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.