(www.ibj.com)–Dr. Rick C. Sasso, an Indiana spine surgeon and inventor, has won a sweeping, five-year legal battle against medical-device giant Medtronic, with a jury this week awarding him $112 million in damages.Sasso, 58, president of Carmel-based Indiana Spine Group, had claimed that Medtronic had violated a contract by not paying royalties he was due for spinal implants and screw-implant systems he had invented and sold to the company more than a decade ago. The systems became one of the company’s largest product lines, with annual sales of more than $200 million.
Along the way, Medtronic paid Sasso more than $20 million in royalties, but he contended the company shortchanged him, breaching its obligations and acting in bad faith.A six-person jury in Marshall County Circuit Court returned the verdict in favor of Sasso on Wednesday, wrapping up a nearly month-long trial.
Medtronic—based in suburban Minneapolis with operations in Warsaw, Indiana—had acknowledged that Sasso played a role in inventing several products. But the company argued Sasso was seeking payment “far in excess of the value of his contributions.”In a regulatory filing Thursday, the company said it has “strong arguments to appeal the verdict” and will file post-trial motions with appellate courts.
But Sasso’s attorney, Frederick Emhardt of Plews Shadley Racher & Braun, said the jury—which included two science teachers–spoke loudly with their verdict, sifting through a complicated set of facts and circumstances.
“After a month of evidence, they learned much about spine surgery and the business of medical device sales and the need to honor contractual commitments, even if they were made by persons no longer with a company,” he said in an email. “In a period of six hours, they unanimously rendered a verdict awarding to a dollar what Dr. Sasso requested—$112,452,269. The jury system is a bedrock of our way of life. It worked exactly the way intended by our founders.”
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Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy (Sasso) and sends a clear message to companies like Medtronic who have played this game on a regular basis. Several surgeons I know have been in this exact scenario–royalty agreements–above and beyond simple scope of work consultant contracts–and the companies find ways to diminish or de-emphasize what they are legally bound to compensate. Many times, these legal decisions are not made public, so kudos to Dr. Sasso and his legal team for showing the dark underbelly of how some of the legacy (not all) companies operate…