 From North Carolina Lawyers Weekly ,
August, 17, 1998
Winning a big jury verdict brings big headlines,
but as every plaintiffs' lawyer knows, it's not the
end of the story.
The case isn't over until the money is in the bank.
That can mean years of delay if a defendant appeals.
Rather than wait on their megabuck verdicts,
plaintiffs may decide to "resolve" their
disputes (read: settle confidentially). That's
apparently what happened to several large verdicts on
last year's list.
Lawyers Weekly checked up on 10 of the top awards
from the 1997 survey. Here's where they are now:
- Dunlap v. Gymbags, Inc. (Richmond County
Superior Court): The most unusual case on last
year's roundup was this $31.5 million wrongful
death verdict against a Richmond County
corporation for a double-murder committed by one
of its officers. The apparent motive: life
insurance proceeds to keep the company afloat.
Update: The plaintiff is still pursuing
collection of the judgment, according to the office
manager for Rockingham attorney Ric Buckner.
- Lakey v. Sta-Rite Industries, Inc. (Wake
County Superior Court): In this products liability
case, a five-year-old girl lost most of her
intestines after sitting on a swimming pool drain
cover. The jury returned a verdict of $25 million
in compensatory damages.
Update: As reported in Lawyers Weekly last
year, the case against Sta-Rite settled for $25
million in cash in exchange for the plaintiffs'
agreement not to seek punitive damages. Settlements
with other defendants in the case brought the total
recovery to $30.9 million.
- Carter v. Hucks-Follis (Hoke County
Superior Court): This $10 million verdict was the
largest medmal award on last year's survey. The
case arose out of negligent back surgery on a
54-year-old-man. Bone fragments were driven into
his spinal cord, injuring it severely.
The plaintiff recovered $8 million for his
injuries. The estate of his wife, who died three years
after the surgery, recovered $2 million for loss of
consortium.
Update: The parties have settled the case
for $5 million, according to the plaintiff's attorney,
Joe McLeod of Fayetteville. Confidentiality was a
sticking point for both sides, said McLeod.
"We walked away from their first $5 million
offer and told them to stick it when they insisted on
a confidentiality agreement," he said.
When the defendants offered $5 million without the
secrecy demand, the case settled. According to McLeod,
the defendants came up with $2 million personally to
supplement the $3 million in insurance coverage.
- Williamson v. City of Asheboro (Randolph
County Superior Court): In this abuse of process
case, jurors gave $6.6 million to a contractor who
claimed city officials arrested him on trumped-up
theft charges to gain the upper hand in a
construction dispute.
Update: "The matter has been
resolved," said the plaintiff's attorney David
Fox of Raleigh.
- Brown v. Bowen (Nash County Superior
Court): This $6 million medmal verdict came after
the plaintiffs had already reached settlements
with other defendants totaling $2.5 million.
In Brown, a six-month-old child was taken to
an emergency room and diagnosed with an epidural
hematoma. The hematoma was drained, but the child
wasn't given a transfusion for several hours, causing
mental and physical retardation. Both sides appealed
the judgment.
Update: The appeals have been dropped and
the dispute has been "resolved," according
to an attorney for the plaintiffs, Susan O'Malley of
Tarboro.
- Estridge v. Housecalls Healthcare Group, Inc.
(Guilford County Superior Court): In the
second abuse of process case on the 1997 list, a
Greensboro CPA won a $4.03 million verdict when he
was hit with criminal conversion charges after
quitting his job as the defendant's comptroller.
The ostensible grounds for the warrant, which was
later dismissed: the plaintiff didn't immediately
return his pager and cell phone after posting a
resignation letter.
The plaintiff's attorney, Robert Cone of
Greensboro, convinced jurors the true motive for the
firing was revenge for the employee's whistle-blowing.
Update: The case is now on appeal, according
to Cone.
- Bryan v. Garrison (Cumberland County
Superior Court): This wrongful death claim alleged
a Fayetteville doctor misdiagnosed a patient's
stomach cancer as simple GI distress. Despite
complaints of stomach pains over a two-year
period, the doctor gave the patient Zantac, which
the manufacturer recommends be used for no more
than six to eight weeks.
Jurors awarded the patient's estate $3.03 million.
Update: According to The Fayetteville
Observer-Times, the defendant filed bankruptcy a month
after the jury verdict. The parties agreed to settle
the case for $1.5 million, according to the article.
Of that amount, the defendant's insurance company will
pay $1 million, while the defendant and his
professional association will pay $500,000.
- Mathis-Sutton v. Public Service Company (Buncombe
County Superior Court): This $2.5 million award
arose out of a closed head injury suffered by the
plaintiff in a collision with a PSC pick-up truck.
The total includes a $500,000 award to the
plaintiff's husband for loss of consortium.
Update: The case, which was initially
appealed, has now been "resolved," according
to an attorney for the plaintiffs, Scott Jones of
Asheville.
- Lutz v. Brian Center Nursing Care (Catawba
County Superior Court). In this case, jurors
awarded a total of $2.25 million to the family of
a nursing home patient whose death was allegedly
caused by multiple acts of medical malpractice,
including an overdose of blood thinner.
Update: The defendants have paid the
compensatory damages award --$250,000 -- but have
appealed the $2 million punitives verdict, according
to the plaintiffs' attorneys, Mark Holt and Bill
Bystrynski of Raleigh.
- Barbour v. Dameron (Wake County Superior
Court): In Barbour, the plaintiff suffered
vascular and neurological damage following tendon
repair surgery, leaving him with an 80 percent
permanent partial disability of the shoulder. A
jury awarded him $1.8 million and gave his wife
$200,000 for loss of consortium.
Update: The matter has been
"resolved," according to an attorney for the
plaintiffs, Mike Clark of Raleigh.
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