By Mike Scarcella and Blake Brittain
Feb 5 (Reuters) – Medtronic owes rival medical device manufacturer Applied Medical Resources $382 million in damages for unlawfully monopolizing the market for blood-vessel sealing surgical devices, a jury found in federal court in California on Thursday.
The jury in Santa Ana found Medtronic violated antitrust law by selling its LigaSure device below cost and bundling it with other products, according to an attorney for Applied Medical, which sells a competing device called Voyant.
Applied’s attorney also said that a judge could triple the award based on the jury’s findings.
Medtronic said in a statement that it would appeal, and that surgeons “choose Medtronic’s LigaSure device time and again because it outperforms Applied’s Voyant.”
The lawsuit centers on Medtronic’s contracting practices for LigaSure. Both LigaSure and Voyant are used to cut tissue and seal blood vessels during surgery.
Applied Medical’s lawsuit accused Medtronic of underpricing LigaSure and discouraging hospitals from buying Applied’s competing tools for fear of losing discounts on unrelated items.
The complaint also challenged Medtronic’s contracts with hospitals, saying they function as exclusive‑dealing arrangements that block Applied from selling its devices.
Medtronic countered at trial that its commitment contracts are not exclusive and do not force customers to buy at a certain level. Medtronic also said such contracts were standard in the medical device industry.
Applied Medical failed to present any evidence showing a hospital was prevented from buying a different device, Medtronic told the court.
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella and Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
