Greg Monforton, President-Elect of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association today announced that his firm has filed a 210 million dollar class action lawsuit in connection with illegally harvested and unscreened human tissue and bone used in transplant surgery. 

Monforton is working on the case together with co-counsel Motley Rice, LLC of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.

The suit, filed in Windsor, Ontario, names Clarence Renaud as representative plaintiff of the proposed class of plaintiffs.  Mr. Renaud allegedly received illegally harvested and unscreened bone and tissue as part of a routine back surgery at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor on April 27, 2003.

Defendants in the case include allograft (grafts of human tissue) distributors Zimmer Dental Medical Incorporated, Biogenics Inc., Medtronic of Canada Ltd., and the now defunct Biomedical Tissue Services Ltd. (“BTS”), along with two of its founders.

Monforton said:  “It is simply unacceptable that Mr. Renaud and many other Canadians have been receiving tissue implants that were illegally acquired and potentially diseased.  These innocent people now endure the stress and anxiety of not knowing if they have been infected with various communicable diseases”.

While Mr. Renaud has not yet tested positive for diseases, it is alleged that due to long incubation periods for HIV and other potentially deadly diseases, he could test positive for an illness in the future – thus increasing his emotional distress and requiring him to undergo repeated testing.

Two of the defendants, Michael Mastromarino and Joseph Nicelli of BTS, were recently charged in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, New York, for operating a corrupt $4.6 million enterprise to harvest human tissue from funeral homes and sell it for use in transplants and research.  Hospitals across North America have reported receipt of the illegally harvested and potentially dangerous tissue.  Greg Monforton believes that the problem may extend far beyond what has been included in the recent BTS case.  Anyone who has received a tissue transplant or bone graft and has been inexplicably diagnosed with Hepatitis, HIV, Syphilis or other infectious diseases should take the necessary steps to protect their legal rights.
Greg Monforton is available for commentary and can be reached directly at 519-258-6490 or 800-663-1145.