Estate of Man Run Over By Garbage
Truck Receives $1.15M
January 2012
4.7 Million Dollar Verdict For Women With
Botched Operation
June 16, 2011
A Broward jury awarded a 62 year old woman over 4.7 million dollars on Thursday, June 16, 2011 in a medical malpractice case arising out of her hospitalization at Broward General Medical Center in 2007. Susan Kalitan was having surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome and during the surgery the anesthesia team perforated her esophagus with their instruments. While in the recovery room, Ms. Kalitan complained of severe chest and throat pain when swallowing but the health care providers did not investigate her pain complaints and she was discharged from the hospital with no diagnosis or treatment.
The next day, her neighbor went to check on her and found her almost unconscious. She rushed her to Westside Regional Hospital where they diagnosed a massive chest infection caused by the perforated esophagus. She survived by the heroic efforts of the doctors and was hospitalized for the next 2 months. She was intubated during most of that hospitalization and had to undergo additional surgeries to correct the perforation and related problems. She was never able to return to her work as a dental assistant and was declared totally disabled by her physicians
The trial lasted over 3 weeks before Judge Jack Tuter. Attorneys Crane Johnstone and Charles B. Patrick from Schlesinger Law Offices, P.A. represented Susan Kalitan.
NEWS COVERAGE
Woman awarded $4.7 million for surgery injury - Sun Sentinel
Hospital to Pay $4.7M For Botching Anesthesial - NBC
Woman awarded $4.7 Million in malpractice - Channel 7
Hospital to Pay $4.7M - Florida Trend
Jury Awards 4.5 Million Dollars to Wife Whose
Husband Died of Lung Cancer, April 11'
Mary Tullo was convinced her husband's life was cut short by the greed of cigarette-makers. On Wednesday, a Palm Beach County jury agreed, ordering three tobacco giants to pay the 87-year-old Lake Worth widow $2.47 million for causing the 1998 death of her husband from lung cancer.
A stunned Mary Tullo hugged her attorneys and cried.
"My children," she said of why she pursued the case. "I wanted to give them a gift before I leave this world."
However, the gift had a price. While slapping the cigarette-makers for putting an unreasonably dangerous product on the market, it also found that Tullo's husband, Dominick, was 45 percent responsible for his own demise.
"It was a tough road to go," jury foreman Frank McSparren said of the roughly four hours the three men and three women debated behind closed doors. "The bottom line is very simple. We strongly felt Mr. Tullo was as responsible for his death as the cigarette companies."
The jury's resolve meant that instead of getting the $4.5 million they agreed Tullo deserved for caring for her husband as he endured an agonizing death, she will only get 55 percent of that amount. By continuing to smoke at least a pack a day despite decades-old warnings from public health officials, the jury found Dominick Tullo shared the blame.
Philip Morris, which produces Parliament, the brand he smoked the last 30 years of his life, will pay the bulk of the damages, roughly $2 million. The Liggett Group and Lorillard Tobacco, which produced other brands Tullo smoked, will each pay $225,000. The jury found each company 5 percent at fault for Tullo's death at age 74. It cleared R.J. Reynolds of any wrongdoing in connection with Tullo's death.
A Philip Morris spokesman said the company will appeal, as it has other unfavorable verdicts. Since about 8,000 cases stemming from a 1994 Miami-Dade County class-action lawsuit began winding their way through state courts two years ago, smokers and their families have won 28 of the 42 that have gone to trial. Tobacco companies have appealed all of the ones they have lost.
Edward Sweda, who tracks the cases as senior attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University in Boston, applauded Mary Tullo's victory. It is yet another nail in the coffin of the companies that gained infamy producing a product widely known as coffin nails, he said.
NEWS COVERAGE
April 18, 2011 - PALM BEACH POST, Big Tobacco lied to WWII generation
April 13, 2011 - PALM BEACH POST, Jurors award $2.4 million to Lake Worth widow of smoker
April 14, 2011 - SUN SENTINEL , Lake Worth widow awarded $2.47 million from cigarette makers
April 12, 2009 - PALM BEACH POST, Jury to decide if Lake Worth widow gets $10 million from cigarette-makers
April 7, 2011 - PALM BEACH POST, 'He tried. He tried' to quit, widow of former smoker tells jury during tobacco trial
Jury Awards 5.3 Million Dollars to Man
Whose Wife Died of Lung Cancer, August 09'
A six-person jury in Ft. Lauderdale awarded a 92-year-old man $5.3 million for his wife’s death from smoking.
The case was the eighth Engle case to make it to trial, and the sixth victory for the plaintiffs.
Shirley Barbanell died as a result of a smoking about two packs a day for more than 40 years, said her husband’s attorney, Steven J. Hammer, a partner at the Schlesinger Law Firm in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
The verdict – which does not include punitive damages – will be apportioned for fault. Jurors awarded 63.5 percent of the fault to Barbanell and 36.5 percent to Philip Morris, reducing the verdict to just under $2 million.
Shirley’s husband, Leon, turned 92 on the day he testified at trial about his wife. He told jurors he still talks to her every night since her death in 1996.
NEWS COVERAGE
August 20, 2009 - LAWYERS USA , 92-year-old tobacco plaintiff wins $5.3 million
August 20, 2009 - REUTERS, Smokers, tobacco both winners in early Engle cases
August 15, 2009 - Sun-Sentinel, Broward jury awards $5 million to man whose wife died of lung cancer
August 14, 2009 - The Associated Press, Fla. jury awards millions for smoking death
August 14, 2009 - The Miami Herald, Broward jury awards smoker's widower $5.3 million
August 14, 2009 - NASDAQ, Florida Man Wins Almost $2 Million In Case Vs Philip Morris USA
August 14, 2009 - CNN, Man, 92, wins $1.9 million tobacco judgment in wife's death