By Amaris Elliott-Engel
Of the Legal Staff
There were a few other cases involving awards over $1 million that The Legal couldn't fit into the print version of the story, "FJD's Million-Plus Awards Increase by One-Third." So here are the details, including three cases not yet reported in The Legal:
-- A jury awarded $1 million, including $250,000 for pain and suffering, $75,000 for loss of consortium, and $675,000 for future economic damages, in the case of Seving v. Chollak on Oct. 15 on its finding that plaintiff Carolyn Seving developed a foot drop because of a nerve injury that occurred after her total hip replacement. The plaintiff’s complaint said that Seving was placed into an exercise sling after her surgery, but her narcotic pain medication diminished hercapacity to feel pain in her right leg or any pressure that was exerted on her nerves because of the sling.
Dr. William Chollak, who conducted the hip replacement at Chestnut Hill Hospital, was voluntarily dismissed from the case after jury selection was commenced. Chollak also permitted the plaintiff to use Chollak's neurology expert to testify on the behalf of the plaintiff, which gave them a neurology expert when they had none before, Chestnut Hill Hospital's post-trial motion for relief said.
The hospital also said in its post-trial motion that Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Joseph Papalini spoke with the jury and reported to counsel that the jury members said they believed Chollak was at fault for Seving's injury, but that since Chollak, who was not on the verdict sheet, had worked for the hospital for many years, he “was essentially Chestnut Hill Hospital.”
The defense argued that Seving’s nerve injury occurred during surgery, while the plaintiff argued that her nerve injury occurred because she was placed in a sling post-surgery, court papers said. Plaintiffs attorney Laura Feldman, of Feldman & Pinto in Philadelphia, said that while the purpose of the sling was to exercise in bed, the nurses thought its purpose was to immobilize Seving. Defense attorney Fred J. Hughes, of McCumber Daniels Buntz Hartig & Puig in Eagleville, declined comment.
-- A jury awarded $1 million, including $750,000 and $250,000 in loss of consortium, in Brogin v. Sovereign Distributors on Nov. 22 on plaintiff Ira Brogin’s claim that a chair in a furniture retail store collapsed out from under him and caused Brogin to have neck and lower back pain that interferes with his daily life.
The plaintiffs said in their pretrial memorandum that the chair, purchased by Sovereign Distributors (doing business as Avalon Carpet, Tile and Flooring) from distributor Raymour & Flanigan, was defectively designed in the bracket attaching the chair legs to the chair seat. According to the docket, the jury found Sovereign Distributors 15 percent liable, Raymour & Flanigan 15 percent liable and chair designer Douglas Furniture of California 70 percent liable.
Plaintiffs attorney Samuel J. Pace Jr., of Dugan Birinkmann Maginnis & Pace in Philadelphia, said there was a confidential high-low agreement entered with at least one of the defendants. There will be no appeal, he said, unless Raymour & Flanigan appeals against the chair’s importer.
While the defense argued that Brogin’s pain was related to pre-existing problems, the jurors said they found Brogin and his experts credible, Pace said. The event itself was captured on surveillance, Pace said. Douglas Furniture of California defense counsel Elizabeth F. Walker, of Kennedy Campbell Lipski & Dochney in Philadelphia, and Raymour & Flanigan defense counsel Patrick J. Hasson, of Baginski Mezzanotte Hasson & Rubinate, did not respond to requests for comment.
-- In the largest judicial finding not yet reported in The Legal, Judge Arnold L. New awarded $1.5 million in Turnkey Construction Services Inc. v. Allied Preet Management on Oct. 29.
Turnkey Construction Services said in its complaint that defendants Gagandeep Lakhmna, Allied Preet Management and Creating Real Estate Solutions contracted with Turnkey to improve the defendants’ loft building located at 717 N. American St., Philadelphia. But Lakhmna had set up a “labyrinth of under capitalized companies ... to work in concert to secure loans and construction services and to avoid payment” to the plaintiff and other companies, the complaint said. In their answer, the defendants denied making misrepresentations to the detriment of the plaintiff.
Plaintiffs attorney John J. Delany III, of Delany & O'Brien in Philadephia, did not respond to a request for comment. Jeffrey S. Saltz, of the Law Office of Jeffrey S. Saltz in Philadelphia and originally defense counsel in the case, said he withdrew his appearance before the case went to trial and the award was entered via default judgment.
Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached by e-mailing [email protected].
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