Wrongful Death Archives - The Thompson Law Firm https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/category/wrongful-death/ Fort Myers Florida Trial Attorney Fri, 05 Jan 2024 15:35:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 A follow-up on the Maya trial and verdict. https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/a-follow-up-on-the-maya-trial-and-verdict/ Fri, 05 Jan 2024 15:35:46 +0000 https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/?p=23625 A follow-up on the Maya trial and verdict. A Florida state court judge denied Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital’s bid for a new trial in the case of Maya Kowalski, the person at the center of the Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya,” after finding no misconduct from the jury foreperson following an interview Wednesday. […]

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]]> A follow-up on the Maya trial and verdict.

A Florida state court judge denied Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital’s bid for a new trial in the case of Maya Kowalski, the person at the center of the Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya,” after finding no misconduct from the jury foreperson following an interview Wednesday.

During a hearing, Sarasota County Circuit Court Judge Hunter W. Carroll denied Johns Hopkins’ bid after interviewing jury foreperson Paul Lengyel, identified as Juror #1, on whether he violated court instructions and had inappropriate communications with his wife during the trial.

Read more at: https://www.law360.com/personal-injury-medical-malpractice/articles/1779849?nl_pk=029cff45-637f-44e3-babf-75563f8e0bfd&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=personal-injury-medical-malpractice&utm_content=2024-01-04&read_main=1&nlsidx=0&nlaidx=2?copied=1

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]]> Pitards and Hoisting Come to Mind https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/pitards-and-hoisting-come-to-mind/ Wed, 29 Nov 2023 14:55:33 +0000 https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/?p=23510 Insurance companies often use service deadlines to avoid responsibility when plaintiffs have trouble with service of process. I don’t remember seeing an insurance company’s lawyers have the same problem. An insurance company that wanted to avoid defending a company that inspected and certified an amusement park drop tower ride that fatally ejected a 14-year-old boy […]

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]]> Insurance companies often use service deadlines to avoid responsibility when plaintiffs have trouble with service of process. I don’t remember seeing an insurance company’s lawyers have the same problem.

An insurance company that wanted to avoid defending a company that inspected and certified an amusement park drop tower ride that fatally ejected a 14-year-old boy failed to prove that it had served the defendants with notice of its suit, putting an early end to its case, a Florida federal judge decided Tuesday.

Read more at: https://www.law360.com/personal-injury-medical-malpractice/articles/1770639?nl_pk=029cff45-637f-44e3-babf-75563f8e0bfd&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=personal-injury-medical-malpractice&utm_content=2023-11-29&read_main=1&nlsidx=0&nlaidx=15?copied=1

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]]> Day of the Dead – One Trial Lawyer’s Thoughts https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/day-of-the-dead-one-trial-lawyers-thoughts/ Tue, 31 Oct 2023 14:15:50 +0000 https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/?p=23416 This Holiday means a lot to me. I spend a lot of time thinking about all of the wrongful death clients I have had the privilege to represent. I think of the dead and the families left behind. I think of the countless hours spent meeting with the families in the immediate aftermath and years […]

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]]> This Holiday means a lot to me. I spend a lot of time thinking about all of the wrongful death clients I have had the privilege to represent. I think of the dead and the families left behind. I think of the countless hours spent meeting with the families in the immediate aftermath and years down the road, sifting through their pain and hopefully bringing some solace and balm to their pain. Without getting too spiritual about it, I have to confess that I also imagine the lost smiling at our fight – seeing it as a badge of our respect and love. And in the end, I hope we make them proud.  Every time.

What does the holiday for Day of the Dead mean?

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]]> 11th Circ. Affirms $12M Award Over Deadly Fla. Keys Crash https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/11th-circ-affirms-12m-award-over-deadly-fla-keys-crash/ Thu, 26 Oct 2023 14:24:06 +0000 https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/?p=23387 In Florida, there is a presumption that the driver of a vehicle that rear-ends another is at fault. That presumption may be overcome by evidence of a sudden stop, sudden entry into traffic or cutting off traffic. Given that, you might rightly wonder why the carrier of the sand truck in this recent case in […]

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]]> In Florida, there is a presumption that the driver of a vehicle that rear-ends another is at fault. That presumption may be overcome by evidence of a sudden stop, sudden entry into traffic or cutting off traffic. Given that, you might rightly wonder why the carrier of the sand truck in this recent case in the news would waste everyone’s time and money delaying a resolution of this case and taking it up on appeal. There is a simple answer: as long as they have the money, they still have it. Maybe they’ll pay now. Or maybe not.

“Thus, not only was the jury-instruction error harmless because the estates were entitled to a directed verdict, but Discount Rock actually benefitted from that error by getting an unearned second bite at the negligence-issue apple,” the Eleventh Circuit said.

Read more at: https://www.law360.com/personal-injury-medical-malpractice/articles/1736856?nl_pk=029cff45-637f-44e3-babf-75563f8e0bfd&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=personal-injury-medical-malpractice&utm_content=2023-10-26&read_main=1&nlsidx=0&nlaidx=2?copied=1

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]]> Discovery Disputes https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/discovery-disputes/ Wed, 25 Oct 2023 13:39:13 +0000 https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/?p=23379 Discovery disputes that linger without resolution can materially affect the outcome of the case. In a Fort Lauderdale wrongful death case against Tesla, a Judge recently struck a human factors expert witness from the plaintiff’s witness list because the opinions were not timely disclosed, The lawyer for the parents off the decedent claimed the late […]

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]]> Discovery disputes that linger without resolution can materially affect the outcome of the case. In a Fort Lauderdale wrongful death case against Tesla, a Judge recently struck a human factors expert witness from the plaintiff’s witness list because the opinions were not timely disclosed, The lawyer for the parents off the decedent claimed the late disclosures were created by Tesla’s failure to produce the requested vehicle information for years. The Judge indicated that a second expert witness for the plaintiff may also be precluded on similar grounds. Companies like Tesla pay their lawyers to drag these disputes out, hoping to create just this kind of prejudice.

“Going back to your question of when does it end,” Gdanski said to Judge Speiser, “that begs the question of when does it start? I tried to start this four, five years ago when we asked for this data.”

Read more at: https://www.law360.com/personal-injury-medical-malpractice/articles/1732558?nl_pk=029cff45-637f-44e3-babf-75563f8e0bfd&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=personal-injury-medical-malpractice&utm_content=2023-10-25&read_main=1&nlsidx=0&nlaidx=4?copied=1

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]]> A Difficult Case https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/a-difficult-case/ Thu, 14 Sep 2023 13:35:51 +0000 https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/?p=23203 I have litigated similar issues regarding the duty a hospital owes to relatives of a patient, intentional infliction of emotional distress, wrongful death, and immunity. Here is a link to the reported appeals decision in my case. These are difficult cases, trying for all involved. Press attention can help but can also add to the […]

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]]> I have litigated similar issues regarding the duty a hospital owes to relatives of a patient, intentional infliction of emotional distress, wrongful death, and immunity.

Here is a link to the reported appeals decision in my case.

These are difficult cases, trying for all involved. Press attention can help but can also add to the emotional impact on the parties.

The highly anticipated trial in Sarasota will center on the role of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in the separation of then-10-year-old Maya from her mother, Beata Kowalski, who, after nearly 90 days of being unable to see her daughter because of suspicions that she was making Maya’s condition worse, took her own life in January 2017. The Netflix documentary was released in June.

“Our trial strategy is simple,” the Kowalskis’ attorney Greg Anderson told Law360. “If the truth comes in and I am able to put my case in, I feel very confident that a jury will agree that Maya Kowalski was abused and that Johns Hopkins made an intentional decision to try to force the Kowalskis to agree with their misdiagnosis.”

But the hospital is expected to present evidence at trial that Maya, who arrived at the St. Petersburg hospital on Oct. 7, 2016, significantly underweight and in a wheelchair, did well under the hospital’s care and is living a normal life today. Johns Hopkins maintains that its doctors did their duty as mandatory reporters to report their suspicions of medical abuse to the Florida Department of Children and Families, and it was that agency and a judge who did the investigation and decided to temporarily remove Maya from her parents’ custody.

These thoughts from the Plaintiff’s lawyer ring true based upon my experience.

Anderson, the Kowalskis’ attorney, said he is confident about the facts and the law as it stands applied to the facts, although he says he is concerned about certain pretrial orders excluding evidence that could “cut down the case to something that has no resemblance to what actually happened.”

“If we’re allowed to get the facts in, if the jury’s allowed to hear what actually happened to these folks, I feel very confident,” he said.

Read more at: https://www.law360.com/personal-injury-medical-malpractice/articles/1721301?nl_pk=029cff45-637f-44e3-babf-75563f8e0bfd&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=personal-injury-medical-malpractice&utm_content=2023-09-14&read_main=1&nlsidx=0&nlaidx=3?copied=1

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]]> Fla. Jury Hits Doc With $20M Verdict Over Dilaudid Death https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/fla-jury-hits-doc-with-20m-verdict-over-dilaudid-death/ Fri, 08 Sep 2023 13:48:26 +0000 https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/?p=23162 A recent and large Palm Beach County med mal verdict brings to mind the case of Bethany Morris in our office – a little girl scheduled for office surgery to remove a port wine stain from her face. A “dental block” was applied as an anesthetic but the surgeon had no oxygen to help deal […]

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A recent and large Palm Beach County med mal verdict brings to mind the case of Bethany Morris in our office – a little girl scheduled for office surgery to remove a port wine stain from her face. A “dental block” was applied as an anesthetic but the surgeon had no oxygen to help deal with the subsequent complications. She died as a result. The trial lawyer in Palm Beach summed it up well.

“This is a scenario where a physician did not appropriately screen or monitor a patient while simultaneously prescribing massive amounts of narcotics …”

Read more at: https://www.law360.com/personal-injury-medical-malpractice/articles/1719065?nl_pk=029cff45-637f-44e3-babf-75563f8e0bfd&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=personal-injury-medical-malpractice&utm_content=2023-09-08&read_main=1&nlsidx=0&nlaidx=1?copied=1

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]]> Florida’s Wrongful Death Act: Still Being Interpreted After All These Years https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/floridas-wrongful-death-act-still-being-interpreted-after-all-these-years/ Thu, 07 Sep 2023 15:39:26 +0000 https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/?p=23153 There have been a lot of tweaks in the Wrongful Death Act over the years that prompt appeals and opinions clarifying how wrongful death claims may be brought. For instance, I have litigated cases concerning who qualifies as a survivor under Florida’s Wrongful Death Act. I have also litigated changes in the law that allowed […]

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]]> There have been a lot of tweaks in the Wrongful Death Act over the years that prompt appeals and opinions clarifying how wrongful death claims may be brought.

For instance, I have litigated cases concerning who qualifies as a survivor under Florida’s Wrongful Death Act. I have also litigated changes in the law that allowed new kinds of claims but prohibited some families from taking advantage of changes in the law.

Here’s one that you would have thought would have been decided long ago.

The widow of a mesothelioma victim told the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday that an appellate court erred when it shoehorned a requirement into the state’s Wrongful Death Act mandating that a surviving spouse be married to a victim before the victim’s injury.

Read more at: https://www.law360.com/personal-injury-medical-malpractice/articles/1717604?nl_pk=029cff45-637f-44e3-babf-75563f8e0bfd&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=personal-injury-medical-malpractice&utm_content=2023-09-07&read_main=1&nlsidx=0&nlaidx=5?copied=1

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]]> Good Feeling https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/good-feeling/ Tue, 11 Jul 2023 07:46:27 +0000 https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/?p=22976 Lord, it’s a mighty hard living But a damn good feeling to run these roads Tyler Childers, Whitehouse Road

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Lord, it’s a mighty hard living
But a damn good feeling to run these roads

Tyler Childers, Whitehouse Road

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]]> I Represent Victims of Nursing Home Negligence https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/i-represent-victims-of-nursing-home-negligence/ Fri, 09 Jun 2023 15:18:08 +0000 https://thethompsonlawfirm.net/?p=22844 SCOTUS is honoring some precedent. Their decision in Health and Hospital Corp. of Marion County et al. v. Talevski is inthe news today, The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to upend decades of precedent and allowed a nursing home resident’s family to sue an Indiana care home under the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act for […]

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]]> SCOTUS is honoring some precedent. Their decision in Health and Hospital Corp. of Marion County et al. v. Talevski is inthe news today,

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to upend decades of precedent and allowed a nursing home resident’s family to sue an Indiana care home under the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act for allegedly negligent care, saying the law confers a private right of action for alleged civil rights violations.

Here is the link to my website page summarizing my experience handling nursing home negligence cases, including some law I made on appeal in the 11th Circuit in Gilmore v. Lifecare.

My Nursing Home Negligence Experience

Read more at: https://www.law360.com/personal-injury-medical-malpractice/articles/1558894?nl_pk=029cff45-637f-44e3-babf-75563f8e0bfd&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=personal-injury-medical-malpractice&utm_content=2023-06-09&nlsidx=0&nlaidx=0?copied=1

 

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