STAAR Surgical Settles Outstanding Litigation

MONROVIA, Calif., March 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- STAAR Surgical Company (Nasdaq: STAA), a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of minimally invasive ophthalmic products, today announced that STAAR and all other parties to the matters Parallax Medical Systems v. STAAR Surgical Company and Scott C. Moody, Inc. v. STAAR Surgical Company entered into a Stipulation for Settlement that globally resolves all pending disputes among them.  This settlement satisfies in full the $4.9 million judgment against STAAR in the Parallax matter and the $6.5 million judgment against STAAR in the Moody matter.  In exchange for complete mutual releases, the Stipulation provides for payment by STAAR of $4 million as its contribution to the global settlement.  The funds will be paid from the deposit made by STAAR with the court in June 2009.  The balance of those funds, approximately $3.4 million, will be returned to STAAR.  

STAAR expects the settlement to result in positive adjustments to preliminary financial information previously provided for the fiscal year ended January 1, 2010.  In particular, STAAR's Form 12b-25 filed on March 18, 2010 reported that it believed that the report of its independent registered public accounting firm included in its audited financial statements would again include an explanatory paragraph indicating that substantial doubt exists regarding the STAAR's ability to continue as a going concern.  STAAR believes that the settlement will resolve this doubt and that it will receive an unqualified opinion on its audited financial statements.  STAAR also expects that its audited consolidated statements of operations and balance sheet will reflect positive adjustments from the preliminary financial information included in its press release and recent Form 8-K/A.  

About STAAR Surgical

STAAR is a leader in the development, manufacture and marketing of minimally invasive ophthalmic products employing proprietary technologies. STAAR's products are used by ophthalmic surgeons and include the Visian ICL, a tiny, flexible lens implanted to correct refractive errors, as well as innovative products designed to improve patient outcomes for cataracts and glaucoma. Manufactured in Switzerland by STAAR, the ICL is approved by the FDA for use in treating myopia, has received CE Marking and is sold in more than 50 countries. More information is available at www.staar.com.

Safe Harbor

All statements in this report that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including any statements of the intent, plans, strategies or objectives of management. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the fact that our audited financial statements and the associated opinion will remain subject to change until filed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K.  In addition, while STAAR believes that its sources of liquidity and capital resources are sufficient to satisfy is obligations through fiscal year 2010; these resources remain finite and STAAR's access to financing remains limited. Unexpected obligations or contingencies could exceed our available resources, including the material risks to our business described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 2, 2009 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended October 2, 2009, under the caption "Risk Factors." STAAR assumes no obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events or actual outcomes and does not intend to do so.

SOURCE STAAR Surgical Company