Maryland Injury Law Center

March 15, 2019

Hawaii Medical Malpractice Settlements and Verdicts

There are not many malpractice settlements and verdicts in Hawaii. Here are three that I found and the awards or settlements are significant:

2019, Hawaii: $18,760,000 Settlement. A woman suffered an end-stage renal disease after experiencing a sepsis-related infection while giving birth at Tripler Medical Center. She experienced repeated and increased hypotension and tachycardia episodes after being transferred to the postpartum unit. Her lab results showed that she developed sepsis and disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. She eventually suffered permanent kidney damage. An infectious disease expert confirmed the group A streptococcus that resulted in toxic shock syndrome, sepsis, and bacteremia. Upon being discharged, she underwent hemodialysis three times a week. Within two years, she was hospitalized for gallstones and increased fluid in her abdomen. She and her husband sued Tripler for failing to timely diagnose or treat her kidney failure. They allege that she now needed a kidney transplant and other organ transplants throughout her life. The magistrate judge initially awarded $24,743,668. However, the federal government appealed the case. It eventually settled for $18,760,000.
2013, Hawaii: $4,250,000 Award. A 15-year-old became paralyzed from the neck down after receiving steroid treatment for lupus. She developed a facial rash and slurred speech while visiting Hawaii with her family. She saw a pediatric rheumatologist, who diagnosed her with lupus. An MRI revealed some white matter density in her brain. Upon hospital admission, the rheumatologist prescribed weekly methylprednisone and prednisone doses to be taken for four weeks. The teenager responded well to the medication; her speech resolved, and her blood tests showed no increases in lupus antibodies. The rheumatologist had her continue this regimen. Right before the fourth week, the teen complained of muscle weakness. Her mother had her stop taking the medications. She eventually showed myopathy signs and was subsequently admitted to the hospital. She eventually could not move her body from the neck down. The teen and her mother sued the treating medical center for prescribing a high steroid dose. She now needed lifetime medical care because of her injuries. The first trial, held in 2009, awarded $6,150,000. However, the Hawaiian Supreme Court ordered a new trial based on erroneous evidence. The second trial’s jury awarded $4,250,000, which the court reduced to $1,800,000.

March 11, 2019

Ravens’ Parade Trampling Case Reversed by Court of Special Appeals

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

I’m also fired up for a new year of appellate opinions. Something about having a new year on a case that just seems exciting to me. (In an unrelated note, I have four kids and few hobbies.) But there have been few tort related appellate opinions this year to get me fired up.

Anyway, the Maryland Court of Appeals recently decided a Sutton-Witherspoon v. S.A.F.E Management, a case that is factually interesting to almost all of us in Baltimore.

Facts of Case: An Out-of-Control Victory Parade

February 5, 2019

Shingles Lawsuit July 2022 Update: Federal Court Trials on Tap

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Our Zostavax Trials Set for 2020

Our lawyers are handling Zostavax and Shingrix shingles vaccine lawsuits. If you have a potential suit and have not yet hired a lawyer, call me.

Zostavax lawsuits are now moving forward quickly. U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has selected the initial “bellwether” cases in the Zostavax MDL. Can COVID slow things down? Of course it can. But these cases seem to be moving forward.

January 28, 2019

Armacost v. Davis: A Practical Decision on Trial Management

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

In Armacost v. Davis, the first appellate tort opinion in Maryland in 2019, the Maryland Court of Appeals was asked to examine whether a trial court’s instructions to the jury were inappropriate and prejudicial in a medical malpractice case alleging negligence after a four-level cervical discectomy and fusion surgery performed by the defendant left the victim with claims of permanent injury. The Maryland high court ultimately held that:

1) The trial court did not mislead the jury as to the applicable law by first giving them general negligence instructions before instructing jurors on the standard of care applicable to the defendant brain surgeon’s actions.

2) The trial court did not abuse its discretion by telling jurors how much longer they would be required to deliberate after they had previously expressed concerns over the length of the trial.

November 1, 2018

Why Attorney Fee Splitting Serves Tort Victims

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Max Kennerly writes a blog post about referral or co-counsel fees in personal injury cases, talking about a case where the lawyers agreed to a fee split but after a nice verdict, they argued about what those words meant regarding carving up the fee.

There has been talk, as Max points out, about reforming the system to not allow lawyers to fee split personal injury cases. The talk comes from advocates of tort reform who have the goal of making life more difficult for plaintiffs to bring claims.

Such a rule would do just that. My firm spends a lot of time and effort providing information about personal injury cases on the Internet. We absolutely want to attract victims directly. No doubt. Getting 100% of the fee in a case is a lot more enticing than getting two-thirds of that fee, which is what we get when we accept a referral from another attorney. When we get a good settlement or a verdict in a case where the client came to us, either from the Internet or non-attorney referral, the words “And it is all ours” slip out when discussing the case.

This Blog Generates Attorney Referrals

Yet I put a lot of time and energy into this blog that is directed not to victims, but to other lawyers. Why? I’ll tell you. Every single year, we look at where our fees are coming from. Prior clients and victims who find us online are rising every year. Yet together, they do not generate nearly as much in attorneys’ fees as cases that were referred to us by another lawyer.

Keep in mind, I’m not talking about the volume of cases. I’m talking total fees. So, absolutely, we think the smartest approach is to direct our efforts primarily toward trying to attract other lawyers in and out of Maryland who have a personal injury case. The thinking is if they are regularly reading this blog for news and information, and using the resources on our website, they will think of us when they need help with complex malpractice, accident, or product liability claim. Continue reading

October 19, 2018

When Your Personal Injury Client Files for Bankruptcy

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Most personal injury lawyers have had more than a few encounters with consumer bankruptcy proceedings. Personal injury clients frequently file personal bankruptcies.

It is therefore important to know how personal injury claims, settlements, or awards are treated in bankruptcy. The question everyone wants to know is will the client get to keep some or all of their settlement or judgment?

The short answer is yes – as long the settlement proceeds are compensation for pain and suffering or future lost wages.

October 13, 2018

Atrium C-Qur Mesh Lawsuits

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

We have been getting a lot of calls from Atrium C-Qur hernia mesh victims. These poor people have a lot of questions and concerns and we try to lay some of those out for you here.

The C-Qur hernia mesh products are a line of polypropylene surgical implants manufactured by Atrium Medical Corp. The C-Qur hernia mesh products were one of several types of implant devices used in hernia repair surgery between 2006 and 2015. Hernia repair is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures in the U.S. each year.

What are Hernia Mesh & Patch Devices?

October 8, 2018

Knee Dislocations and Settlement Value

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Knee dislocations are relatively rare in automobile accidents. But we have seen several of them recently, so I’m writing today about these injuries and to give you some idea of the potential settlement value of these claims. If you are trying to find the general settlement value of knee injury cases, we provide statistics and verdicts for you elsewhere.

Knee Dislocations in Car Accidents

Knee dislocations are technically a dislocation of the patella. Our lawyers have seen a lot of these cases. Our knees are in a grove at the end of our thigh bones. This allows the kneecap to slide back and forth. When our clients have a knee dislocation, what we see is the kneecap is completely out of the knee’s grove. You can see it off to the side of the bone. If it is just partially out and perched on the edge, that is a subluxation or partially dislocated knee.

October 5, 2018

Marital Privilege and Work Emails (and Texts)

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Note: post was originally in 2012. It has been updated in November 2018 to discuss a new martial privilege case, Sewell v. State, now pending before the Maryland Court of Appeals with a decision coming any day now.

I never write about marital privilege. But I have an interest in modern technology and how it will affect pre-trial discovery and admissibility of evidence. Which takes me to the 4th Circuit opinion U.S. v. Hamilton.

This case involves the bribery conviction of a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates who also served part-time as an administrator with the Newport News, Virginia public school system. Basically, the guy pushed for and got a salary from Old Dominion University for getting funding for a million-dollar program called Center for Teacher Quality and Education Leadership. (FACT: 89% of all “education centers” with titles as goofy and ambiguous as this one are hopelessly corrupt.)

Anyway, a key piece of evidence in the takedown of this guy is an email that he writes to his wife about how he is trying to get this salary out of the deal which he writes from his public school computer. So the question is whether the marital privilege applies because he used his work email account.

For what I think are good reasons, communications between spouses have long been thought to implicate important privacy and confidentiality interests. This has led to a recognition of a marital privilege in both Maryland and federal law that makes communications between spouses presumptively confidential.

Continue reading

October 3, 2018

Fetal Macrosomia and Birth Injuries

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Fetal macrosomia is a medical term that means fetal weight at birth is greater than 4000 grams (8 lbs. 13 oz). Compared to the size of other newborns of the same gestational age, this is considered excessive fetal growth. Your doctor will be concerned with the baby’s probable weight at delivery for a few reasons and should want more testing to be done.

Fetal macrosomia is a serious condition in pregnancy. It is well recognized in the medical literature that a major concern in the delivery of a macrosomic baby is shoulder dystocia and the attendant risks of permanent brachial plexus palsy. It requires close monitoring and frequent visits to the doctor’s office. But the reward is a healthier baby at delivery and sometimes a healthier mother, too.

Why is Fetal Macrosomia Important?