The family of Shannon Reilly, who during her birth sustained severe brain damage and now has cerebral palsy, were smart to heed their lawyer’s advice. And they are $122 million richer, money that will go toward their daughter’s care.
A New York jury has awarded the family $130 million in the medical malpractice lawsuit, which the New York Daily News called the second largest malpractice verdict in the state’s history.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/130m-award-brain-damage-suit-article-1.1319834
Danni and Frank Reilly of Long Island had filed suit against St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson, L.I., over what they alleged was Shannon’s botched birth in 2002, according to the News and the New York Post. The girl, who is now 10, can’t walk or talk, and needs constant care.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/this_lawyer_and_got_them_hXtlyh2Gl0sNc0LndjXEuI
The hospital had offered the Reilly family $8 million in 2009 to settle the lawsuit. But lawyer Thomas Moore told the family not to accept that sum, maintaining that Shannon’s care over the term of her life would cost a lot more than $8 million.
The suit alleged that hospital staff didn’t notice Shannon wasn’t getting enough oxygen at her birth, that she wasn’t properly monitored.
It was a long path for the family to get to the $130 million judgment. The case went to trial, and the jury cleared the hospital of any liability, the News and Post said. Moore went to an appellate court, which ruled that there should be another trial on the case.
The second trial, which took place last year, ended with a hung jury.
The third trial, in Suffolk County Superior Court, ended earlier this week with the $130 million verdict.
Amazingly, Moore told the News that during his career there were 34 times when he advised clients not to take settlements of $8 million or more. And in each of those cases, he either got a verdict or settlement over $8 million, according to the News.
