Neil Ekblom Won Five Defense Verdicts in 2006 New York Jury Trials
December 28, 2006
Neil Harkin Ekblom, a partner of the Health Law/Medical Malpractice Unit in Clausen Miller’s New York office, won five defense verdicts in jury trials in 2006. Based upon the amounts requested by plaintiff’s attorneys on summations, Mr. Ekblom saved insurance clients, client physicians and hospitals over $13,000,000 in 2006.
Mr. Ekblom continued his string of defense verdicts to 18 consecutive with a verdict on December 21, 2006, in White Plains, NY on a case called Timothy and Nancy Baker v. Eye Associates (5359/01).
In Baker, the 38 year old plaintiff alleged failure on behalf of several physicians to properly treat his uveitis condition with immunosuppressive therapy, causing his vision to worsen from a perfect 20/20 without glasses, to legal blindness, or worse than 20/200 in both eyes. The plaintiff’s attorney, Mark Campbell, a regular in White Plains, called economist Dr. Andrew Weintraub of New Jersey to substantiate a $2,000,000 lost wages claim. The plaintiff also alleged that the vision loss caused his inability to support his two children and his divorce, and his wife had a derivative claim for the period of time for which they were married. Mr. Ekblom argued that Mr. Baker caused the loss of vision to himself by failing to follow the doctor’s orders regarding prednisone usage.
This defense verdict, just before Christmas weekend, confirmed our faith in the jury system. The trial was handled with experience and fairness by Judge Aldo Nastasi. Post trial motions by Mr. Campbell were denied.
The excellent result in the three week Baker trial was obtained with the valuable assistance of many Clausen Miller attorneys and paralegals. Mr. Ekblom expressed thanks to associates Michael Loffredo, Edward Soyka, and Ted Tobin for their Memos of Law on various issues throughout the trial. Barbara Strugalla, Clausen Miller’s nurse paralegal in Chicago, created several charts used to condense the information in medical records which were extremely valuable for the jury’s understanding of the issues of the case. George Staudemeyer obtained important medical research which was used in cross-examination of the plaintiff’s expert, Perry Berg, M.D. an ophthalmologist from New Jersey. Mr. Soyka and Mr. Joseph Zimmer, another Clausen Miller paralegal, assisted with the logistics of bringing two internationally known experts to court to discuss uveitis and Behcet’s disease. These included Dr. Christopher Walton of Memphis, Tennessee and Dr. Desmond O’Duffy of Sarasota, Florida.
