| Subject: Judge Reinstates $30 Million Malpractice Award |
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Date Posted: 11/22/04 8:33am
http://www.newsnet5.com/money/3937045/detail.html"" TARGET="_blank">Judge Reinstates $30 Million Malpractice Award Previous Judge Said Award Was Excessive
UPDATED: 11:34 AM EST November 21, 2004
CLEVELAND -- A judge has reinstated a $30 million medical malpractice award three months after a retired judge threw it out.
Retired Judge Robert Lawther, presiding in a Cuyahoga County courtroom, said the award was excessive and had mistakenly been based on passion and prejudice.
A jury had ruled 6-2 in May that Dr. Ronald Jordan and the now-defunct Mount Sinai Medical Center had been negligent in delaying Walter Hollins' delivery while his mother, Regina Harris, waited two hours for an emergency Caesarean section. Hollins, 17, has cerebral palsy, can't use his arms or legs and has the mental capacity of a 1-year-old.
Lawther said the courtroom conduct of Hollins' attorney, Geoffrey Fieger, was "overbearing, discourteous and rude" and his trial technique was "designed to manipulate and mislead the jury."
Judge Lillian Greene of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, in a three-page opinion Friday, said Lawther was wrong to dispense with the jury's verdict so cavalierly. The case was returned to Greene — the judge originally assigned to the case — after Lawther voluntarily stepped aside.
"The mere fact that (Lawther's) opinion differs from that of the jury does not warrant setting aside a verdict," Greene wrote.
Greene also noted that she found "nothing egregious" about Fieger's conduct.
"Judge Greene hit it right on the nose," said Fieger, the flamboyant plaintiff's lawyer from Southfield, Mich., who is best known for defending Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the assisted-suicide doctor. "Judge Lawther's decision to throw out the verdict was clearly an attack on me personally, and on the jury system as a whole."
Lawyers for the doctor and hospital were not available for comment Friday.
Fieger said he hopes to earn an additional $50 million in prejudgment interest for Hollins, which is the interest earned on 10 percent of the verdict for 17 years.
Although Mount Sinai no longer exists, a $77 million insurance fund remains.
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