Veteran Knobbe Martens lawyer Joe Re doesn’t mince words when he talks enthusiastically about his team’s antitrust win against giant medical device maker Medtronic.
“From beginning to end, it was a great case and by far the most significant case I’ve ever tried,” said Re, who’s been at it for 39 years.
At issue was Medtronic’s sales of devices that seal blood vessels within a patient’s tissues, enabling surgery.
Applied Medical said Medtronic’s discounted bundling tactics froze out much of the market for the Rancho Santa Margarita company’s own Voyant devices and illegally suppressed competition.
The jury ordered Medtronic to pay Applied Medical $382 million in damages, a number Re says could rise to well over $1.1 billion once “treble damages” are figured in.
Applied Medical, which makes a whole array of devices, alleged that Medtronic monopolized the market for the so-called “advanced bipolar devices” used in surgery.
Nearly Three-Week Trial
Following a nearly three-week trial in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, a jury in February found that Minneapolis-based Medtronic violated three major antitrust laws: the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act and the California Cartwright Act.
“This really impacts how the hospitals can buy their products from the large medical device suppliers,” Re said.
Medtronic is reputed to be the largest medical device supplier in the world, with plenty of clout, especially when it sells its products in bundles of various items.
“You really can’t tell what you’re paying for on a unit-by-unit basis,” according to Re.
In technical terms, the advanced bipolar devices at the center of the Applied Medical case use radiofrequency energy to seal vessels and a mechanical blade to divide sealed tissue.
Price Hike Threat to Hospitals
“If they (Medtronic) suspect you are looking at another supplier, they will send you a notice of ‘out of compliance’ threatening to jack up the prices on all the goods in the bundle,” Re said.
He predicts it will take years for the full impact of the case to unfold, with the end result helping to lower medical costs in the U.S.
Knobbe Martens has become a nationally ranked intellectual property law firm.
The Medtronic award is the latest success for the firm’s lawyers, who have delivered more than $1 billion in awards to clients in high-profile cases in recent months.
In an earlier case, the Knobbe Martens lawyers obtained a $634 million win for Irvine-based Masimo in a patent infringement case against Apple in November 2025 (Nasdaq: MASI).
‘Truly Competitive Market’ Needed
Steve Jensen, another member of the 12-lawyer Knobbe team in the Applied Medical case, said in a statement that “this verdict sends a strong message: healthcare providers deserve a truly competitive market for lifesaving medical technologies free from exclusionary contractual barriers.”
In addition to Re and Jensen, the Knobbe Martens team included seven other partners as well as associates Nefi Oliva, Adam Copeland and Isabella Pestana.
With 117 attorneys as of last month, Knobbe Martens is the second-largest OC-based law firm by headcount after Rutan & Tucker, with 146.
Applied Medical said the court victory “should help open the healthcare market to innovation and lower costs.”
Innovation, Choice, Value
Following the verdict, Applied Medical said it intends to seek injunctive relief to prohibit Medtronic from enforcing its unlawful restrictions.
“This is not just a legal victory for Applied; it is a validation of fair competition,” said Gary Johnson, an Applied Medical group president, advanced energy.
“We believe this decision marks a turning point for hospitals and healthcare providers struggling to dismantle complex contractual barriers that have long prevented them from access to innovation, choice and value.”
As a vertically integrated organization, Applied Medical manufactures its products in-house at its corporate headquarters in Southern California. The company has customers in more than 75 countries.
From Courtroom Victory to the Winter Olympics
Fresh off a major antitrust court win for Applied Medical, Knobbe Martens partner Joe Re barely had time to savor the victory as he had to rush off to catch the Winter Olympics in Italy—a trip that doubled as a return to his family roots.
“I just got back from Italy myself. I was at the Olympics for the past two weeks,” Re told the Business Journal on Feb. 26. “It was great.”
“I got the verdict on Thursday. I flew to Italy on Saturday. I had no time to breathe, went right to the Olympics, went with my wife and two kids. We went to like 15 events. It was fantastic.”
“We saw the women win the gold medal. We saw Jordan Stolz win the gold medal. Nothing like hearing the Star-Spangled Banner played—you’re in the audience, screaming and yelling.”
Re’s family comes from a small island off the coast of Sicily, and he says the Olympics won’t be the only trek back to his ancestral homeland this year.
“I’ll be there in the summer,” Re said.
