 million settlement amount following the court's final approval of the settlement agreement and dismissal of the matter with prejudice.

During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, a complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware by Knoninklijke Philips N.V. and IP2IPO Innovations, Ltd. (together, the “Plaintiffs”) against OpSens, OpSens Medical, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of OpSens, and Haemonetics (1:24-cv-00206-CFC). The complaint alleges, inter alia, that OpSens’ interventional cardiology systems, including its OptoWire and OptoMonitor technology, infringe a single patent held by the Plaintiffs and seeks both injunctive relief and damages. The Company believes it has valid and meritorious defenses to the complaint and plans to vigorously defend against the complaint. During the first quarter of fiscal 2025, the Company recorded a loss contingency related to this matter, which did not have a material impact on its Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

Product Recall

In August 2023, the Company issued a voluntary recall of certain products within the Whole Blood portion of our Blood Center business unit sold to customers in the U.S. and certain foreign jurisdictions. In fiscal 2024, the Company recorded cumulative charges of $6.8 million related to inventory, returns and customer claims associated with this recall. Substantially all outstanding claims have been paid as of September 28, 2024.