Case Results

Walkup Melodia’s medical malpractice team obtained a record $32 million jury verdict in Superior Court on behalf of an 18-year-old man whose doctors failed to get him prompt care when was admitted to the hospital with signs and symptoms of a stroke. The doctors and nurses who saw him admitted him for observation instead of getting him immediate specialized stroke care. As a result, he became paralyzed and lost his ability to communicate. Walkup malpractice lawyers showed through expert testimony that his lifetime of disability was avoidable had proper care been given.

A Walkup neuro-injury trial team obtained this verdict on behalf of a 19-year-old man against a Bakersfield doctor. The Walkup team obtained this verdict in 2013 in San Francisco Superior Court when it proved that an attending physician failed to take prompt action in the face of symptoms suggesting a stroke. As a result, brain-saving care was delayed and the young man suffered massive injury, destroying his ability to speak, work or care for himself. Our client benefited from a Walkup trial team that included a licensed physician.

In Worker v. Telecom Companies (confidential case number and venue) Khaldoun Baghdadi, Sara Peters and Joseph Nicholson, negotiated a confidential settlement in excess of $29 million for a telecommunications worker who suffered catastrophic electrical shock and thermal burn injuries requiring amputation of an arm. The plaintiff was in an elevated aerial bucket splicing a non-electrified communications cable. While working, he made contact with one of the defendants’ high voltage electrical power line which was strung above him, but not attached to, the utility pole he was working on. State regulations specify the minimum safe clearance distances that must be maintained around such uninsulated high voltage lines to protect non-electrical workers like the plaintiff. The Walkup team was able to show that not only was the power line sagging too low at the time of injury, but also that the responsible party had identified the dangerous condition at this precise location more than a year earlier, and failed to fix it. As a result, the plaintiff suffered third and fourth degree burns to more than one-third of his body, resulting in chronic pain and disability. In seeking to establish comparative fault, the multiple defendants argued that the plaintiff either ignored the obvious hazard of the overhead power line or was not properly trained by his own employer. The multi-party settlement included contributions by various contractors that either inspected or worked on the site prior to plaintiff and failed to remedy or warn of the hazard.

In a birth injury jury trial brought for a child with spastic quadriplegia, the Walkup medical malpractice trial team received a $23.2 million jury verdict. The 2½-year-old plaintiff suffered cerebral palsy, quadriplegia and cognitive impairment when her mother’s doctor failed to recognize and act on the warning signs of fetal distress during her birth. As a result, a timely cesarean section was not performed. The child was deprived of oxygen for 28 minutes before an emergency C–section could be completed.

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy resulted, and the child now has multiple health problems, including a permanent tracheotomy, g–tube, spastic cerebral palsy, cortical impairment, and seizures. The jury award included $1.7 million for past health care expenses, $10 million for future health care expenses, $10 million for past and future pain, disability, and emotional distress, and $1.5 million for loss of earning capacity.

Our paralysis trial team obtained a jury verdict in the amount of $9,480,820 on behalf of a 29-year-old Sonoma County laborer who suffered permanent paraplegia from the navel down as a result of an untreated spinal epidural abscess. The defendant had been treating the plaintiff for skin infections for approximately two months when our client began to develop unremitting pain in his back. The defendant charted a suspicion of an epidural abscess but never ordered the appropriate diagnostic tests to confirm his suspicion.

In Doe Infant v. Healthcare Facility (Court and County confidential) Khaldoun Baghdadi negotiated a combination cash and annuity settlement with a present value of $9,000,000 on behalf of a severely disabled 4 year-old child and her parents. The child was born with severe congenital disabilities. The matter was prosecuted as a wrongful life case per CACI 512 and premised upon the failure to conduct follow up prenatal diagnostic testing which was indicated according to the standard of care. Pursuant to the holding in Turpin v. Sortini (1982) 31 Cal.3d 220, the parents sought recovery of the economic damages required to care for their daughter. The child’s ongoing medical needs were substantial. She required treatment and medication for seizure management and attendant care for activities of daily living including feeding, bathing and toileting. The child was unable to walk or provide for her own needs. In addition to the customary experts in the fields of physical medicine and rehabilitation and life care planning, liability experts in the field of radiology and obstetrics were retained to testify in the case. By utilizing a special needs trust in conjunction with structured annuities and a substantial cash payment, Khaldoun was able to help the parents maintain their daughters right to receive public benefits, thereby maximizing the benefit to the family of the negotiated settlement.

Our lawyers resolved this case for a badly damaged child who developed distress during labor at a point when no doctor was available to consult or do an emergency surgical delivery. The obstetrician left the hospital to run a personal errand and was not available to perform an emergency C-section.

The obstetrician believed labor was progressing adequately when he departed. After he left, contractions were too strong and too frequent, putting stress on the baby. The labor and delivery nurse did not summon another physician. By the time the baby was finally delivered, he had suffered permanent hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.

In Arborist v. Bay Area Crane Service (Sonoma Co. Sup. Ct.) Rich Schoenberger and Matt Davis obtained a $6 million settlement on behalf of a 33-year-old employee rendered a paraplegic during a tree removal project at a Sonoma County home. The defendant crane company was hired by the plaintiff’s employer to hoist and move sections of cut trees over a residence and place them into a “safety zone” where the plaintiff was to cut the sections into smaller pieces. During the work a large limb broke free from the crane’s rigging and fell on the plaintiff. His employer was in charge of the jobsite and he was cited by Cal-OSHA for safety violations. Suit was brought against the crane operator and his employer. During depositions evidence was developed showing numerous safety violations by the crane operator. The defendants moved for summary judgment on the ground that the crane operator was a “special employee” of the plaintiff’s employer and therefore the suit was barred by the exclusive remedy rule and the holding in Privette v. Superior Court and its progeny. In support of their motion the defendants pointed to the contract that defined the crane operator as a “special employee” of the arborist company. Rich and Matt developed evidence showing that the crane company and operator retained control over how the crane was operated during the job and prevailed at the summary judgment hearing citing case law holding that the facts of how a job was actually run are more important that what is written in the contract. The court denied the defense motion and the case settled for the crane company’s policy limits shortly thereafter.

In Tennis Coach v. Local Trucker (Sacramento Sup. Ct.) Douglas Saeltzer and Conor Kelly obtained a $6,000,000 settlement on behalf of a 25-year-old tennis instructor who suffered major lower extremity injuries against a driver who collided head-on with the plaintiff’s vehicle. The client was returning home after providing tennis lessons at a club on the Sacramento Delta. The defendant driver was returning to his company’s headquarters in Rio Vista in an F-250 pickup truck. The crash was unwitnessed. After the collision the defendant denied crossing into plaintiff’s lane of traffic, and told police that the plaintiff had caused the collision. Because of his injuries, the plaintiff had no recollection of the collision. Doug and Conor obtained cell phone records which showed defendant making two separate phone calls in the minutes preceding the collision. Analysis of the physical evidence also established the collision occurred on plaintiff’s side of the road. Past medical specials totaled $963,000. Following the accident plaintiff returned to college retaining his tennis scholarship. The case settled following factual depositions, with a policy limit demand supported by four expert reports demonstrating future damages in excess of $3,000,000.

In Cyclist v. Colliding Defendants (No.Cal.Sup.Ct.) Matthew Davis and Spencer Pahlke obtained a settlement in excess of $6,000,000 on behalf of a badly injured bicyclist who was struck head-on after a collision between a food delivery vehicle and a taxi cab. The initial accident occurred at a busy SOMA intersection when the food delivery driver jumped the change in his red light to green. At the same time, a taxi driver approaching from the east, traveling 15 miles per hour over the speed limit to catch the last seconds of a stale yellow, violently broadsided the delivery car. Post-impact the taxi careened toward the plaintiff, who was stopped, sitting atop his bicycle waiting for his light to turn green. The force of the impact threw the plaintiff to the ground and launched his bike over a nearby fence. Our client suffered blunt force trauma to the head causing a traumatic brain injury. Previously liked and likeable, and interested in literature, art, and music, after his brain injury the plaintiff suffered personality changes and became disagreeable. Many friends testified at length about the considerable before-and-after changes observed. The recovery was in the full amount of the available policy limits of all defendants.

In Family v. Teaching Hospital and Surgeon (confidential settlement), Michael Kelly and Melinda Derish resolved a medical negligence wrongful death claim for $5.8 million on behalf of the widow and children of a young executive who died after routine back surgery. The patient was kept postoperatively for pain management with narcotic medications administered via an intravenous pump, and the plan was for him to go home the next day. When the surgeon rounded that evening his patient had an elevated pulse rate (tachycardia) so he summoned a hospital resident to transfer the patient to the ICU and obtain a cardiology consult. The surgeon left the hospital and the resident thereafter asked another resident to see the patient. Neither resident transferred the patient to the ICU. The patient went on to suffer a cardiorespiratory arrest. The two residents claimed that the surgeon had not made it clear that he wanted the patient transferred to the ICU. They also claimed that they telephoned a cardiologist who told them they did not need to transfer the patient. All defendants claimed the patient had not received enough narcotic to cause a respiratory arrest. Mike and Melinda proved that the hospital violated its own narcotic policies by failing to retain the records of how much narcotic had been administered. The general damage recovery for the widow and three children was limited to a total of $250,000 by the unfair and barbaric MICRA cap.

Our medical negligence lawyers obtained a settlement having a present cash value of more than $5 million on behalf of a 6-year-old girl who sustained brain damage and cerebral palsy as a result of injuries during birth. The defendant in the case was a national health maintenance organization. The obstetricians employed by the HMO failed to correctly analyze or appreciate signs of fetal distress as reflected in fetal monitoring tapes. Experts in obstetrics and perinatology testified that a timely cesarean section, occurring 45 minutes or more before the actual birth, would have prevented the child from sustaining anoxic brain damage and resulting cerebral palsy.

The defendant HMO claimed that the obstetrical care provided by its doctors was appropriate and within the standard of care. Attorneys for the HMO attempted to prove that the child’s cerebral palsy was not the result of oxygen deprivation during the labor process, but rather the result of an infection that the mother experienced one month before delivery. The settlement amount, when combined with available benefits provided by private insurance and government programs, assured that the child’s medical and special needs would be met regardless of her life expectancy.

Walkup attorneys negotiated a cash and annuity settlement with a present cash value in excess of $5 million on behalf of an infant born with severe developmental delay, spastic quadriparesis and permanent neurological injuries after doctors and nursing staff failed to monitor the mother and deliver the baby quickly when fetal heart monitors indicated severe distress. The child will remain fully dependent for all of her care needs for her entire life.

She is not expected to develop beyond the level of a 1–month-old infant. Liability was based upon the failure to aggressively monitor the mother and fetus post-administration of antibiotics and failure to deliver the baby when infection was first suspected.

Our San Francisco wrongful death team, working in association with our fire and burn injury lawyers, obtained a $5 million settlement arising from a propane gas explosion at a Lake Tahoe area ski condominium. The blast occurred as a family of five was enjoying a ski vacation. The explosion killed the husband and one of the children. The settlement included cash payments as well as annuities for the surviving children. Our burn injury attorneys alleged that there was negligence in the design and construction of the condominium and that the decision to route the propane gas supply in areas where large quantities of snow could be expected to slide off of the roof was below accepted construction practices.

Our medical malpractice brain injury team represented a 12-year-old boy in a claim against Kaiser Foundation Health Plan. After demonstrating signs of possible cardiac insufficiency, including fainting spells and seizures, the young man sustained a myocardial infarction (heart attack) that resulted in cessation of blood flow to the brain. As a result, global hypoxic anoxic encephalopathy left the child globally brain-damaged and wholly dependent upon others for support. Our brain injury attorneys, with the assistance of specialists in the fields of neurology, pediatric cardiology, neurosurgery, life care planning, economics and vocational rehabilitation, brought a claim against the health plan, which was ultimately settled for a combination of annuities and lump sum cash having a present cash value in excess of $4 million.

Our team negotiated a cash and annuity settlement having a present cash value of $4,050,000 on behalf of a recent business school graduate who suffered a brain injury after being hit by a car while in a crosswalk.

The impact caused bleeding inside his skull and the increased pressure damaged his brain. The driver had a limited personal insurance policy ($50,000). She was employed by a large Silicon Valley company and she gave conflicting accounts as to what she was doing when the accident occurred. She told police that she was headed from one company campus to another. She later said she was going home. The company agreed to contribute $4 million toward the settlement after our team uncovered evidence showing that the driver was still on the clock when the accident occurred and that she sometimes used her car to run company errands.

Our traumatic brain injury team negotiated a cash and annuity settlement with a present cash value of $4 million on behalf of a 47-year-old metal worker who suffered a catastrophic brain injury after a 50-pound piece of metal was ejected from a metal-forming lathe that was manufactured by the defendant corporation. Walkup attorneys demonstrated that the maker manufactured the lathe without analyzing and protecting against all possible failure modes. Our lawyers showed that the defendant was aware of at least two similar lathe accidents. Under the terms of the settlement, approximately $3 million was paid in cash and $1 million was dedicated to the purchase of multiple annuities to pay for ongoing medical costs. Our TBI attorneys also resolved a workers’ compensation lien in excess of $1 million, which was compromised and waived.

We negotiated a $4 million settlement on behalf of a young man who was left in a permanent vegetative state after hospital physicians and nurses failed to treat worsening sepsis and pneumonia and overdosed him with intravenous tranquilizers, causing ischemic brain damage. The plaintiff, a 27-year-old restaurant worker, presented to the emergency room with vomiting, shortness of breath and pleuritic chest pain. Blood tests and a chest CT scan proved consistent with sepsis and pneumonia.

The ER physician started intravenous antibiotics and transferred the patient to the intensive care unit, but no ICU physician assumed responsibility for his care. Finally, after 20 hours without evaluation by a physician, the patient became obtunded and his breathing slowed.

As we went to press, Doug Saeltzer and Doris Cheng obtained a multimillion dollar jury verdict against the Los Angeles County Municipal Transit Authority (LACMTA), on behalf of the mother of 21-year-old bicyclist who was hit and killed after changing lanes in front of a moving bus. All experts agreed that the turn was too abrupt to give the MTA bus driver enough time to react and avoid the collision, but Doug and Doris proved that the driver should have seen and avoided the cyclist long before he changed lanes, showing he was alongside the left hand side of the bus for 15-16 seconds before impact. By the bus driver’s own training and experience, she was taught to have used her mirrors to see cyclists and let them pass in such a circumstance.

Just prior to the collision, the bus had been stopped at a designated stop, blocking the right lane of travel. The on-board video from the bus showed that the bus operator, once a passenger boarded, departed the bus stop without checking her mirrors or her surroundings. The bus driver was obligated to identify the bicyclist, and permit him to pass her and return to the right lane, before leaving her stop. She testified she never saw the bicyclist prior to impact. The cyclist was riding a fixed gear bicycle (also known as a “fixie”), which did not have an independent mechanical brake. Nor was he wearing a helmet, although a helmet would not have saved his life in this instance. Read Full Case Summary

Nurse error: We obtained a $3.25 million settlement for a child who suffered cerebral palsy, cortical blindness and other complications at birth. The attending nurses ignored signs of fetal distress, despite the high-risk nature of the pregnancy.

The Walkup medical liability trial team obtained a jury verdict in the amount of $3,156,000 after a six-week trial on behalf of a 17-year-old boy who suffered ARDS, osteomyelitis, hip fusion, and chronic pain because of a failure to diagnose a soft tissue staph infection. The minor’s orthopedic surgeon failed on two separate occasions to conduct necessary diagnostic tests to identify a staph infection that had seeded in his thigh following a minor injury at football practice. Over time, the infection worsened, the child became septic, went into septic shock, developed ARDS and multisystem organ failure, and required 11 surgeries to debride the infected musculature of the left leg. Ultimately, the infection progressed to the bone, producing osteomyelitis and necrosis of the hip joint, requiring two fusion surgeries. Future medical care costs sought at trial exceeded $500,000.

Our government liability team settled a federal civil rights case for $1.5 million on behalf of the estate and heirs of an 89-year-old man who died two months after being mauled by a police department K9 dog. During a neighborhood search for robbery suspects, police officers hoisted a K9 over a fence and into a residential backyard where the dog bit the innocent decedent on the leg. He developed gangrene and underwent an above-the-knee amputation 10 days later. The decedent endured significant pain and suffering and died of heart failure two months later.