A Texas jury recently awarded a Harris County man $3.1 million in a product liability lawsuit involving three technological companies. In October 1997, Mohammad Tamoozi underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor. During the procedure, the neurosurgeon, Dr. Robert Levinthal, used an image-guided surgical navigation system, following a preplanned path, to locate the cyst. When the instrument could not pinpoint the tumor, the physician halted the operation to avoid further damage to Tamoozi's brain.

Tamoozi suffered complete paralysis to the left side of his body. The plaintiff filed a lawsuit against Surgical Navigation Technologies Inc., Sofamor Danek Group Inc. and Sofamor Danek L.P., the makers of the navigation system known to doctors as the "Stealth Station." The complaint alleged that a faulty trajectory-- the surgical path was 20 degrees off target--made the product defective.