After a three week jury trial before the Honorable Hollis Webster, Chief Judge of the Law Division, Ed Walsh, Tom Knight and Brad Pollock secured a jury verdict of $1,730,000.00 (pdf file) in a medical malpractice case, DuPage County Case No. 00 L 546.

The trial lawyers rejected, as totally unreasonable, defense settlement offers of $600,000 before trial and $750,000 at the conclusion of the case. The jury returned with a verdict of $1.73 Million. This verdict was $730,000 in excess of the doctor defendant's policy of insurance.

Significantly, after the verdict Ed Walsh advised the insurance carrier for the defendant doctor that a "Bad Faith" would be immediately filed against the insurer due to its unreasonable refusal to settle the lawsuit within the policy limits of the physician's policy of insurance. The insurer then agreed to fully indemnify the defendant doctor and pay the entire judgment; however, it also elected to prosecute an appeal of the verdict.

The Illinois Appellate Court recently affirmed the entire $1,730,000.00 verdict . Ed, Tom and Brad were successful in creating new trial practice law in the areas of rehabilitation expert witnesses and jury instructions. The opinion may be read in its entirety.

The Firm was privileged to represent a 64 year old woman who suffered profound neurological injury due to the failure of her neurologist to diagnose her treatable vitamin B12 deficiency illness.

Ed, Tom and Brad were successful in accomplishing this outstanding result for several reasons. The trial attorneys and the Firm's paralegals and legal assistants are all experts in the prosecution of medical negligence cases. Additionally, all 22 discovery depositions and select trial testimony were downloaded to the attorneys' notebook computers, becoming immediately electronically searchable using Summation® litigation support software. This technological advantage greatly assisted the trial lawyers throughout all phases of the case, including the jury instruction conference with the Court.

All of the 394 trial exhibits were organized and digitally illustrated throughout the trial by way of a PowerPoint® computer graphics presentation. Similarly, Ed digitally illustrated the significant trial exhibits and key jury instructions during his closing argument. His use of digital computer graphics, along with his art of oral advocacy in closing argument, greatly assisted the jury in arriving at its significant monetary verdict.