Picker settlement rejected in ISO suit

Picker International believedit had reached a settlement agreement last month with a formerservice employee, Bruce Leavitt. Leavitt is a co-defendant inthe vendor's seven-year legal battle with independent serviceorganization Imaging Equipment Services of Pittsburgh and itspresident, Tom Quinn. However, the settlement agreement was rejectedby the judge in the case, who asked the parties to continue talking.

In June, the judge granted Picker's motion for summary judgment,which effectively dismissed IES' antitrust suit against Picker(SCAN 6/15/94). The judge issued a memorandum outlining his reasoningfor the ruling last month. IES intends to appeal the judgmentbut will wait until Picker's case against the ISO is tried, Quinnsaid. That case is scheduled for court this month.

Meanwhile, Quinn obtained documents from the inspector general'soffice of the Department of Defense that indicate another governmentinvestigation of medical imaging OEM practices may be under way.The Department of Justice requested in July that IES turn overall documents in its lawsuit with Picker as part of its antitrustinvestigation of the medical imaging industry (SCAN 7/27/94).

Last month, DOD refused to supply Quinn with Picker-relateddocuments under a freedom-of-information request due to "anongoing criminal investigation," the DOD said.