Defense Verdict

DEFENSE VERDICT IN WRONGFUL DEATH CASE WITH $1.95 MILLION PRETRIAL DEMAND

Brandon Henry and Tom Rottinghaus successfully defended our clients, a local surgeon and medical group, in a jury trial in Jackson County, Missouri, in which the plaintiffs asserted claims of medical malpractice and wrongful death and sought damages in the amount of $2,465,347.24.

Plaintiffs claimed that our clients were negligent for failing to fully repair the patient’s long-standing, giant paraesophageal hernia during a surgical procedure in July 2013.  Further, Plaintiffs contended that our clients were negligent for failing to place a nasogastric tube or gastrostomy tube during or following surgery for purposes of reducing the risk and effects of gastroparesis (dysmotility of the stomach) and aspiration.  Lastly, Plaintiffs claimed our clients departed from the standard of care by advancing the patient’s diet post-operatively and that such further increased the risk of aspiration and related problems.  Plaintiffs claimed that the actions and decisions of our clients lead to the patient experiencing post-operative vomiting, aspiration, aspiration pneumonia, sepsis and death.

We successfully argued that the surgical procedure selected for the patient was the most appropriate option for him due to his age and overall medical condition and that it was reasonable for our clients not to place tubes during or following surgery and to advance the patient’s diet after surgery because the absence of tubing and advancement of the diet can promote gastric and intestinal motility and reduce complications.  Further, we were able to convince the jury that the patient’s post-operative course and death occurred despite appropriate care by our clients and likely still would have occurred if a different treatment course had been selected for the patient.

After a seven-day trial, a Jackson County, Missouri jury returned a verdict in favor of our clients in this case in which the plaintiffs’ final pretrial demand was $1.95 million.

DEFENSE VERDICT – RUPTURED APPENDIX COMPLICATIONS

Jonathan Kieffer and Brandon Henry successfully defended a family practice physician in a five-day jury trial in Douglas County, Kansas, in which the plaintiff asserted a claim of medical negligence and sought $3.3 million in damages.

The plaintiff claimed that our client was negligent by failing to appropriately work up and diagnose appendicitis during a visit to an urgent care clinic. The plaintiff was diagnosed with appendicitis by another healthcare provider during a subsequent urgent care visit that occurred four days later. The plaintiff claimed that because of the delayed diagnosis, his appendix ruptured, which necessitated the performance of an open appendectomy procedure (rather than a laparoscopic appendectomy), and that he experienced wound breakdown and a hernia at the incision site as a result, which required further surgical intervention. Furthermore, the plaintiff claimed that the hernia repair surgery left him with an entrapped ilioinguinal nerve, which caused life-limiting pain and discomfort and prevented him from working, being active, and enjoying time with his family.

Wagstaff & Cartmell attorneys successfully argued that the plaintiff’s presentation on the date of our client’s involvement was atypical for appendicitis and that the plaintiff had a retrocecal appendix, which is uncommon and which made the diagnosis of appendicitis more difficult. Also, we argued that the plaintiff’s appendix likely ruptured before his visit with our client; thus, the ultimate outcome likely still would have occurred even if the diagnosis of appendicitis had been made at the time of our client’s involvement.

DEFENSE VERDICT – POST-OP EPIDURAL HEMATOMA

Jonathan Kieffer and Brandon Henry successfully defended a local orthopedic surgeon in a six-day Johnson County, Kansas, jury trial in which the plaintiff asserted a claim of medical negligence and sought $2.8 million in damages relating to permanent paralysis in his lower extremities.

The plaintiff claimed that our client failed to timely diagnose and evacuate an epidural hematoma that developed five days after our client performed a lumbar laminectomy (decompressive spine surgery). The plaintiff also asserted that our client negligently ordered anti-coagulant medications that allegedly increased the size of the post-operative hematoma so that it compressed upon the plaintiff’s spinal cord.

Our trial attorneys argued that there was inadequate support, both clinically and radiographically, for the diagnosis of a compressive epidural hematoma and that the standard of care did not require our client to return the plaintiff to the operating room for surgery. We further argued that the decision was made even more difficult because this patient had experienced an episode of TIA (mini-stroke) and been diagnosed with a DVT (blood clot) in his lower extremity earlier during the post-operative period, which caused the risks of surgery to substantially outweigh the potential benefits.

IN THE 2003 NPM ADJUSTMENT PROCEEDINGS BEFORE AN ARBITRATION PANEL PURSUANT TO SECTION XI(C) OF THE MASTER SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT:

In 2003, the major tobacco companies initiated arbitration against 46 states seeking contract adjustments of more than a billion dollars under the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (“MSA”). For 2003, Kansas alone had more than $50 million at risk.

After a highly competitive RFP process, Wagstaff & Cartmell was selected by the Kansas Attorney General’s office to act as counsel for Kansas in the arbitration matter.

Eric Barton and Ty Hudson shared co-lead counsel responsibilities. After the Kansas individual arbitration hearing was held in Chicago before three former federal judges, Kansas settled all contract disputes with the tobacco companies for years 2003−2014, which preserved for Kansas more than $500 million dollars in contract payments for these years under the MSA.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT & DISTRIBUTION: BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE LITIGATION

Wagstaff & Cartmell’s client, FreeStream Capital LLC, a wind advisory and consultancy services company with offices in Houston and in London, was granted summary judgment in an action brought by a bankruptcy trustee in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas seeking $13 million under state law and bankruptcy code claims.

The court also granted FreeStream’s motion to distribute its portion of a nearly $9 million judgment obtained in Pennsylvania federal court, which was being held in the District of Kansas bankruptcy court registry. The trustee sought to stay distribution of the funds and to expedite an appeal to the Tenth Circuit. The court denied the trustee’s motion and declined to stay the distribution. These rulings end more than three years of litigation for FreeStream, which arose from the development and sale of wind energy projects to a subsidiary of energy giant Edison International.

Ty Hudson was lead counsel for FreeStream. Adam Davis played a major role on the legal briefing.

DEFENSE VERDICT – ALLEGED NEGLIGENT PLACEMENT OF A COMPONENT DURING A HIP REPLACEMENT SURGERY

Marc Erickson and Vanessa Gross successfully defended our client, a local orthopedic surgeon, in a jury trial in which the plaintiff alleged that negligent placement of a component during a total hip replacement surgery caused subsequent dislocations and subsequent revision surgeries.

In a total hip replacement surgery, an acetabular component (which resembles a cup) is placed in the acetabulum (the socket) of the patient’s pelvis. This cup needs to be placed at certain angles referred to as angles of abduction and anteversion.

The defendant doctor admitted that he placed the cup at a greater angle of abduction than he intended, but disputed that he placed the cup at a greater angle of anteversion than he intended. The defendant doctor also admitted that the malpositioning of the cup by him caused the subsequent dislocations and the need for revision surgery.

Marc and Vanessa successfully argued, however, that the malpositioning was not a breach of the standard of care.

After a four-day trial, a Johnson County, Kansas jury returned a verdict in favor of our client.

JUDGMENT ON PLEADINGS IN BILLING PRACTICES CASE

The Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, granted a motion for judgment on the pleadings filed by Wagstaff & Cartmell on behalf of Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City.

The court dismissed the case, in which plaintiffs were attempting to bring a class action to challenge certain billing practices.

Wagstaff & Cartmell and Saint Luke’s had previously prevailed on two lawsuits bringing similar allegations, one of them filed in Jackson County and one of them filed in federal court in Kansas.

Tom Wagstaff is the primary counsel for Saint Luke’s. Ty Hudson argued the motion, and Adam Davis was primarily responsible for drafting the motion.

The trial lawyers at Wagstaff & Cartmell stand by and stand up for our business clients, wielding our experience on both sides of the docket to help our clients mitigate risk and protect their business interests.

APPELLATE SUCCESS IN IMPORTANT SPOLIATION CASE

In a much-anticipated opinion addressing the issue of spoliation of evidence, the Kansas Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of our client, Ferris Kimball Company, LLC. The court held that no tort claim for spoliation existed under Kansas law for the plaintiff, Superior Boiler Works, Inc., against our client for having destroyed old business records.

Superior Boiler wanted our client to produce the old business records for Superior’s use in its defense of other litigation to which our client was not a party, but it had not subpoenaed the records at the time they were destroyed. This was a challenging and unfortunate case for our client, which had obtained a legal opinion that it could destroy the documents in question before doing so, but nevertheless found itself a defendant in a spoliation lawsuit.

Eric Barton, Ty Hudson, and Adam Davis represented Ferris Kimball Company, LLC, and its owner, who was named individually. After bifurcating discovery to focus solely on the dispositive legal issue, we obtained summary judgment for our client in Johnson County District Court.

Superior Boiler appealed. The Kansas Supreme Court accepted transfer of the case directly, as the court had not addressed the issue of tort liability for spoliation in more than 20 years.

We submitted a lengthy and thoroughly researched brief to the Kansas Supreme Court, drafted principally by Adam, and we were pleased for our client that the court adopted one of the arguments made in our brief and found in favor of our client.

The trial lawyers at Wagstaff & Cartmell stand by and stand up for our business clients, wielding our experience on both sides of the docket to help our clients mitigate risk and protect their business interests.

DEFENSE VERDICT – ALLEGED FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE AND TREAT TUBO-OVARIAN ABSCESS DURING PREGNANCY

Brandon Henry and Sarah Ruane successfully defended our client, a local obstetrician/gynecologist, in a jury trial in which the plaintiffs made claims of alleged failure to diagnose and treat an infectious process in a patient during pregnancy.

The plaintiffs, a mother and minor child, alleged that our client, based upon a concern about an ongoing infectious process in the mother at 19 weeks gestation, should have ordered laboratory and imaging studies, which would have led to the diagnosis of a tubo-ovarian abscess. Plaintiffs claimed that the tubo-ovarian abscess ultimately caused, among other things, the premature delivery of the baby at 25 weeks gestation, a four-month hospitalization in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit following the birth of the baby, and a developmental disorder that will affect the child for the entirety of her life.

We successfully argued that the patient did not present on the date of our client’s involvement with the typical signs and symptoms of a serious infectious process, but rather, the mother was experiencing a self-limiting viral infection that had no relationship to the abscess that was subsequently discovered.

After an eight-day trial, a Johnson County, Kansas jury returned a verdict in favor or our client and the other defendant.

With one of the leading professional liability practices in the Midwest, our trial lawyers represent professionals who are held to a high standard of care. We help doctors, like our defendant, manage legal issues and provide them with aggressive litigation when necessary.

DEFENSE VERDICT – PERFORATION TO ESOPHAGUS DURING ESOPHAGEAL DILATION

Marc Erickson and Brandon Henry successfully defended our client, a gastroenterologist, in a jury trial in Jackson County, Missouri. The patient had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and our client was performing an esophageal dilation when he unintentionally perforated the patient’s esophagus. As a result of the perforation, the patient underwent multiple surgeries. The patient died nine months later from the metastases of his cancer.

The patient’s family alleged that the dilation should not have been performed because the risk of the procedure outweighed the benefit and alleged that the perforation caused the patient’s cancer to spread. Our client admitted that he caused the perforation but stated that perforation was a known complication of the procedure. Our client also denied that that risk of the procedure outweighed the benefit and denied that the perforation caused the cancer to spread.

The Jackson County jury returned a defense verdict for our client after a one-week trial.

With one of the leading professional liability practices in the Midwest, Wagstaff & Cartmell represents professionals, like our defendant, who are held to a high standard of care. We provide doctors, accountants, and other professionals with aggressive litigation when necessary.

DEFENSE VERDICT – ALLEGED FAILURE TO TIMELY TREAT DIABETIC RETINOPATHY

Marc Erickson and Tom Rottinghaus successfully defended our client, a retinal surgeon, in a jury trial in Jackson County, Missouri. Our client treated the plaintiff for several years for diabetic retinopathy by providing laser treatments (panretinal photocoagulation) and surgery (vitrectomy). Despite our client’s efforts, the plaintiff lost sight in his right eye.

The plaintiff alleged that our client failed to provide timely treatment and thus caused the plaintiff’s condition to irreversibly deteriorate. Our client denied the allegations and argued that the loss of vision was a result of the disease and a complication from the surgery.

The Jackson County jury returned a unanimous defense verdict for our client after a one-week trial.

With one of the leading professional liability practices in the Midwest, Wagstaff & Cartmell represents professionals, like our defendant, who are held to a high standard of care. We provide doctors, accountants, and other professionals with aggressive litigation when necessary.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT – LEGAL MALPRACTICE CASE

Marc Erickson, Ty Hudson, and Adam Davis received a summary judgment victory for their client, an attorney who had been sued for legal malpractice after his client had lost in a jury trial.

The judge, who ruled from the bench after hearing more than two hours of oral argument, graciously complimented the lawyers for the quality of the briefing and argument.

With one of the leading professional liability practices in the Midwest, Wagstaff & Cartmell represents professionals, like our defendant, who are held to a high standard of care. We provide attorneys, doctors, accountants, and other professionals with aggressive litigation when necessary.

DEFENSE VERDICT – ALLEGED FAILURE TO TIMELY DIAGNOSE STROKE

Marc Erickson and Sarah Ruane successfully defended our client, a neurologist, in a jury trial in Jackson County, Missouri. The plaintiff suffered a stroke while she was in the hospital recovering from cardiac bypass surgery, and there was no argument that the stroke should have been prevented. The primary issues at trial were the timing of the stroke and whether any healthcare provider should have diagnosed and treated it sooner.

Our client was one of several doctors providing post-operative care to the plaintiff. The Jackson County jury returned a defense verdict for all defendants after a two-week trial.

With one of the leading professional liability practices in the Midwest, Wagstaff & Cartmell represents professionals, like our defendant, who are held to a high standard of care. We provide doctors, accountants, and other professionals with aggressive litigation when necessary.

APPELLATE VICTORY TRIFECTA

In three, separate cases, Wagstaff & Cartmell clients scored victories on appeal: two from the Missouri Supreme Court and one from the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.

These results highlighted not only Wagstaff & Cartmell’s ability to achieve success for its clients in the appellate courts as well as trial courts, but also underscored the firm’s commitment to success in both plaintiff’s and defense cases.

First, in the case of Estate of John Novogradac v. Shirshekan et al., the Missouri Supreme Court declined to accept transfer of the case from the Missouri Court of Appeals, which affirmed the Platte County, Missouri jury’s verdict awarding more than $3 million to our client in a case of nursing home negligence. This ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court marked the end of the appellate process and the end of the case. During the course of the appeal, interest accumulated on the judgment so that the total award is nearly $4 million.

Second, in the case of Sigroi v. Saint Louis University et al., the Missouri Supreme Court issued on opinion affirming and reinstating the Saint Louis City jury’s $825,000 verdict in favor of our clients in this medical malpractice case, reversing the ruling by the Missouri Court of Appeals, which had ordered a new trial. With interest that had been accumulating on the judgment during the appeals, the total award payable to our clients exceeded $1 million.

Third, in the case of Beaty v. St. Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City et al., the Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed a defense verdict that our firm had obtained on behalf of our clients in a medical malpractice case tried in Jackson County, Missouri. Significantly, the Court of Appeals rejected the plaintiff’s argument of an alleged violation of HIPAA privacy rules as a basis to grant a new trial.

Wagstaff & Cartmell is proud both of its record of success in trying personal injury and professional liability cases to juries and of its similar record of success in preserving those trial victories through effective written and oral advocacy on appeal.

DEFENSE VERDICT – ALLEGED FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE TEMPORAL ARTERITIS

Brandon Henry successfully defended our client, a local urgent care center, and its employee, an advanced registered nurse practitioner, in a jury trial in which the plaintiff made claims of alleged failure to suspect and diagnose temporal arteritis.

The plaintiff, who was 78 years old at the time, alleged that our client, through its employee, should have ordered necessary laboratory testing that would have led to a successful diagnosis of temporal arteritis, a rare inflammatory process that can damage blood vessels that supply blood to the head area, and would have prevented the blindness that the plaintiff ultimately experienced.

We successfully argued that the patient did not present with the classic signs and symptoms of this rare condition, which made the suspicion and diagnosis very difficult. As a result, it was not required by the standard of care.

An Atchison County, Kansas jury returned a defense verdict in favor or our client and its employee, as well as all other defendants.

With one of the leading professional liability practices in the Midwest, Wagstaff & Cartmell represents professionals, like our defendant, who are held to a high standard of care. We provide hospital, doctors, and their healthcare professionals with aggressive litigation when necessary.

DEFENSE VERDICT – WRONGFUL DEATH/GENERAL SURGEON

In a wrongful death case against our client, a general surgeon, plaintiffs alleged that our client failed to timely diagnose a complete mechanical small bowel obstruction and failed to timely operate to treat the same.

Wagstaff & Cartmell’s Marc Erickson and Brandon Henry argued that the defendant did not have a complete mechanical small bowel obstruction, but instead suffered from a paralytic ileus, which cannot be treated with surgery.

A Johnson County, Kansas jury found no negligence and awarded our client a defense verdict.

With one of the leading professional liability practices in the Midwest, Wagstaff & Cartmell uses our experience on both sides of the docket, for plaintiffs and defendants, to best represent our clients and provide aggressive litigation when necessary.

DEFENSE VERDICT – ALLEGED FAILURE TO TIMELY DIAGNOSE STROKE/HOSPITAL

Wagstaff & Cartmell’s Marc Erickson and Jeff Kuntz represented Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, to which the plaintiff had been admitted for a cardiac catheter procedure.

Following the procedure, the plaintiff was thought to be slow in waking up from anesthesia. The following morning the plaintiff was diagnosed with having suffered a stroke.

Plaintiffs alleged that the doctors and nurses failed to timely diagnose and treat the stroke. A Jackson County, Missouri jury found no negligence and awarded our clients a defense verdict.

With one of the leading professional liability practices in the Midwest, Wagstaff & Cartmell uses our experience on both sides of the docket, for plaintiffs and defendants, to best represent our clients and provide aggressive litigation when necessary.

DEFENSE VERDICT – SHOULDER DYSTOCIA ALLEGED AGAINST OB-GYN

Plaintiffs alleged that during delivery, the baby’s shoulder became stuck (referred to as a shoulder dystocia), and that the defendants used improper fundal pressure and excessive force and caused a permanent brachial plexus injury to the baby. Marc Erickson represented the OB-GYN who performed the delivery. A Buchanan County, Missouri jury found that no negligence occurred and awarded our client a defense verdict.

DEFENSE VERDICT FOR HOSPITAL IN SLIP AND FALL CASE REINSTATED ON APPEAL AFTER NEW TRIAL ORDERED

Tom Cartmell and Jeff Kuntz obtained a defense verdict for Children’s Mercy Hospital in a jury trial in Jackson County, Missouri. The case involved a woman who fell in a parking garage and broke her foot at Children’s Mercy Hospital and sought more than $3 million in damages as a result of allegedly acquiring RSD (reflex sympathetic dystrophy).

After the verdict, the trial court granted the plaintiff’s motion for a new trial and ordered the case to be retried. Wagstaff & Cartmell, on behalf of Children’s Mercy, appealed the order of a new trial, and successfully argued that the defense verdict should be reinstated because none of the grounds relied upon by the trial court in ordering a new trial were valid. Eric Barton assisted Tom and Jeff on the appeal. Dick v. Children’s Mercy Hosp., 140 S.W.3d 131 (Mo.App. W.D. 2004).

With one of the leading professional liability practices in the Midwest, Wagstaff & Cartmell uses our experience on both sides of the docket, for plaintiffs and defendants, to best represent our clients and provide aggressive litigation when necessary.

DEFENSE VERDICT – TOTAL KNEE REPLACEMENT/ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON

Plaintiff underwent a total knee replacement surgery and alleged that she suffered permanent, disabling nerve injuries as a result of improper alignment of her femur relative to the artificial knee implant. Tom Cartmell and Eric Barton represented the orthopedic surgeon at trial. A Clay County jury found no negligence and awarded a defense verdict.

With one of the leading professional liability practices in the Midwest, Wagstaff & Cartmell uses our experience on both sides of the docket, for plaintiffs and defendants, to best represent our clients and provide aggressive litigation when necessary.

DEFENSE VERDICT – WRONGFUL DEATH/ANESTHESIOLOGY

This wrongful death case involved an 18-year-old victim of a severe auto accident who underwent surgery to repair femur fractures in both legs. During surgery, the patient decompensated, and three hours later he died.

His mother brought a wrongful death action, alleging that her son’s death was the result of negligence by his treating physicians, including the anesthesiology team. Marc Erickson and Jeff Kuntz represented the anesthesiologist, a CRNA, and the professional corporation that employed them. A Jackson County, Missouri jury found that the defendants were not negligent and awarded our clients a defense verdict.

DEFENSE VERDICT – PARALYSIS FROM SPINAL COLUMN INFECTION/ENT PHYSICIAN

Our client, an ENT doctor, performed a delicate surgery on the plaintiff, removing a tumor from his pharynx (voice-box), but preserving the patient’s voice. Post-operatively, however, the plaintiff developed a bad infection from an IV that spread to his spinal cord and paralyzed him.

The plaintiff sued the doctor who treated his infection, who settled. Our client, the ENT doctor, refused to settle.

Eric Barton and Jeff Kuntz tried the case to a Jackson County jury, which found in favor of our client and awarded a defense verdict.

With one of the leading professional liability practices in the Midwest, Wagstaff & Cartmell uses our experience on both sides of the docket, for plaintiffs and defendants, to best represent our clients and provide aggressive litigation when necessary.