A federal judge in Dallas awarded $9.6 million to Flower Mound-based ThermoTek Inc. immediately after a jury late last week determined that a competitor fraudulently obtained the medical products manufacturer’s business information for a series of physical therapy machines.
ThermoTek, which manufactures devices used in treating deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and other medical conditions, was initially the defendant in the case when a distributor run by Chicago businessman Mike Wilford sued ThermoTek in 2010 on claims that its products were defective and thus breached an express warranty.
ThermoTek successfully transferred the lawsuit, originally filed in Chicago, to U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater’s court in Dallas by countersuing Wilford and his companies on claims that he fraudulently obtained ThermoTek’s business information in order to design and sell his own medical device products.
After a three-week trial Dallas, jurors found unanimously on Friday that Wilford defrauded ThermoTek and participated in unfair competition. They awarded ThermoTek $7.56 million plus pre-judgment interest and rejected all of Wilford’s claims. Judge Fitzwater increased it to $9.6 million due to pre-judgement interest.
“This was little more than outright theft,” said Martin Rose of Dallas-based trial firm Rose Walker, who represented ThermoTek along with partner Chris McDowell. “Wilford’s plan all along was to take ThermoTek’s designs and profit from them.”
Chicago attorney Kathleen Lyons, who led the case for Wilford’s companies, Motion Medical Technologies, Wabash Medical Company and Orthoflex, declined to comment on the case.