News & Noteworthy

John W. Bocchino and Michael Q. Berkley defended a negligent security/administrative/medical claim wherein an allegation of sexual assault was asserted as to hospital property. The case was tried to verdict after 8 days in Orange County, Florida and a Defense Verdict was returned on June 27, 2018. The identity of the parties are not published out of respect to Plaintiff and Client. D.B. vs. “John Doe” Hospital.

Partners Kevin T. O’Hara and Paul A. Nugent were successful in obtaining a defense verdict for a physician in Osceola County. The case involved an alleged delay in diagnosis of thyroid cancer.

Partners Paul A. Nugent and Kevin T. O’Hara were successful in obtaining a defense verdict for a physical therapy facility and the therapist for alleged negligence in failing to supervise an elderly patient on a treadmill who suffered a fractured femur. The case was venued in Orange County.

John W. Bocchino represented a hospital in a 2004 wrongful death claim as to the death of 22-year-old male discharged from hospital. The case involved claims of medical negligence in releasing a patient who presented after a drug overdose of recreational drugs. The patient was monitored and when awake, alert, and oriented with normal mental status was turned over to a close friend of the family who picked the patient up. The patient shortly thereafter secured keys to his vehicle and got into a head-on collision causing a fatality. The parents of the deceased 22-year-old brought suit over the death of their son, also killed in the accident

John W. Bocchino and Kyle Morat represented a Cardiologist and his practice in a claim of medical negligence for the death of a 54-year-old Hispanic male who was evaluated in anticipation of a tooth extraction for infection. The patient was seen and labeled as at moderate risk for local anesthesia and thereafter was treated in a dental office and during an extraction coded due to an overdose of Carbacaine. The patient had sat for the procedure two days earlier and had a reaction to medication and been sent home and told to return in two days. The jury found the defendant to be not negligent, and although Fabre issues were abundant, they did not reach that issue.

Partners Mindy McLaughlin and Gabrielle Osborne were successful in obtaining a defense verdict for a physician in Hillsborough County on a very contentious four week medical malpractice case. Plaintiff was seeking significant damages after a spinal bleed resulted in paralysis.

Mark McLaughlin was named the 2016 president of the Florida Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. The American Board of Trial Advocates is a national association of experienced trial lawyers and judges dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the civil jury trial right provided by the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. First and foremost, ABOTA works to uphold the jury system by educating the American public about the history and value of the right to trial by jury.

Case Law Update – Proposals for Settlement: In Mootry v. Bethune Cookman, the Fifth DCA affirmed a denial of a Defendant’s motion for fees pursuant to $100 PFSs. The trial court’s decision, which the Fifth DCA upheld, found the following: “In July 2012 [when the PFSs was filed], the outcome of the various claims was far from certain. The issues in this case had far-reaching significance to both parties and to many others not parties to the case…. Discovery would prove to be extensive and far-reaching, yet only preliminary discovery was completed. In short, the nominal proposals filed by both defendants bore no relationship to the apparent importance of the case to both sides, as evidenced from the scope and extent of their actions.” This new opinion does not address Weesner v. United Services Auto. Ass’n, 711 So. 2d 1192, (Fla. 5th DCA 1998), which reversed a trial court’s denial of fees based on a $100 PFS or Sharaby v. KLV Gems Co., Inc., 45 So.3d 560 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010), which reversed a trial court’s denial of fees based on a PFS of $500.