Medical Malpractice Defense Group Received Another Lasik Case Defense Verdict
July 17, 2007
On June 7th, Partner Neil H. Ekblom received another Lasik defense verdict in Craig Brown and Michelle Brown v. Mark G. Speaker, Laser and Corneal Surgery Associates PC and TLC Laser Eye Center and William Tullo, MD. (Index no. 105230/02). Plaintiff's attorney was Hunter Shkolnik of Rheingold, Valet, well known in N.Y. and other states for some very large verdicts.
Mr. Brown's claim against our clients was that bilateral Lasik was contraindicated for Myopia of over -16 diopters in the year 2000. Mr. Brown was an attorney earning a high six figure salary. He claimed the surgery and enhancements left him with permanent and disabling visual disturbances. Plaintiff went to a psychiatrist 103 times after surgery and claimed limited function.
Plaintiff's experts were Dr. William Mathers from Oregon, and Arthur Ginsberg Ph.D. and Dr. Elliot Kirstein from California. Plaintiff also called Dr. Herbert Lessow, a psychiatrist to testify that Plaintiff had spoken of ending his life and/or killing the physician. Our expert was Dr. Eric Mandel. Co-defendant used Dr. Elizabeth Davis from Minnesota.
The trial took three weeks and 150 exhibits to resolve. Plaintiff asked for $2.9 million on summation. Previous lasik cases have included verdicts of $4 million in Arizona and $7 million in N.Y. against the same or similar defendants. Case was tried before Judge Joan B. Carey, in her well run court room.
Jury got the case and verdict at 5 p.m., and returned a verdict at 5:25 PM in favor of our client!
The result was due to teamwork: Associates Michael Loffredo, Edward Soyka, Edward Tobin and Afaf Sulieman all wrote separate memos of law or researched issues of law. Various legal assistants performed research, digested and prepared exhibits.
If you would like to learn more about medical malpractice defense or other defense matters, please feel free to e-mail Neil H. Ekblom (nekblom@clausen.com) or call him at 212/805-3900.
