Accomplishments

In October 2010, Scott G. Christesen received a decision from the Appellate Division Second Department which affirmed the finding of the Supreme Court in favor of our clients on a motion seeking summary judgment and dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint. This was a claim that the defendant family practice and gastroenterologists failed to timely diagnose and treat the plaintiff for a rare uterine cancer. Importantly, plaintiff counsel opposed this motion with three separate expert affidavits, totaling over 50 pages of text. Plaintiff subsequently moved for leave to the Court of Appeals and that application was denied.

In May 2010, Alan J. Fumuso obtained a defense verdict in a case brought against North Shore University Hospital. It was alleged that the physicians and nursing staff were negligent in allowing a stage four sacral decubitus ulcer to develop following open heart surgery, and that this ulcer remained open and draining for a period of two years. It was the position of the defense that because of the patients debilitated condition and multiple co-morbidities, the development, extent, and duration of the sacral ulcer was unavoidable, and occurred in spite of appropriate care. The jury returned a unanimous verdict on behalf of North Shore Hospital in less than one hour.

On April 26, 2010, Alan J. Fumuso obtained a procedural dismissal of a medical malpractice action brought in Supreme Court, Nassau County against the Chief of Cardiology at North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset. The action alleged negligence and lack of informed consent regarding the performance of a cardiac catheterization and stenting procedure, and the medications used during the procedure. On cross-examination, the plaintiff’s medical expert withdrew his testimony given on direct exam regarding medical departure, and gave equivocal testimony on the issue of proximate causation. A motion was made at the conclusion of the plaintiff’s case to dismiss for failure to establish a prima facie case, and this motion was granted by Judge Antonio Brandveen.

In June 2009, Lorraine Berlund Polin obtained a defense verdict in a trial in Supreme Court, Nassau County, before Justice Daniel Palmieri. The matter involved a claim by the plaintiff, a former JFK baggage handler, that the defendant failed to timely diagnose nerve damage from a work related injury to his foot and failed to refer the patient to a neurologist for treatment of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. The plaintiff eventually underwent four sympathectomy procedures and finally insertion of a Spinal Cord Stimulator for pain control. Trial counsel for the plaintiff, asked for 1.1 million dollars in damages, but the jury returned a unanimous verdict on behalf of the defendant on all four alleged departures after approximately three hours of deliberation.