Apr. 21, 2016
Constance A. Endelicato
See more on Constance A. EndelicatoWood, Smith, Henning & Berman LLP | Los Angeles
You might say Endelicato is batting 1,000. After 60 trials over more than 25 years defending healthcare professionals and providers, she has never lost a case.
Endelicato, who modestly said she has been "pretty lucky," has been successful enough to become a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Among other requirements, ABOTA members must have brought to verdict a minimum of 30 cases.
"Not many women trial lawyers have made it into ABOTA," Endelicato said.
Her cases have run the gamut from birth, brain, and spinal cord injuries to wrongful death cases and mass tort trials. In one, a woman was accused of withholding cancer medicine from her husband.
In a well-publicized case filed in 2010, Providence St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica was accused of negligence and elder abuse in the care of an 89-year-old woman admitted for chest pain.
While the woman was approved for discharge, she later pulled out her catheter in a fall. She was re-admitted and got a urinary tract infection.
After four years of litigation, a 12-person jury reached a unanimous verdict on behalf of the hospital, finding no evidence of negligence.
In another medical malpractice case, a jury last year returned a defense verdict for Endelicato's client, Dr. Hisham Seify. The plaintiff alleged a cosmetic vein procedure resulted in tissue necrosis extending to the fat and muscle, requiring several procedures resulting in an infection that resulted in permanent scars.
While the plaintiff alleged Seify was negligent in his own care and in the training and supervision of his staff, the physician was found not to be at fault.
- Thor Biberman
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