Gizmo Medical has announced that Life Spine voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit against founder and CEO Michael Butler. This follows a court ruling that dismissed the majority of the company’s claims before discovery even began.

The now-dismissed lawsuit began several months after Butler filed a lawsuit in the Cook County Chancery Court—Butler v. St. Cloud Capital Partners III, SBIC, LP, et al., Case No. 2025-CH-03730—against Life Spine’s leaders and lender-appointed directors. The lawsuit alleged breaches of fiduciary duty and other claims about the defendants’ misconduct.

Butler’s earlier action remains pending.

The company filed its suit in June—the court quickly rejected its efforts to gain a temporary restraining order. The company alleged that Butler wrongfully diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars from Life Spine through a sham importer entity he controlled and funded with company resources. It also alleges he directed the company to pay his personal expenses in amounts that likely surpassed $1 million.

This included vacations, jewelry, custom golf clubs, and a Porsche for his spouse. Butler was also accused of retaining possession of highly sensitive intellectual property after his termination.

The complaint further alleged Butler interfered with Life Spine’s critical overseas manufacturing relationships and attempted to sabotage strategic business transactions by sharing information that wasn’t public.

Butler promptly filed a motion to dismiss Life Spine’s lawsuit, pointing out various defects in the company’s allegations. This led to the dismissal order on October 20, 2025.

Days after the court’s order, Life Spine filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss its claims. The court granted the motion on November 3.

In August, a jury found that Life Spine’s ProLift family of implants infringed several claims of a valid Globus patent, and awarded Globus lost profits and reasonable royalty damages. The lawsuit concerned expandable spinal fusion implants, which are an advancement that can help improve spinal surgery outcomes.