Mele v. Howmedica, Inc.

In August 1994 Richard Mele sued Howmedica, Inc., the manufacturer of a medical device a surgeon implanted into plaintiff. The trial court denied plaintiffs motion for certification of a class of all patients into whom surgeons in Illinois implanted similar devices. A jury found that plaintiff did not have notice of wrongful causation for his injury until September 1992. The jury also found that Howmedica’s unreasonably dangerous medical device caused plaintiff s injury. The court entered judgment on the jury’s verdict awarding plaintiff $400,000 in damages. Defendant appeals and plaintiff…