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California Court Again Dismisses Insurance Fraud Suit against CombiMatrix

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – CombiMatrix announced today that a California court has finalized its recent ruling in the company's favor in an insurance fraud lawsuit.

The suit was filed in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Orange in 2011 by former CombiMatrix employee Michael Strathmann, who accused the firm, its former CEO Amit Kumar, and former CombiMatrix partner Acacia Research of submitting false and fraudulent insurance claims to National Union Fire Insurance Company.

In 2010, CombiMatrix received $25 million from the insurer to settle a lawsuit that claimed National Union Fire Insurance had refused to defend and indemnify CombiMatrix under its director and officer's insurance policy.

The Superior Court had previously dismissed Strathmann's lawsuit in mid-2011, but he appealed the decision and an appeals court reversed the dismissal the following year. However, in January the Superior Court once again sided with CombiMatrix, tentatively dismissing the litigation after finding no fraudulent intent on the company's part when it pursued insurance benefits with National Union Fire Insurance.

According to CombiMatrix, that decision has now been made final, although the plaintiff has approximately 60 days to file another appeal.

Shares of CombiMatrix were up around 3 percent at $2.05 in Thursday morning trade on the Nasdaq.

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