$525,000

Confidential settlement

Attorneys failed to timely name a health care defendant in a federal prison suicide case and failed to file a health claims action before initiating litigation.

$750,000

Confidential settlement

Baltimore Orthopedic Surgeon

Nerve injury during biceps tendon surgery.

$1.35 million

Settlement

Baltimore Regional Urology Group

Removal of the wrong, noncancerous kidney during an operation for kidney cancer.

$3,707,000 jury verdict — ultimately set aside

Estate of Butler v. Stracke

Alan J. Belsky represented the family and estate of a 28-year-old man who died of a heart attack following an emergency response by Baltimore City Fire Department medics. A Baltimore City jury found gross negligence and awarded $3,707,000.

The appellate path: The trial judge set aside the verdict through a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, finding insufficient evidence of gross negligence. On October 1, 2018, Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals reversed that ruling and ordered reinstatement of the jury verdict. On August 16, 2019, the Court of Appeals reversed the intermediate appellate decision in Stracke v. Estate of Butler, 465 Md. 407 (2019), holding that the evidence did not meet the gross-negligence threshold required to overcome the medics’ statutory immunity.

The evidence highlighted in Judge Wilner’s dissent

Judge Alan M. Wilner’s dissent emphasized testimony that Mr. Butler was clutching his chest, struggling to breathe and speak, and unable to walk normally. His wife testified that, despite her request for a stretcher, he was required to stagger to the ambulance and climb into it without assistance, before any physical examination or vital-sign assessment.

The dissent also highlighted the absence of an EKG, the downgrade from a high-priority chest-pain emergency to a lower-priority assessment, and the report to hospital staff describing heartburn after eating spicy chicken. A hospital technician described Mr. Butler waiting in a wheelchair, holding his chest and calling for help before he collapsed.

Judge Wilner argued that the conflicting accounts were for the jury to resolve and that the evidence should have been viewed in the family’s favor when reviewing the decision to set aside the verdict. These are the testimony and conclusions discussed in the dissent; the majority reached a different conclusion, which controlled the final outcome.

The jury award did not survive the final appellate ruling and is not presented as a recovered settlement or judgment. Read the 2018 intermediate appellate opinion and the 2019 final appellate opinion.

$1.3 million

Confidential settlement

Failure to communicate a suspicious lung finding

A woman in her early 30s went to a local emergency room late in the evening with a chronic cough. With no radiologist present to interpret her chest X-ray, the emergency physician read it as normal. She was discharged with instructions to take a cough suppressant.

The following day, a radiologist identified a one-centimeter nodule in a lower lung lobe that was concerning for cancer. Neither the hospital nor her primary care provider, who received the radiology report, notified her of the finding.

Two and a half years later, she returned to the same emergency room with a cough. She was asked why she had not followed up on the earlier abnormal findings. She had never been told about them.

By then, her EGFR-positive non-small cell lung cancer had progressed from Stage I to metastatic Stage IV disease. She died less than two years later.

The claim concerned the failure to communicate an abnormal radiology finding and the resulting delay in diagnosis and treatment. It resolved through a confidential $1.3 million settlement.

$875,000 jury verdict

Miller et al. v. Otis Elevator Co., Inc.

Alan J. Belsky represented two nurses injured when an elevator at a hospital malfunctioned and descended into the pit at the bottom of the elevator shaft. The federal jury returned an $875,000 verdict, which stood.

$5.6 million jury verdict

Marquez v. Rassael, M.D.

Alan J. Belsky and Valerie A. Grove represented a patient who sustained serious nerve and spinal injuries during a cervical manipulation. A Montgomery County jury returned a $5.6 million verdict.

The jury award was subject to Maryland’s cap on noneconomic damages. This figure describes the verdict, not a statement of the final amount recovered.

$1.95 million jury verdict

Howard v. LeFarge Concrete

Alan J. Belsky and Valerie A. Grove represented a man seriously injured when a cement mixer struck him beside a disabled vehicle on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. An Anne Arundel County jury returned a $1.95 million verdict.

The noneconomic portion of the award was subject to Maryland’s damages cap. This figure describes the verdict, not a statement of the final amount recovered.