Monday, March 26, 2012

Truth or Dare? Or Is It Liar, Liar Pants on Fire

Good day Spine Nation, it's time to play truth or dare. What do Trent Northcutt, Brent Johnston, Thomas Gardner, Robert Smart, Kyle Webb, Lance Cochran, Kiki Steinberg and Lazlo Garamszegi have in common?  As Richard Dawson use to say, "the answer is......................"  It seems that once again the Usual Suspects have enacted a drama that will either play out in a court of law, or with a mediator, regardless, could this be a game of liar, liar, pants on fire?


On March 12th, 2012 a complaint was served in the Superior Court for the State of California Orange County, Santa Ana on behalf of Trent Northcutt and Brent Johnson against Phygen, LLC, Allez Spine, LLC, Thomas Gardner, Robert Smart and 50 Does. That's like Does as in John and Jane Doe of the famous Doe family. The complaint alleges that in or about 2008, Northcutt and Johnston designed a Dynamic Interspinous Implant Design applying for a provisional patent on the ISP product and design including their proprietary dynamic ratcheting locking system., never before seen or used in the Spine Industry, as opposed to the standard grommet nut locking system.


For those of you that do not know the industry, prior to sharing the ISP design under the protection of IP Agreements, the Plaintiffs had consulted for Phygen and Allez Spine. That could have been their first mistake. It was during this period that Northcutt and Johnston told Gardner, the CEO of shell companies, Phygen, aka Physician Generated, Allez Spine and Athernova about their ISP idea.  Gardner assured (wink, wink) the Plaintiffs that he would be interested in the ISP product based on their experience and success at LANX No Thanx, the US market leader for ISP fusions.

On May 28th, 2009 the parties signed the IP/ISP protection agreement, specifically, a three year Non-Circumvent and Non-Disclosure Agreement. The documents were scanned and e-mailed to all parties.  The plaintiffs signed on behalf of Apogee Dynamics and Mssr. Lazlo Garamszegi (love that name, Could it be Lazlo from Casablanca).  Under the IS/ISP Agreement the other Defendants were shown the Plaintiffs design. At the time the Plaintiffs presented their design Gardner, Garmszegi and Dr. John Brown indicated that they were "impressed and expressed an interest to acquire or develop the product." After a few months the product was not acquired or developed.  Mssr. Northcutt went on to work for SpineArt as a VP in North America, and Johnston stayed on with Phygen/Allez (gotta love these shell companies) until his departure in early 2011.

Here’s where the plot thickens.  Unknown to the Plaintiffs at the time, allegedly Gardner and Smart directed the employees to create a “secret” ISP folder and began developing the stolen IP design.  In or about February of 2012, metal prototypes were received by the Defendants, who began showing the metal prototypes in San Francisco during the AAOS trade show.  The question TSB must ask is, why didn’t Mr. Gardner submit the product to the Spine Technology Awards, bet Robin Young would have given Phygen a prize for the effort alone, if any of this is true.  Could have named the award something like, well let's just call it the Paul Award for old time sakes.

On February 8, 2012 as the lights went down on the city, and the sun shined on the bay, Mssr. Gardner invited Northcutt to attend the Allez/Phygen cadaver lab.  Awaiting were some former oldies but goodies from Blackstone Medical, Kyle Webb,  Lance “I took it on the chin" Cochran, Kiki “I gotta mouth” Steinberg, and Lazlo. The  Our Gang of the Spine Industry offered Northcutt some wine and cheese , how gauche, but he declined.  As the Plaintiff toured the lab much to his surprise he noticed a familiar ISP implant that was attached to the cadaver.  Can one image that even the dead are being dragged into this suit? Yet, although the shape of the implant was different , it had the exact locking mechanism. Obviously at this point Northcutt realized that something did not smell right.  Words were exchange, and Gardner swiftly escorted Northcutt out the front door.  Here’s where this complaint gets funny, Gardner and Smart are attempting to sell Allez/Phygen to a financial suitor for an estimated $15-25 million.  You know what PT Barnum once said……  The Plaintiffs believe that the stolen device could exceed $25 million in the open market.  So what do our readers think, is this truly a game of truth of dare?  Or, is this a game of he says, she says.  Whatever the consensus, once again, it seems like old habits die hard in the Spine Industry.   You know what they say,


Got those highway blues can't you hear my motor running
Flyin' down the road with my foot on the floor
All the way in town they can hear me comin'
Fords about to drop she won't do no more  
And I smell my motor burnin' 
Underneath the hood is smoke
Can't stop and I can't stop got to keep movin' or I'll lose my mind



44 comments:

  1. All of the aformentioned names deserve one another as they all belong to the same den...of thieves. Gardner will once again have to make up lies to convince the handful of surgeon investors and board members of PHYsician-GENerated that he was attacked by the cruel and unusual Northcutt/Johnston (aka, the Menendez bros.) Perhaps Johnston will pull out his "FBI contacts" and rough a few people up. This group is truly the underbelly of the industry. I hope they all eat each other alive.

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    Replies
    1. I have done a few deals with Brent over the last 10 years. He could have screwed me on one of those without a doubt. I have never had a problem with Brent’s integrity. I hope he gets the 25MM.

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    2. Nice. I'm sure Brent appreciates your standing by him, Trent! Are you sure he never screwed you?

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    3. Phygen is a defendant in a patient lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court. Recalled product placed on the market failed in the patient. What was recalled product doing in a patient.

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  2. From the way Trent and Brent look lately they've been eating something. The underbelly of this industry are now using this site to push their IP lawsuit/agenda? Great work Spine Blogger, you are officially a part of the that same circle.

    Who comes up with this subjects? Where's the old author of Spine Blogger, this new guy hasn't a clue.

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    Replies
    1. "From the way Trent and Brent look lately they've been eating something."

      that is some funny shit right there!

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  3. Sounds like someone from Phygen or may I say Allez-Spine has their panties in a knot. News is News whether you like it or not. Go on OTW and Orthoworld and read some more propaganda, vanilla bean sugar coated non-sense.

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  4. Dont hate on MM, or this blog because our industry, due to many external and internal factors, has become somewhat washed out. There are few positive topics to cover in our industry, other than the garbage and dirt that the greedy old spine blood cant seem unclot. This blog is a prime example of how WE as an industry are quite equally to blame for the crap you all complain about as our Govt is. I say, work hard. If someone has a competitive advantage over you that keeps them making cash, good for them, its just free enterprise, so long as its not illegal, immoral, and unethical..... So that leaves about 100 of us. Remember, Karma... is a Bitch.

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  5. What investor would buy Phygen? All they are buying is a terrible distributorship with a negative track record.

    As far as the ISP, If the technology was truly a breakthrough why didn't the plantiffs patent it? A provisional patent is only good for one year.

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  6. Hey TSB, I have a pretty strong feeling your next post will reference this little piece about Biomet:

    http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2012/2012-50.htm


    Cheers,
    TR

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    Replies
    1. Good Article. Perhaps they will start investigating the companies in the US that do the same thing. How can they fine a company for giving kickbacks based on usage and on the other hand allow POD's? Someone needs to put the OIG/DOJ's house in order! Maybe the SEC should take over DOJ/OIG.

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  7. spinous process implant? As Allen Iverson so eloquently said "spinous process implant, we're talking about a spinous process implant"? I mean practice. Really?

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  8. Is it true that Lanx doesn't have a legal leg to stand on against LifeSpine's blatant ripoff of teh Aspen because Dr. Fulton never applied for a patent? Someone told me he thought that the company would have been sold way before the patent would ever have been approved....Mike Butler either has balls, or is just a crook....

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    Replies
    1. Please refer to Mr. Butler as "Little Napolean" moving forward...

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    2. I don't know if you've met Mike Butler. He's actually kind of a big dude.

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    3. Are you hitting the bong? MB is a little guy that looks like and accountant on clonidine for turrets. What the article doesn't bring up is the fact that Chris Cochran also now works for fittykgen

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    4. Chris is another Alphatec reject, that is the perfect place for him.

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    5. When is the Life Spine ISP device going to be available?

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  9. No mention of Mit Romney at NuVasive headquarters in San Diego today?

    http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/03/26/romney-attacks-obama-for-new-business-rules-taxes/

    Say what you want about Romney, but there's not really anything negative that you an say about NuVasive with regards to this story. Fighting back against Obamacare helps all of us in the spine biz.

    Cue NuVa hate comments....now. ;)

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    Replies
    1. It would have helped if he knew he was at Nuvasive today and not Invasive. Who else was counting slip-ups?

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    2. High-five Alex! How about more leadership like this from The Suits at Medtronic, Stryker, etc. instead of going to slaughter like lambs!

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  10. "well let's just call it the Paul Award..."

    Best line in a while, thanks TSB!

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  11. WAY TO GO ALEX!!!

    Like him/NV or not at least he's not sitting on his ass regarding the upcoming proposed tax.

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  12. This is old news......let's move on shall we?

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  13. 7:30 - Any suggestions on moving on or would you rather just sit and bitch from left field???

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  14. No one cares about these hacks.

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  15. 7:58, Butler is a small weasely guy. Maybe he's paying someone to satnd in for him because he's afraid to be picked out in a crowd..

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  16. Good for Trent and Brent for standing up for themselves, this sounds like once again a company tried to steal a design and got caught. Companies like Phygen need to go away and I'm glad soneone had the balls to stand up to them.

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  17. We hope that Butler reads this blog and realizes how much of a buffoon he is in this industry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Insulting people by name while you stay anonymous makes you just another coward. Plenty of that going on in this thread.

      Delete
  18. Sounds like Butler's got his panties in a knot. Wah! Wah! Wah!

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    Replies
    1. Not man enough for panties reverse thong.

      dockets.justia.com/docket/missouri/mowdce/4:2010cv00482/94766/

      dockets.justia.com/docket/new-york/nysdce/1:2009cv09221/354433/

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    2. Do you know who won these lawsuits?

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  19. Trent Northcutt???? Isn't he the one who was boffing Christiana when they were at Lanx? Real ethical, classy guy

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    Replies
    1. Gardener, Gardener, Gardener!!! You are naughty...

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    2. I heard Gardner was called for doing something by his finance lady. Anyone know what came off that?

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  20. The article was written by Laszlo Garamszegi, you may ask How i know? well... He once told me his name is laszlo like the Lazlo from Casablanca. As part of his old trick he purposely misspell his name to make you all think its not him. By they way everyone Laszlo left Phygen.LLC

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    Replies
    1. I understand Laszlo was xxxxx! I understand he is going around saying it is "constructive termination and has a lawyer. Now we all know what to expect.

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  21. No its not. Laszlo is not into the musical references that this guy is into. The guy who writes here is a child of the late sixties early seventies. Laszlo would be more likely quoting Hungarian polka music, or Balkan folk tunes, or himalayan dwarf chanting.

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  22. Approximately 85 percent of people will experience some form of back pain during their lifetime. It is very important that the Patients must carefully consider the decision to undergo back surgery. The spine is a difficult and delicate place to operate and surgeons are only sometimes able to lessen pain and improve movement, which is why doctors strongly recommend patients seek a second opinion before making a choice. 

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  23. Is Lance Cochran still in the Dallas area doing sales. With what company? Phygen? Could find any Texas offices...

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  24. Anyone know if Phygen actually got sold? If so, to who and when?

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  25. I agree...who cares! Good Luck to Brent and Trent. Tent....when are you going to ask me out?

    Regards
    Girl Next Door

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