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MCB Partner John Barbera, second seated by Senior Associate Taylor Eagan, obtained a Defense Verdict before Judge Williams in Orange County Supreme Court on behalf of its client, a surgeon. The jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of the surgeon against claims of surgical negligence and failure to timely diagnose an injury allegedly as a result of the surgical negligence. The case arose from claims of an iatrogenic bladder injury sustained by a young woman during laparoscopic surgery to resolve a small bowel obstruction. The injury required a permanent urostomy.
Through its surgical and urological experts MCB demonstrated that the plaintiff could not establish either the cause of the bladder injury or when it occurred. MCB further established that the injury was a recognized risk of the procedure, regardless of its mechanism.
Keeping things interesting, a mid-trial ruling changed the co-defendant hospital's exposure from vicarious liability to direct liability, resulting in the sudden introduction of new claims against the hospital staff. Despite this significant development, the jury soundly accepted the unified defense position and found that the bladder injury was not caused by negligence on the part of the surgeon, hospital staff, or by the alleged delay in diagnosis.