Sometimes Juries Do Get It Wrong! June 12, 2009

You will all too often hear how juries are out of control because they supposedly award undeserved verdicts to injury victims. I disagree – our legal system is the greatest legal system in the world. I do agree that sometimes they “get it wrong”, no more so than in a recent Florida medical malpractice action.

A woman who had both legs and forearms amputated is going to be allowed to retry her case after a jury ruled in favor of a Florida Hospital and two doctors in a case alleging medical malpractice. The plaintiff, Lisa Strong, accused a Miami, Florida hospital and two doctors of misdiagnosing her condition, which led to complications and massive infection, resulting in the amputation of both forearms and both lower legs. Ms. Strong went to the hospital after suffering severe back pain and a fever of 106. She told the emergency room doctor that she believed she had a kidney stone as she had a history of kidney stones. Unfortunately, the hospital or the the doctors never treated the stone. Instead, Strong suffered a life threatening infection. The infection led to the amputation of both legs below the knees and her forearms. At the trial, the doctors blamed each other for the misdiagnosis. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the hospital and against the plaintiff. The trial judge felt that the verdict was so against the evidence that was introduced at trial that he took the extremely rare step of replacing his judgment for that of the jury.

In Staten Island, such a step is rarely taken by a judge. The jury’s verdict should be given due deference as they are the ultimate finder of fact according to the law. The judge should not intrude on their domain. Only in the rarest occasions should a jury’s verdict disturbed by the trial judge. That is why we have appellate courts.

Frank Dito is a New York Personal Injury attorney specializing in New York real estate law , New York business law, and New York franchise law. You can visit his Law Firm Decker, Decker, Dito and Internicola website by clicking here, download his FREE New York Car Insurance book, or call him at 718-979-4300 or 1-800-310-5520 for a free case analysis.

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