July 8, 2020 - The Court of Appeals affirmed the court's decision. The case was dismissed.

May 1, 2019 - A notice of appeal was filed.

March 30, 2018 - The court granted defendants' motion to dismiss.

February 16, 2017 - A motion to dismiss the corrected amended complaint was filed.

December 12, 2016 - A corrected amended complaint was filed.

December 6, 2016 - An amended complaint was filed.

June 28, 2016 - An investor filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by Halyard Health Inc, Kimberly Clark Corp, and certain officers in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of all persons other than defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired Kimberly-Clark Corp (NYSE: KMB) securities on or after February 25, 2013 and subsequently received Halyard Health Inc (NYSE: HYH) securities pursuant to Kimberly-Clark Corp’s spin-off of Halyard Health Inc, effective as of October 31, 2014 and/or purchased or otherwise acquired Halyard Health Inc (NYSE: HYH) securities between October 21, 2014 and April 29, 2016.

Prior to October 2014, Halyard Health Inc was the Health Care operating segment of Kimberly-Clark Corp, a manufacturer of personal care, consumer tissue, and professional products. Kimberly-Clark Corp’s common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “KMB.” On October 7, 2014, Kimberly-Clark Corp announced the details for the completion of the spin-off of its Health Care segment as Halyard Health Inc, advising its shareholders that they would receive one share of Halyard Health Inc common stock for every eight shares of Kimberly-Clark Corp common stock held as of the close of trading on October 23, 2014, the record date for the spin-off.

In late 2013, an outbreak of the Ebola virus began in Guinea, subsequently spreading to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and other West African nations. In August 2014, after meeting with health ministers from eleven countries, the World Health Organization designated the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, a rarely-used designation that invokes legal measures on disease prevention, surveillance, control, and response by 194 signatory countries. On September 30, 2014, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared the first case of Ebola virus in the United States.

As awareness of the Ebola epidemic grew, demand surged for the personal protective equipment—i.e., eye shields, face masks and disposable gowns—made by Kimberly-Clark Corp’s Health Care segment and subsequently by Halyard Health Inc, including the Company’s MICROCOOL surgical gowns.

According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges that the defendants violated Federal Securities Laws. More specifically, the plaintiff claims that the defendants made certain allegedly false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that the Company’s MICROCOOL surgical gowns consistently failed effectiveness tests and failed to meet industry standards, that Kimberly-Clark Corp and Halyard Health Inc had knowingly provided defective MICROCOOL surgical gowns to U.S. workers during the Ebola crisis, and that as a result of the foregoing, defendants’ public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On May 1, 2016, 60 Minutes reported that Kimberly-Clark Corp and Halyard Health Inc had knowingly provided defective surgical gowns to U.S. workers at the height of the Ebola crisis. A Company insider claimed that Halyard Health Inc’s MICROCOOL surgical gowns were prone to leaks and did not consistently meet the industry safety standards for the treatment of Ebola, but that Kimberly-Clark Corp and Halyard Health Inc had nonetheless “aggressively” marketed the MICROCOOL gowns to hospitals during the epidemic.