Greedy Trial Lawyer
Flurry Of Motions Follows $28M Malpractice Verdict
Category: Desperate Defendants
After the defendants refused to settle a medical malpractice claim for $275,000 and managed to hold the jury verdict to $28 Million the defense team has filed a flurry of motions.
What should have occurred, but rarely does in medical malpractice cases, is a flurry of negotiations well before tens of thousands of dollars were spent trying this case.
Jurors face scrutiny after verdict on malpractice is the headline in the Orlando Sentinel.
SANFORD -- The size of the malpractice verdict was stunning: $28 million, one of the biggest in Central Florida history.Now, as the losing attorneys work to knock that down, they're also trying a rarely used and very aggressive tactic: attacking individual jurors and accusing the whole panel of prejudice.
Defense attorneys say three of six jurors lied during jury selection, and they want those jurors and the others hauled back into court to explain themselves.
"It is obvious we feel that justice was not served by this verdict, and we are going to zealously pursue all appropriate remedies," defense attorney Richard Womble said.
He represents Dr. Robert Bowles, a longtime Longwood obstetrician-gynecologist, and his medical group, Physician Associates of Florida. In April, a jury found them guilty of malpractice.
Jeannette Davis, 42, a state Health Department investigator from Altamonte Springs, underwent surgery in 2001 for minor incontinence. But things went wrong, and now she cannot urinate naturally. She says she must catheterize herself twice a day, something that will last the rest of her life.
Before the trial began, Davis' lawyer, Joseph Taraska, had offered to settle for $275,000, according to court records. But the doctor, his partners or his insurers said no.
Since the trial, Womble has filed a flurry of motions, attacking the verdict in a variety of ways. Some are conventional: He is asking Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson to order a new trial, alleging, among other things, that Davis gave misleading testimony and that her attorney made an improper closing argument.
He is also asking Nelson to reduce the judgment to $290,000.
But his most dramatic request is to interview jurors.
"It's very rarely granted because I think the court, understandably, doesn't want to interfere or impose upon the province of the jury," said Scott Noecker, one of Davis' attorneys.
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» Meidical Malpractice: Defense Refuses $275,000, Jury Says $28 Million from Cleveland Personal Injury Lawyer
The always tongue-in-cheek Greedy Trial Lawyer brings my attention to a Florida medical malpractice lawsuit in which the defendants refused to settle for $275,000 before trial began. An Altamonte Springs woman had surgery to treat minor incontenence ba... [Read More]
Tracked on June 28, 2006 04:14 PM