Confidential
Settlement – $985,000Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Norwalk
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
Experts
Plaintiff
Susan P. Bleecker CPA
(technical)
David Reese
(medical)
Robert M. Kahn
(medical)
Martin H. Weiss M.D.
(medical)
Sara J. Guentz
(medical)
J. Bradley Taylor
(medical)
Defendant
Ted Vavoulis
(technical)
Gene Bruno M.S., C.R.C., C.C.M., C.D.M.S.
(technical)
Stephen Sacks
(medical)
Jonathan Blitzer
(medical)
Facts
In 1989, the plaintiff husband, a 79-year-old retired man, was diagnosed with prostate cancer that appeared to be localized to the prostate. He received 36 radiation treatments to the prostate in June and July of 1989. Thereafter, he began follow up visits with the defendant urologist at the defendant medical group. In 1993, the plaintiff husband's PSA laboratory blood test results began to rise, suggesting possible recurrence of prostate cancer. By May 1995, the plaintiff husband's PSA results rose to 140.3, indicating probable metastic prostate cancer of the bone. Despite the rise in PSA, the plaintiff husband was asymptomatic until August 1996, when he developed back pain. The plaintiff husband was examined by the defendant primary care physician for his back pain on Aug. 21, 1996, but his back pain increased and he developed a sacral rash. The defendant primary care physician diagnosed the plaintiff husband's condition as low back pain caused by a herpes zoster rash. The plaintiff husband was sent home with pain medication and an antiviral drug. On Aug. 24, 1996, while at home, the plaintiff husband experienced weakness in his legs which rapidly progressed to complete paraplegia by 10:30 p.m. The plaintiff was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where an MRI scan showed a metastatic tumor of the spine at T-10, compressing the spinal cord and causing his paraplegia. Spinal decompression surgery was performed, but the plaintiff husband remained a complete and permanent paraplegic. The plaintiffs, husband and wife, brought this action against the defendants based on a negligence and loss of consortium theories of recovery.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiff made a settlement demand for $1.6 million. The defendant made a settlement offer of compromise for $600,000.
Specials in Evidence
$7,500 $850,000 to $1.7 million
Injuries
The plaintiff husband is a permanent paraplegic. The plaintiff wife claimed she suffered loss of consortium.
Other Information
Plaintiffs' counsel moved for a preferential trial setting based on the opinions of the defendants' employee physicians that the plaintiff husband had a life expectancy of six months to one year when they evaluated the plaintiff husband's condition in November 1996. By the time the plaintiffs' case came up for trial, the cancer was in remission as a result of the initiation of testosterone deprivation therapy, and the plaintiff husband's life expectancy had substantially improved.
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