Jacqueline Peterson, Richard Beam, Rachael Beam v. California Institution for Women, State of California, James Herrick, Corazon Navarro, et al.
Published: Apr. 12, 2005 | Result Date: Dec. 15, 2004 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: RCV059971 Verdict – $0
Judge
Court
San Bernardino Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Scott E. Schutzman
(Law Office of Scott E. Schutzman)
Jeffrey P. Spencer
(The Spencer Law Firm)
Daniel C. Hunter IV
(Hunter Law Group)
Defendant
Nancy G. James
(Office of the Attorney General)
Experts
Plaintiff
Michael B. Van Scoy-Mosher M.D.
(medical)
Frederic S. Fox
(Kaplan, Fox & Kilsheimer LLP)
(medical)
Defendant
Mark E. Granoff
(medical)
Stephen R. Colucci
(medical)
Elliot D. Felman
(medical)
C. Paul Sinkhorn
(medical)
Facts
Melissa Beam, an inmate at the California Institution for Women, sought medical care from State doctors for abdominal pain beginning in June 1999. She was diagnosed with colon cancer at an outside facility in March 2000 and died in December 2000. Her mother, Jacqueline Peterson and adult children, Richard Beam and Rachel Beam, sued for medical negligence, civil rights violations under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 and failure to summon immediate medical care. The plaintiffs pursued the section 845.6 claim for which the MICRA cap on medical malpractice recovery would not apply against the State at trial based on the alleged negligence of a nurse not named as a defendant.
Settlement Discussions
Just prior to trial, the plaintiffs served multiple C.C.P. Section 998 offers collectively amounting to $1.2 million. The defendants offered $100,000.
Result
The jury found no medical negligence on the part of any individual defendant and no failure of a State employee to summon immediate medical assistance for a prisoner. The jury found that the decedent was negligent in her own medical care and treatment, but that her negligence did not cause damage to the plaintiffs (her mother and her adult children).
Deliberation
2.5 hours
Poll
12-0
Length
15 days
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