Medical Malpractice

Settlement in suit over Joan Rivers’ death; daughter to seek law regulating outpatient clinic safety

A “substantial” settlement in an undisclosed amount has been reached in a lawsuit over the death of Joan Rivers, who died as a result of a medical procedure at an outpatient surgery center in New York City in 2014 However, Melissa Rivers, the 81-year-old comedian’s daughter, and her lawyers say…

May 13, 2016 1:45 PM CDT

ABA opposes federal medical-malpractice bill that caps pain-and-suffering damages

The ABA has sent a letter to the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that opposes a medical-liability bill with caps on noneconomic damages. The ABA letter (PDF) to House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte says states have had the authority to determine medical liability law for 200 years, and…

Mar 23, 2016 11:11 AM CDT

Family of teen hospitalized in medical diagnosis conflict files malpractice and civil rights suit

The family of a Connecticut teen put in the custody of the state of Massachusetts for more than a year and hospitalized against their wishes has filed a medical malpractice and civil rights suit against Boston Children’s Hospital and four physicians. Weeks before Justina Pelletier was misdiagnosed at Children’s with…

Feb 25, 2016 4:00 PM CST

Disbarred lawyer charged with stealing $3M from clients

A former New York lawyer was arrested by federal authorities on Thursday and charged with wire fraud for allegedly stealing some $3 million from clients over a seven-year period, starting in 2008. Stuart Schlesinger, 75, is charged with one count of wire fraud after allegedly lying to eight clients in…

Dec 21, 2015 1:40 PM CST

Doctor may owe third party for not warning patient about drugs’ effects, top state court says

Carving an exception into a general rule that hospitals and doctors owe a duty of care only to their patients, the top appeals court in New York has OK’d a third-party lawsuit against a physician and hospital over an auto accident. School bus driver Edwin Davis, whose bus was allegedly…

Dec 17, 2015 2:35 PM CST

Lawyers ‘lean to the left,’ study says; which schools, firms and practice areas are most liberal?

Many conservative commentators have aired claims that trial lawyers appear more liberal than the rest of the population, and they overwhelmingly contribute to Democratic candidates. Is it true? And is the legal profession on the whole left-leaning? A study by professors from Harvard, Stanford and the University of Chicago Law…

Sep 2, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Lawyer uses $200K in legal fees to make movie about trial win in nursing home med-mal case

Bill Lundy had never made a movie before. But, inspired by one of the difficult cases he had ever worked on, the Georgia trial lawyer used $200,000 in legal fees from winning a nursing home medical malpractice case to film A Larger Life, recounts the Daily Report (sub. req.). The…

May 5, 2015 11:30 AM CDT

80-year-old lawyer won biggest case of his career last year

If you think success has eluded you, take heart: There’s still time to succeed. That’s the lesson in this Desert Sun story about an 80-year old California lawyer who last year won a $10.4 million judgment in a medical malpractice case, the biggest award of his career. The Palm Springs…

Apr 27, 2015 11:44 AM CDT

Lawyer who read medical document from anonymous sender can’t represent med-mal plaintiff, court says

A lawyer can’t continue to represent a medical malpractice plaintiff after reading hospital documents sent by an anonymous source, a New Jersey appeals court has ruled. The Somerville, New Jersey, lawyer, Brian Levine, had contended the documents weren’t privileged under the New Jersey Patient Safety Act, the New Jersey Law…

Apr 9, 2015 10:26 AM CDT

Lawyer sanctioned $1M wins stay of collection efforts

A Pennsylvania lawyer sanctioned $1 million for allegedly eliciting banned testimony will get a chance to present new evidence refuting the claim. The Pennsylvania Superior Court temporarily stayed collection efforts against the lawyer, Nancy Raynor, and ordered the judge who imposed the sanction to hold an evidentiary hearing within 15…

Feb 19, 2015 12:06 PM CST

Lawyer blamed for reversed verdict feels vindicated by appellate ruling that judge abused discretion

A New York judge erred by reversing a jury’s defense verdict based on claimed misbehavior by a lawyer not directly involved in the case, a state appeals court has ruled. Saying that there was no way to determine from the record whether a lawyer attending a dental malpractice trial as…

Feb 11, 2015 12:25 PM CST

Judge who sanctioned lawyer $1M says she ‘sabotaged’ the case by eliciting banned testimony

The Philadelphia judge who sanctioned a lawyer nearly $1 million said in an opinion on Wednesday that she intentionally elicited banned testimony from an expert witness and “sabotaged” the case. Judge Paul Panepinto said lawyer Nancy Raynor, who represented a med-mal defendant, failed to properly instruct an expert witness about…

Feb 6, 2015 8:45 AM CST

Desperately seeking med-mal attorneys; $500K damages cap deters South Dakota lawyers, some say

A South Dakota law enacted in 1976 that was supposed to limit excessive damages in medical malpractice trials may have solved the perceived problem by entirely eliminating many such cases. Due to a statutory cap on damages that hasn’t been adjusted for inflation in decades, it is economically unfeasible for…

Feb 5, 2015 11:30 AM CST

Lawyer argues tort case over cow injury is governed by med-mal law

A Texas solo says his unusual argument in a personal injury case is governed by a state supreme court decision on the reach of the state’s medical-malpractice protections for doctors. Lawyer Philip Russ of Amarillo represents the 82-year-old retired doctor who owns cows alleged to be responsible for the tort…

Jan 15, 2015 9:07 AM CST

Lawyer’s personal assets, bank accounts at risk as opponents seek to collect $1M sanction

Lawyers for a cancer patient’s family are seeking to collect a $1 million sanction imposed on a Pennsylvania lawyer for allegedly allowing an improper reference in a medical malpractice case. The lawyers filed a writ of execution in an effort to obtain assets from the sanctioned lawyer, Nancy Raynor of…

Jan 14, 2015 7:38 AM CST