The manufacturer of a system used to make dental products denies liability in a dentist’s lawsuit alleging dental crowns failed to perform properly.
Dr. Ricard Boatman Jr., doing business as Troy Family Dental, filed the complaint on Sept. 13 against 3M Company, D4D Technologies LLC, Henry Schein Inc. and Tamela Dean.
Boatman alleges the defendants’ dental restorative and cement products were used to make and seat dental crowns. However, he claims the products failed to perform as advertised, represented and warranted.
Boatman alleges he suffered financial and reputation damages. He also claims the defendants’ products caused needless injury, pain, inconvenience and misery to his patients.
D4D Technologies answered the complaint on Nov. 30 through attorneys John Sandberg and Casey Wong of Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard in St. Louis. They deny the allegations against them.
The defendant argues that the case should be dismissed because venue is improper. They allege “individual defendant Tamela Dean has been improperly and fraudulently joined in order to destroy diversity jurisdiction. Defendant Dean is not a proper party to this dispute or litigation.”
D4D Technologies also argues that the CAD/CAM system was misused, abused, modified, altered or subjected to abnormal use by the plaintiffs or third parties.
The defendant alleges the plaintiffs’ damages are the result of their own negligence by “failing to use the degree of skill and care that an ordinary, careful, and prudent person under the same or similar circumstances."
“Plaintiffs were learned intermediaries and sophisticated users of the CAD/CAM system. As such, any damages allegedly sustained by Plaintiffs were the direct and proximate result of their fault in misusing the subject CAD/CAM system, assumption of risks associated with using such system, negligence and/or fault in obtaining and using the proper materials with the CAD/CAM system,” the answer states.
D4D Technologies adds that the CAD/CAM system was designed and manufactured in accordance with the applicable safety standards and regulations.
“The alleged subject CAD/CAM system embodied all of the safety features adopted by manufacturers then and was the state-of-the-art for such design and was not unreasonably dangerous at the time it was sold,” the answer states.
Boatman seeks a judgment in excess of $1 million, plus costs and other relief the court deems just.
He is represented by David Corwin and Bradley Winters of Sher Corwin Winters LLC in St. Louis.
Madison County Circuit Court case number 16-L-1296