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Senior Trial Partner Christopher A. Terzian successfully obtained a unanimous defense verdict on December 9, 2025, in Westchester County Supreme Court, in favor of MCB’s podiatrist client, just 15 minutes after jury deliberations following a weeklong trial.
The defendant podiatrist was accused of negligent care on March 15, 2017, when the then 54-year-old female plaintiff presented for trimming of an incurvated, fungal right great toenail. The plaintiff was diabetic, smoked, and had a history of hypertension. The plaintiff alleged thatthe doctor’s purported improper care caused a skin wound that allowed bacteria to seed into the tissues, leading to a right great toe infection and the eventual amputation of the toe more than five months later. The plaintiff then experienced a lengthy recovery, including a several-month long admission to a rehabilitation center, along with subsequent wound and bone infections.
Mr. Terzian, with his expert podiatrist and expert vascular surgeon respective testimony, demonstrated that the plaintiff’s right great toe infection and subsequent amputation were caused by a lack of blood flow to thetoe, which was diagnosed within two weeks of the plaintiff’s visit to the defendant podiatrist. The proof also showed that there was a mistaken diagnosis of a wound infection arising after the defendant’s care. Mr. Terzian and his experts explained and persuaded the jury that, once sufficient blood flow through the dorsalis pedis artery to the toe was compromised, the tissue became necrotic and subsequently served as a nidus for infection. The experts further testified how the plaintiff’s uncontrolled diabetes and history of smoking contributed to her vascularly compromised condition, thereby hampering all reasonable efforts to revascularize her right great toe.
Plaintiff's counsel asked the jury to award $500,000 for his client's past pain and suffering, and $500,000 for her alleged future pain and suffering for the rest of her life.