- July 25, 2018: SOC Partners, Rich O’Connor and Vimala Ruszkowski, obtained a defense verdict in Bridgeport Superior Court on behalf of a Connecticut Hospital. The case involved a wrongful death action brought by the Administrators of the Estate of a 28-year-old female patient who had been admitted to the Hospital’s Emergency Department for opioid intoxication. The Administrators of the Estate alleged malpractice claiming that the Emergency Medicine physician inappropriately discharged the patient before determining whether the patient would re-exhibit signs of opioid intoxication. The jurors heard evidence over a three week time frame and plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury to return an award for in excess of $22 million. The jury rendered a defense verdict in 2 hours. Attorney O’Connor’s command of the medicine and Attorney Ruszkowski’s sensitive yet revealing cross of the Administrator of the Estate were key to the victory.
- August 2, 2018: After a two week trial, SOC Partner Eric Stockman obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a cardiologist and his medical group. Plaintiffs claimed that defendant failed to interpret the results of a stress echocardiogram used for pre-surgical clearance. Defendant cleared patient for shoulder surgery, after which plaintiff suffered a massive myocardial infarction. Over the course of 8 days of testimony — including the cross examination of plaintiffs’ expert via live feed from Los Angeles — Attorney Stockman presented the jury with overwhelming evidence that the cardiologist interpreted the testing appropriately and appropriately released the patient for surgery. Moreover, Attorney Stockman proved that the myocardial infarction was likely not predictable or preventable with anything other than testing that was not required by the standard of care. The jury rendered a defense verdict in 40 minutes.
- October 19, 2018: SOC Partner Rich O’Connor prevailed in New Haven Superior Court in a case alleging failure to diagnose and treat appendicitis.
- December 16, 2018: SOC Partners Sandy Roussas and Eric Stockman obtained a defense verdict in Stamford Superior Court on behalf of a Connecticut Hospital in a premises liability case. Plaintiff alleged that she fell on a staircase in the facility when the aglet of her shoelace became caught in a gap between the stair and the wall causing her to fall forward. Plaintiff claimed that the “defect” was dangerous, and that the Hospital was negligent in its duty to keep the premises reasonably safe. Attorney Roussas, in her opening statement and throughout the trial, did not dispute that plaintiff incurred injuries including a fracture left femur, pulmonary embolism, left lower extremity pain and chest pain. Rather, the defense focused their efforts on proving to the jury that this gap was not unreasonably dangerous and was not a defect. Moreover, the defense argued that plaintiff’s shoelace could not have possibly gotten caught in the gap unless plaintiff’s shoelaces were untied, making plaintiff comparatively negligent. Plaintiff asked for $500,000 in damages and $12,000 annually over plaintiff’s life expectancy for her residual pain. The jury returned a defense verdict in just over an hour.
- January 18, 2019: SOC Partner Rich O’Connor prevailed in Waterbury Superior Court on behalf of a Connecticut Orthopedic Surgeon who plaintiff claimed was negligent in failing to diagnose and properly treat a prosthetic joint infection following a total a 2-stage total knee revision. Plaintiff subsequently went on to have an above-the-knee amputation. During trial, Plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury for a verdict in the range of $6,000,000 – 45,000,000. Attorney O’Connor skillfully navigated the jury through the medical complexities of the care and educated the jury through every witness that the amputation was not caused by the alleged negligence. After 5 ½ hours of deliberation, the jury rendered a defense verdict.
- February 27, 2019: SOC Partners, Eric Stockman and Vimala Ruszkowski, obtained a defense verdict in Bridgeport Superior Court on behalf of a General Surgeon and Connecticut Hospital. Plaintiff alleged surgical negligence in the performance of a total thyroidectomy, which plaintiff alleged caused injury to the recurrent laryngeal nerve and resulted in vocal chord paralysis. The defense was able to prove to the jury that the injury was a risk of the procedure that occurs in the absence of negligence and undermine the credibility of plaintiff’s expert with his past deposition testimony. The jury came back with a defense verdict in nine minutes.
- May 3, 2019: SOC Partners, Rich O’Connor and Sandy Roussas, obtained a defense verdict in Bridgeport Superior Court. Plaintiff alleged that the defendant surgeon failed to obtain the critical view of safety during a laparoscopic cholecystectomy and cut the right hepatic duct causing, among other things, a bile leak, multiple subsequent procedures and ongoing pain. The defense argued that the surgeon complied with the standard of care in identifying the relevant anatomy during the procedure and that the injury occurred because of the presence of an aberrant duct.