Gary Michelson sues girlfriend for return of a gift

Gary Michelson doesn’t just sue over spine patents, real estate deals gone south, attorneys who rip him off, he also sues his girlfriends. This is public knowledge from a very public lawsuit filed in Orange County September 4, 2007, Gary Michelson vs Brook Alexander case # 07CC09539. I’m intentionally misspelling her name slightly. I’m sure she also wants to forget about Gary.

Gary filed an amended complaint October 15, 2007. They settled November 5, 2007. January 10, 2008 Gary Michelson requests dismissal with prejudice. Mark J Werksman represented Gary Michelson.

If Gary Michelson doesn’t want all this information to be public knowledge, he should not file public lawsuits. He could file under seal but he doesn’t. Not only did he file publicly but he told everyone and their mother about the lawsuit. I heard about it from a few sources. He was crying on everyone’s shoulder with his usual “story” that he was the poor victim of a scammer.

Back to the lawsuit, Gary Michelson was dating a very pretty young woman who may have been a fitness model and had a PhD. He was introduced to her by an attorney with the last name of Nownejad who may have also dated her. She lived in Orange County possibly Dana Point.

Gary Michelson very easily goes head over heels with women. He quickly gave her a very expensive ring which she accepted. He told people she was his fiancé. He was going to buy her a mansion. Gary being Gary ended up in a big fight and supposedly the police had to be called in. Brook then told Gary she didn’t want to see him any more. Gary asked for the ring back. She said no because he told her originally it was a gift and not given with the expectation of marriage.

Gary again being Gary sued her. The rest is in public documents if you want to pull them up.

Ms Michelson divorces from Gary Michelson

I won’t be spelling out Gary Michelson’s ex-wife’s name completely. She hasn’t done anything wrong and I’m sure she’d like to forget about him. I don’t blame her for divorcing Gary Michelson. Some of this is from public legal records from the divorce and depositions. Some came straight from Gary Michelson.

Gary Michelson married Ms Burch in 2001. I was told there was a prenuptial agreement. She had to stay married to him for at least a year. If she did that, she could divorce him and get $5,000,000. She would get nothing more. Yes, he paid someone $5,000,000 to marry him it seems. I have proof of marriage and divorce. The prenuptial information comes from Gary Michelson. She filed for divorce immediately after one year.

Gary Michelson was supposedly born in 1949 while Ms Burch was born in1974 for a 25 year age difference. Their divorce was finalized in 2003. All of Gary’s serious girlfriends were at least 25 years younger than him.

They owned a home at 4728 Emerald Bay in Arvin in 2000 in both of their names. She gave it back to Gary at the end of their divorce in 2003. They owned a home at 1724 Rose Ave in Burbank in 2002. Gary signed it over to her in 2003. She sold it in 2006. Ms Burch’s parents lived/live in Sunland. All these properties are in California.

Anyone who knows Gary will know this next story is a common Gary story. This is why I believe Gary should just stay at home far away from people. Anyway Gary was invited to Christmas dinner (He’s Jewish) at Ms Burch’s parents’ house. He bought a cake for $30 and brought it to the party. He kept complaining about the price of the cake telling everyone he was ripped off. He said paraphrased “the flour and sugar couldn’t be worth more than $1.” He ended up getting in a fight with Ms Burch for acting like an idiot and he was asked to leave.

The divorce was filed in lasuperiorcourt.org Search Gary’s name.

"Dr. Gary Michelson is a belligerant, serial litigator"

Here is the October 2004 issue of Orthopedic Network News. It goes into greater detail of the Medtronic, Dr. Gary Michelson lawsuit. Dr. Gary Michelson was not really the inventor of the threaded spinal cage. A horse vet made the initial cage years earlier and presented it at a human spine conference. Another doctor suggested adding threads to keep it from dislodging. These people actually built and used the threaded cage design before Gary Michelson was on the scene. It looks like Gary Michelson was just the first to patent it with a diagram and description. Gary didn’t build or use one until seven years after he filed the patent. It appears Gary heard about this design from the spine symposium and decided to file the patent. First to file is first to own the patent.

http://spine.orthopedicnetworknews.com/archives/onn154s4.pdf

“Dr.

Michelson is a belligerent and intimidating serial litigator who

has parlayed his knowledge of the US patent system into almost

a billion dollars from the spine industry in the form of royalties

and legal judgments.”

Dr. Gary Michelson made clandestine recordings of his conversations with Medtronic. The article also states that

“By putting information about the

cage in a public forum, he abandoned certain intellectual

property rights to his invention.”

Seems a horse vet actually invented the first spinal cage but he presented his idea at a public forum thereby making it impossible for him to patent the idea. It also seems that because Gary Michelson described a method for inserting his cage, he owns claim to anything that is inserted be it a threaded cage or not. In the end this just costs the patient more money.

Just as I thought. Gary Michelson didn’t really invent the threaded spinal cage. He was just first to patent it because he is familiar with the patent application. Because he also included a description of the method of introducing it, he owns the patent on any other item someone invents that is inserted in the spine. The full article is not that long and it’s very interesting. It’s linked above.    

Gary Karlin Michelson’s patents cost patients money, deter innovation but feed the ego

A writer who specializes in spinal products wrote an article in Orthopedic Network News about Gary Michelson’s $1.3 billion settlement in 2005. An interesting take on the issue. The only person helped by the settlement is Gary Michelson and Medtronic. Patients are paying extra. Because of his patents, other people may be blocked who happened to be developing similar things. In essence this gives Gary Michelson and Medtronic a monopoly on the market. It also will deter others from inventing something new for fear a court may decide it’s slightly similar to Gary’s design or description. Gary obviously did not invent these things to help patients.

http://spine.orthopedicnetworknews.com/archives/onn164s5.pdf

“However, an alternative view of the $1.3 billion award may be

that it is an “investment” from Medtronic’s point of view. They

may simply see this as a business investment—if Michelson’s

patents become enforceable, they can use them to block other

entrants into the spinal market or secure royalty payments. For

example, since Michelson (now Medtronic) owns a patent for

the preparation of the intervertebral space for a interbody fusion

device, it is possible Medtronic will use this patent against any

company that has an interbody fusion device or even artificial

disc, and either extract a royalty from them, or prevent them

from bringing new products to the market. In either case, the net

result may be higher prices to hospitals and less “innovative”

companies.” It appears that as part of the settlement Gary Michelson asked for stickers to be put on all products made with his patents to “secure his legacy.” That is truly conceited. Who needs their name on nuts and bolts used in spinal surgery?

In order

to secure his legacy among spine surgeons, hospital administrators,

patients, and plaintiff attorneys, Medtronic now places

stickers on all the implants in which Dr. Michelson has patent

ownership. These are designed similar to those of the produce

industry which pioneered the use of the “P-Seals.” These are

self-adhesive stickers that one finds at the supermarket attached

to vegetables and fruits in the

produce section. Medtronic

Sofamor Danek now “proudly

displays” the Michelson logo

“Michelson technology at

work” on the sides of boxes

which use any of Michelson’s

patents. Based on what I’ve read people in the spine industry and doctors don’t like Dr. Gary Michelson. His main goal is to sue people for infringement. I personally feel Gary Michelson has a lot of inner hate. He states his father called him an “idiot” and “stupid.” He said his dad divorced his mom when he was 11. He states his mother didn’t give him as much attention as his older brothers which is why he did poorly in school. He states she only gave his older brothers affection because she basically had nothing better to do making it sound like she hated kids. He states he failed in school but his teachers passed him just to get rid of him. I was told he was a psychology major in under grad. This would explain a lot. Again, I’m posting what I read in other articles and online Google books. These things were said by Gary Michelson or written by others. I believe I’ve posted direct links.

Forbes list of billionaires is not independently verified

I always knew the Forbes list of wealthiest people in the world was not etched in stone. There really is no way for them to know how much money these people have with holding companies, art collections, jewelry, gifts, private stashes of cash… They call up the person and just ask them how much money they have.

People have lied to Forbes in order to get on the list. They want on the list for their ego. I’m not saying every billionaire on the list is a megalomaniac like Gary Michelson who might lie to get on the list. Some refuse to verify. In those cases Forbes bases their wealth on public holdings.

Gary Michelson has a lot of holding companies that are private. There is no way they can independently verify his net wealth without asking him. I have a feeling they call him up and just ask him. Note that Gary Michelson told Forbes “I’m single and good looking.” Who says that, even if they are single and good looking? That’s truly a conceited thing to say especially to Forbes who will be repeating it.

I remember the story about Prince Alwaleed who lied to Forbes to get on the list. http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2013/07/04/in-london-trial-prince-alwaleed-blasts-libyans-gets-accused-of-lying-in-order-to-sell-a-plane/

He went so far as to supposedly “adjust” the share value of his holdings right before the list comes out to inflate the value so he could make the list. If you take a look at the entire list of billionaires, there are few sane people on the list. There are also some truly horrible drug lords, militant rulers on the list. I personally think this list is not a good idea. Being a billionaire is not really a good thing in the real world. It causes some crazy people to aspire to be on the list.

Gary Michelson of Found Animals Foundation is a story teller

When I first heard about Gary Michelson in 2006 I did some research and saved my data to a folder. I dug up the folder. I have been comparing what he said in the past to what he’s saying now. He is  a bit of a story teller. Some of these things are not important like when he recently said he has 35 full time employees at Found Animals Foundation when his tax return shows five to seven.

The real story that seems to have changed over time is the story about his grandmother with the spine condition. In 2005 he said she merely could not feel hot and cold. He said he once saw her burn herself on the stove. In 2007 the story gets more theatrical. She supposedly for some silly reason placed her hand on the lit stove and burned herself. In 2012 it gets even more dramatic. She places her hand on the lit stove for some reason and her hand is on fire. She has to extinguish it.

From 2005: “Michelson remembers watching his grandmother laying her hand on a hot stove and burning herself because of a spinal deformity which did not allow her to feel hot or cold in her extremities.  At that moment, the door opened when his grandmother told him he would be a doctor one day, and he did.”

From 2011: “Michelson vividly recalls the childhood event in Philadelphia that set him on his path to medicine: His grandmother suffered from a crippling spinal deformity that made it impossible for her to distinguish between hot and cold in her extremities. One day she was in her kitchen preparing lunch for him when he smelled something bitter. His grandmother’s hand, touching the stove’s flame, had caught fire without her knowing. Michelson screamed. His grandmother doused her hand in water and delivered the words that would change his life.”

 

“She said, ‘You’ll be a back doctor and you’ll fix this for me,’ ” he recalled. “I was probably in second or third grade.”

It sounds to me like Gary made up part of this story or at least embellished it. Nerve damage can cause one to lose the ability to sense hot and cold. It would not cause someone with such nerve damage to stupidly put their hand on a lit stove while they are cooking. Never damage does not cause stupidity. It also wouldn’t cause blindness or the inability to smell something burning. Burning flesh does not smell bitter. I also find it hard to believe her hand is on fire, little Gary screams, she douses the flames with water, carries on as if nothing happened telling him he’ll be a back doctor some day. He makes his grandma sound like Fire Marshall Bill.

It would be possible for one to burn their hand on a lit stove. It is not possible for one’s hand to be on fire from touching a lit stove. You would have to leave your hand in the flame for a while or have lighter fluid, oil on your hand to actually catch fire. Even when monks light themselves on fire they need to douse themselves with gasoline, lighter fluid. I have made banana flambé before on the stove in a pan. You need super hot butter, 1 oz of accelerant (rum) then a lit match to get it to ignite. Even if you get too big a flame by using 2 oz of rum, the fire is short lived. At most you would burn the hair off your arm if you had any.

A last note. His grandmother said he would “fix this for me.” He didn’t. I don’t believe he’s fixed it for anyone. So far it seems he made a bunch of patents just so he can sue people to make money. If he really cared about helping them, he’d be sharing his patents, data. He’d open a hospital and provide free back surgery to crippled people.

I will be posting more about what Gary Michelson tells people and the actual truth. I used to believe every word when I first met him. After realizing he was lying I stopped believing everything. Now I barely believe anything he says. He’s living in his own reality world where he’s the brilliant philanthropic hero when that is not the case. Many writers and others have pointed this out in articles and lawsuits over many years.

Review of Gary Michelson Found Animals Foundation pet registry

I finally had time to take a look at his pet microchip registry. I doubt this will be helping animals. I would bet money he’ll probably release some news stating his registry helped reunite a lost pet with their owner. There will be happy photos of someone holding a dog. He will hope the happy news will cause people to register their chip in his registry. Below I outline the problems with his registry.

One, the registry does not include all microchip records from any or all microchip companies. So far this is something a regular person would have to know about and then register their own chip information.

Two, Gary Michelson is selling the pet and owner data to advertisers. It says so in his terms of service.

Three, his terms of service outline the problems with the registry. Not all pet owners will register their old or new chips.

Four, not all finders of lost pets will check the registry. Finders need scanners unless the chip is on a pet ID tag on the animals collar. If the chip number is on the collar, their name and phone number would be there as well. No need for the registry.

Five, he makes no warranties about his service, website, ability to contact owners or if the website will even exist in the future.

Six, people need to keep their data current. Most people with current chips don’t do this. Someone who keeps their data current probably has a collar with ID on the animal.

I will test the registry and see if it even works. I personally feel this is just a means for Gary Michelson to sell the data for money. He probably also did it for positive press.

UPDATE: Just tested the registry. I put in my chip which I registered and it found it. The problem is the registry will not notify the owner of the animal that you found their pet unless you sign up and make an account. People may not want to make an account just to possibly return someone’s pet. I guess you could put in fake data except the phone number but I’m sure it will demand a real email.

On that note Gary Michelson said he started the Found Animals Foundation to use HIS money to help animals. Why is he, a billionaire, asking for donations? Why does he charge for people to attend his forums? Why is he selling registry data to advertisers? Why does he want to make money off a patent for a sterilant? If I had such a drug, I would give it to the world for free and I’m not a billionaire. I could use the money.

Dr. Gary Michelson, Found Animals Foundation posts

These blog posts were on my other main blog. I decided to repost the links here to keep all the info in one place. Dr. Gary  Karlin Michelson is a public figure. These posts are of public concern. I am posting the truth as I know it and my personal opinions and beliefs. If there is anything that is not correct in these posts, please, send me any correction. 95% of what I’m posting is public legal documents, patent information and reposts of other people’s articles. 

Dr. Gary Michelson, Found Animals Foundation, tax …

What medical spine experts think of Dr. Gary Michelson’s patents, not much

The “evolution” of the elusive Dr. Gary Michelson …

Proof that Dr. Gary Michelson defamed his Director…

Is charging, extraditing, hearing, imprisoning two…

Bingo! Dr. Gary Michelson donated to DA Jackie Lac…

My December 2005 post about Dr. Gary Michelson of …

Dr. Gary Michelson, Michaelson, was going to make …

Dr. Gary Michelson, Michaelson campaign donations

Dr. Gary MichAelson vs Neil Campbell, Philip Power…

Dr. Gary Michelson sues his best friend Neil Campb…

David Loftus vs Dr. Gary Michelson, Gerald Karlin …

Who is billionaire Dr. Gary Michelson, Gerald Mich…

Dr. Gary Michelson and the Michelson Prize, not re…

Dr. Gary Michelson of Found Animals Foundation tel…

Dr. Gary Michelson – Spine Wars – stock manipulation?

Very interesting article. Does Gary really own all these patents? We’ve all heard the phrase that patents are only worth your ability to sue people for patent infringement to protect it. This article goes a little deeper. Are most of Gary’s patents as ridiculous as his paper clip patent? Are they worthless or only slightly different than other patents? Did Gary get a bunch of patents just so he could sue people?

I read a few articles where people said Gary infringed on their patents. Hard to know if someone is lying or not. I do know that Gary lies. I also know his paper clip patent is bull. How can he possibly claim that his much inferior clip is much superior to the original 1899 design?

I’m starting to think there may have been something interesting going on with Gary’s big lawsuit win. I may ask my uncle who is a mechanical engineer who has some real patents and some that he admits would not work in the real world. My uncle did some medical patents that he joked wouldn’t fit a human but maybe a horse. Perhaps anyone can patent anything. I’m sure the patent office would cash anyone’s check. In fact one of my idiot friends got a patent. I thought maybe he was a savant. Now I realize a patent may mean nothing. Maybe I will patent something. Maybe I will patent my sterilization drug.

UPDATE: I always thought this might have been a deal just to increase share price. If you look at share price before and after the “settlement” with Gary, the company went from $50 to $60/share. With 1.02 billion shares the news of the “settlement” caused the total share value to increase by $10 billion dollars. That’s a great return on investment, happy investors and insiders who probably then sold on the news. Gary’s patents could be toilet paper and the company and shareholders would not give a shit, forgive the pun. It could be that the company wanted some positive news so they settled to spin this as a positive. I’ve seen companies spin worse. It’s possible that Gary’s wealth, if he truly received all the money and didn’t cut a deal, could be fake, just like his desire to help spine patients.

I’ll go into sec docs and patent docs tomorrow. My hunches have always been right. Things are always far worse than even I can imagine.

UPDATE: Actually Gary’s patents are worth something but not because Gary invented anything. Gary was first to file a patent on someone else’s design from years earlier. First to file gets the patent even if you just over hear someone talking about an idea. The original inventors stupidly talked about the invention of the threaded spinal cage at a spine symposium. Gary beat them by a few months because he was familiar with the process. Because Gary described not only the threaded cage but a method to insert anything into the spine, anyone who inserts anything into the spine will owe him money. Anyone who owns such a patent as Medtronic does now could receive good revenue from royalties and licensing.

http://www.healthpointcapital.com/research/2004/10/04/spine_wars_michelson_vs_the_industry/

Orthopedic and Dental Industry News Complete Archive »

Spine Wars: Michelson vs. the Industry? BY ROBIN R. YOUNG CFA, OCTOBER 4, 2004

If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it a dozen times. Gary Michelson, with attorneys in tow, haunts spine company booths at conferences like the upcoming NASS or CNS informing them of patent violations on the fly. Yikes! And last week a federal court jury ordered Sofamor Danek to pay Michelson about $110 million in a dispute over royalties for a number of its spinal fusion technologies.

Four years ago Michelson won a case (on Sofamor Danek’s dime) against U.S. Surgical over his spine cage design.

Somewhat cynically I’ve said for years that the main value of a U.S. patent is that it gives you the opportunity to sue and be sued.

In reality, the US patent office has approved patents that are marginal patents and decided to let the courts sort out the mess. Once in the courts, it is a jury that decides the case. And in the words of Paul Simon, no jury of my peers would ever find me guilty. Indeed, can a jury of average citizens understand the intricacies of spinal fusion technology and markets, to the tune of $100 million? If this were truly a jury of Michelson and Sofamor Danek’s peers, would this have been the verdict?
In last week’s ruling, the Tennessee jury found that Sofamor Danek owed Dr. Gary Michelson $110 for a variety of spinal implant inventions that Sofamor Danek has been commercializing for years. In addition, the jury ordered Sofamor Danek to pay unspecified damages for patent infringement, according to court documents.

Dr. Michelson had claimed $1.7 billion in damages, lost royalties and compensation for failure to market his inventions.”

(This is the comment of me, Mary Cummins. Gary has stated he invented these things to help patients, improve back surgery, eliminate any mistakes in surgery…. Why does Gary invent these things if his goal is to not share, market them and help people and their backs? He files patents just so he can sue people and get money. If anything, he is hampering progress and preventing people from getting help they can afford. He is a patent troll. He says he became a back surgeon because of his granny with a bad back. I’m starting to believe that’s a load of horse shit. He said he wanted to help her and others like her. The only person he is helping is his pocket book. If his inventions are that great, let people use them for free to save people’s backs. Doesn’t he have enough money yet?

In fact, right now he has in his pocket the name of drugs that will end pet overpopulation right this second. I gave them to him. I’m sure others may have given him similar drugs. He says he wants to end pet overpopulation. He has the means in his hands right now. But no, he instead wants to develop a new drug he can patent and sell to people. Hey, I bet he will make a new sterilant. It will be one molecule different than current sterilants. He will patent it but not sell it or share it. He will wait for someone else to market it. Then he’ll sue the shit out of them for money killing animals in the process.

Earlier I thought the big lawsuit win, settlement might have been a stock gimmick. I will research that some more. It’s possible that releasing news about giving Gary $1.3 billion for “valuable patents that will make the company trillions” could cause the stock to uptick more than the payout, if there even was one. I will see what the news did to the share value of the company)

“What the jury did agree with and then ruled on accordingly was that Sofamor Danek had breached certain aspects of the purchase and licensing agreements with Dr. Michelson and his company, Karlin Technology as well as infringed certain of his patents.
The dispute between Michelson and Sofamor Danek goes back a few years. In 2001, it was Sofamor Danek that sued claiming that Dr. Michelson had tried to sell spine surgery tools and implants to Sofamor Danek’s competitors in violation of an existing noncompete agreement. The outcome of that trial won’t be known for about another month.
The implants and instruments, as best we can determine, refer to the following:

• The ATLANTIS’ Anterior Cervical Plate System which is licensed under one or more of G. Karlin Michelson, M.D., Patent Nos.: 6,193,721; 6,398,783; 6,454,771.
• The COLORADO 2′ Spinal System of spinal instrumentation. The guide tubes incorporate technology developed by Gary K. Michelson, M.D.
• The MD I through MD IV Bone Dowels implant methods and instruments incorporate technology developed by Gary K. Michelson, M.D.
• The ZEPHIR’, PREMIER’, and ATLANTIS’ products are licensed under one or more of G. Karlin Michelson, M.D., Patent Nos.: 6,193,721; 6,398,783; 6,454,771.

Doing a quick search at the US Patent office, we came up with the following under Dr. Michelson:

• US Patent # 6,454,771 B1 Anterior cervical plating system Gary K. Michelson, 438 Sherman Canal, Venice, Calif. 90291 (US) Filed on Jan. 04, 2001, as Appl. No. 9/754,733
• US Patent #6,485,517 B1 Nested interbody spinal fusion implants Gary K. Michelson, 438 Sherman Canal, Venice, Calif. 90291 (US) Filed on May 05, 2000, as Appl. No. 9/566,272
• US Patent No. 6,416,528 to Gary K. Michelson of Venice, CA for Anterior cervical plating system, instrumentation, and method of installation

In addition, Dr. Michelson had licensed a number of spinal implant products to Centerpulse (now Zimmer Spine):

• The Trinica(TM) and Trinica(TM) Select Anterior Cervical Plate Systems technology. Invented by GARY KARLIN MICHELSON, M.D., these are covered by one or more of the following: U.S. Patent Nos. 6,193,721, 6,398,783, 6,416,528, 6,454,771 and D449,692; and pending U.S. and international patent applications.

Dr. Gary Michelson gets ripped off by his own accountants, lawyers

I must be the only person in the world who hasn’t ripped off Gary Michelson. He can’t even trust his own accountants and lawyers? He supposedly lost over $20,000,000 in this investment via IRS fines and penalties. Gary should put all of his money in a mattress and never speak to anyone ever again.

The link below is an opinion on an appeal from LA Superior Court. Defendant requested Gary’s communications with his lawyers, accountants. Gary stated those are privileged as they are. Defendant stated that the case is about what his lawyers and accountants told Gary. Judge ruled that while the case is about what they communicated to Gary, Gary has not given up his right to privilege with his lawyers and accountants. To the defendant out there, Gary does not communicate in writing with others. He receives but never sends. This way he can deny everything.

http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/nonpub/B245624.PDF

It appears Gary should have asked for an opinion letter before he invested in some tax shelters. Turns out the tax shelters were not legal. He lost money on the shelters and tried to write off the losses. IRS denied it and he ended up owing $20,000,000. Read the link for more information.

I’m now starting to feel sorry for Gary. He can really only trust his dogs, if that. He seems to almost seek out bad people. When he does meet good people he stabs them in the back and they no longer want to work with him. I would never ever work with him again. I don’t recommend that anyone work with him.