Lawsuit Information Center

June 24, 2009

Florida Back Injury Settlements in Florida | Accident and Comp

Very dated but still interesting data on Florida workers’ compensation cases: the average back injury settlement was $ 38,000 with medical care continuing (called “keeping your case open”). The average workers’ compensation back injury settlement is $ 9,800 with no continuing opportunity for further medical care.

Average Back Injury Settlements (what can you expect as compensation for a back injury from a car accident)
Average Value of Florida Personal Injury Cases (statistics on Florida jury verdicts)

February 4, 2009

State Farm: Another Multiple of the Offer Verdict

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Interesting car accident case reported in South Carolina Lawyers Weekly. Plaintiff was a passenger in a car driven by his grandmother, and a hit-and-run driver T-boned them at an intersection. It was a small accident case: medical bills totaling $3,230 and lost wages totaling $4,352.

State Farm, standing by its insured as always because, you know, you are in good hands, offered $6,500. Typical. At trial, State Farm’s lawyer argued during opening statements that the jury could determine whether what the Plaintiff had already been paid was sufficient. Plaintiff’s accident lawyer objected, and the trial judge sustained the objection and later instructed the jury to disregard the setoff argument in its deliberations because any setoff would be handled by the judge.

—–

December 22, 2008

Pennsylvania Informed Consent Law: New High Court Ruling

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Pennsylvania’s highest court last week in Fitzpatrick v. Natter that circumstantial evidence provided by a plaintiff’s spouse in a medical malpractice lawsuit is sufficient to get past summary judgment in an informed consent malpractice claim. The court found that a Pennsylvania Superior Courty had erred in concluding that Pennsylvania’s informed consent law required the Plaintiff to testify herself about information that was not provided by her doctor.

December 2, 2008

Breast Cancer Statute of Limitations Case in Iowa

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The Iowa Supreme Court reversed a Scott County District Court summary judgment ruling in an important discovery rule medical malpractice ruling. This case,Rock v. Warhank, is a failure to diagnose breast cancer case, rejecting malpractice defense lawyer claims that Plaintiff should have known of her injury, for purposes of the statute of limitations, just because a doctor made her aware that her breast was not normal.

Sample Iowa malpractice settlements and malpractice law
Breast cancer malpractice stories and case outcomes

October 27, 2008

11.4 Million Award in Birth Injury Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in Wisconsin

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Note: We updated this page in 2023 to include Wisconsin birth injury settlements and verdicts.

A Crawford County, Wisconsin jury awarded a brain-damaged child and his family $11.4 million last week after a three-week medical malpractice trial. The article I read did not break down the economic versus non-economic damages of the award. Wisconsin has a cap on pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice cases of $750,000.

2018 Update: Mayo v. United Healthcare

October 15, 2008

Phantom Vehicle Uninsured Motorist Claims in Maryland

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Mr. Miller:

Hi, I am a Maryland attorney and would like to get little mentoring on any differences between an unidentified motorist claim and an uninsured motorist claim. Please call or send me an email and I promise I’ll be brief. Thanks so much for any help!

Dear Maryland Attorney:

October 3, 2008

Spiriva Side Effects Lawsuit

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that Spiriva HandiHaler patients may face an increased risk of heart attacks or strokes and other cardiac problems.

Concerns with Spiriva

The Spiriva HandiHaler (generic: tiotropium bromide inhalation powder) is an inhaler for long-term treatment of bronchospasm linked with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This disease is commonly described as emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

October 3, 2008

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Paramedics to Proceed, Court Rules

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

What is the capital of France?

Paris is the capital of France.

How many continents are there?

September 27, 2008

Medical Malpractice Informed Consent Lawsuit in Kentucky: Are Punitive Damages Warranted?

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Medical malpractice lawyers filed an informed consent lawsuit last week accusing a doctor of amputating a man’s penis without his consent. In the lawsuit, a Kentucky man alleges that the doctor was only authorized to perform a circumcision. What happened—right or wrong – was the doctor did what he thought he should, to save the patient’s life when he found cancer during the operation.

I won’t prejudge this lawsuit without hearing the evidence. I can certainly imagine a scenario where a doctor finds cancer during a routine operation and does what the doctor believes he must do to save the patient. The Plaintiff affirmed the doctor’s prerogative in this regard by signing a consent form acknowledging that unforeseen conditions discovered during the circumcision “may necessitate additional or different procedures.” But I would reserve judgment on the merits of the case because it really depends on whether reasonable minds could differ as to what was the appropriate course.

But I find disturbing that the lawsuit seeks punitive damages. Unless facts in the case exist that were not included in the Courier-Journal article I read, there is no malice or even recklessness in a doctor – right or wrong – deciding to save a patient’s life.

September 3, 2008

Washington Appeals Court Ruling in Legal Malpractice Car Accident Case

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The Court of Appeals of Washington in Shoemake v. Ferrer, 182 P.3rd 992 (2008) considered an interested argument by a defendant in a legal malpractice case. The Defendant lawyers blew a statute of limitations by two days in a serious head-on car accident collusion case with a drug driver. This was a guy that needed a car accident lawyer in Washington that was competent to handle his case.

The problem was that he apparently did not find a competent car accident attorney. Instead, he found a lawyer that ignored State’s Farm’s $100,000 offer to pay on Plaintiff’s uninsured motorist claim because he was “was unsure of the legal ramifications of accepting that payment.” The lesson, as always: if you are not qualified to handle a serious car accident case, don’t to it. So many lawyers who don’t handle car accident claims regularly think they can. They think it sounds so easy. But it is not.

But that is not what is interesting about the case. What is interesting is the Defendant contended successfully to the trial judge that the negligent car accident lawyers were entitled to have the damages awarded reduced by the amount stated in the lawyer’s contingency fee agreement with the client.