Getting Results – Using sophisticated technology for a big jury win

A JMBM team representing Los Angeles orthopedic surgeon Dr. Gary K. Michelson won a major IP litigation case. We obtained a jury verdict of $570 million (including $400 million in punitive damages), one of the largest in the country during 2004, against Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc. in a dispute over contract claims and patent rights involving spinal fusion technology. The complex case involved more than 20 different claims between the parties, and our lawyers faced a search of nearly 50 million pages of documents, along with mastering multiple contracts and patents, tracking hundreds of pleadings, and analyzing thousands of privilege log entries.

To find the key documents in a limited four-month timeframe, we chose to use an innovative, sophisticated software application, called Attenex® Patterns®, to quickly and effectively locate the most relevant documents. The software gave us a visual understanding of the full case documentation, displaying how the documents related to each other and enabling us to both find and browse the same documents using selected key concepts. The electronic review, including attorney review time and hardware and software costs, was significantly less expensive than traditional document management. Our use of technology in the Michelson case led to JMBM’s selection as a co-recipient of the Law Technology News 2005 Technology Award in the “Most Innovative Use of Technology During a Trial” category.