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Parties: Kara Hansen v. Corbin Hamilton

Facts/Claims: After a five-day jury trial, a Cherokee County, Kansas jury returned a jury verdict for Kara Hansen on February 2, 2018, for $38,500,000.00. Roger Johnson and Anna Sanderson of the law firm Johnson, Vorhees and Martucci represented Ms. Hansen, a 20-year-old resident from Riverton, Kansas.

Ms. Hansen was catastrophically injured on April 9, 2014, when her custom 1966 Ford Mustang was struck in the rear by Corbin Hamilton, formerly from Pittsburg, Kansas. Ms. Hansen had been stopped in the northbound lane of Alt 69, waiting for a southbound vehicle to pass by so that she could turn into her own driveway. The impact to her rear propelled her into the approaching southbound vehicle, driven by Marty Atnip. Struck at highway speeds, she suffered burst fractures in her neck and injuries to her spinal cord, ultimately resulting in tetraplegia.

Mr. Hamilton denied fault, blaming Ms. Hansen, Mr. Atnip and a used car dealership from which he had just purchased his vehicle. The jury found him 100% at fault.

Jurors afterward, in speaking with the attorneys, voiced their hope that the verdict would help secure funds needed by Ms. Hansen to best give her a chance at a meaningful life. They also emphasized the need for Mr. Hamilton to be held accountable, particularly given his unwillingness to accept that his inattention while driving had led to this tragic accident.

Ms. Hansen’s attorney, Roger Johnson, credited Ms. Hansen’s tremendous daily courage and positive spirit, which had become clear to the jury both through her testimony and that of her friends and caregivers, for the jury’s decision to give this verdict.

Child Obtains $10,000,000 Judgment for Sexual Molestation

Parties: C.B. (a minor child) v. Huling and United Pentecostal Church

Facts/Claims: Roy Huling, the pastor of the Webb City United Pentecostal Church sexually assaulted one of the children of his parish repeatedly over the course of 3 years from the time the child was 9 years old, while the child was being cared for by he and his wife in their home after school. When the child was 13, she told her mother of the assaults, and Huling ultimately confessed to having sexually molested the child. Claims of negligence were brought against Huling's wife and church. The homeowner's policy paid the policy limits of $300,000 and the Church paid its policy limits of $50,000 under a sexual acts provision in the policy. A Judgment was rendered against Huling individually for his intentional actions. He remains in prison.

Children obtain Judgment against murderers of their father.

Parties: Richardson v. Becker, Graham & Gordon

Facts/Claims: Jamey Richardson was shot and killed while trying to escape from the home of defendant Gordon, who had asked Richardson to come to his home with the pretense of having a problem. Instead, Gordon, Becker and Graham had conspired to induce Richardson to the home because other victims they had tortured had given them his name as possibly knowing where the trio's drug cache had been taken. All three are in prison. Becker, the shooter, was convicted of multiple felonies. Gordon's homeowner's policy has paid its $100,000 policy limits when JVM made negligence claims against him. Judgment for $10,000,000 was entered against Becker and Graham.

$7.68 Million Verdict for Birth Injury Client

Facts/Claims: Attorney Scott Vorhees and Attorney Tati Scholfield-Johnson of Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci have recently tried and concluded a birth injury-medical malpractice case on behalf of a client. After several days of trial – from September 3^rd, 2019 to September 17^th, 2019 – a jury verdict of $7,688,861.10 was reached. This is believed to be the largest medical malpractice verdict in Jasper County on record.

Defendant Larry Clark, M.D., who was employed by Freeman Health Systems, was determined to be medically negligent by the jury in his misuse of forceps during the birth of Warren Hunt. Due to his misuse of the forceps, he caused a severe brain injury to the infant, triggering a stroke that permanently damaged half of Warren’s brain.

Watts v. Lester E. Cox Medical Center et al

Jury awards nearly $5 million in birth injury trial. The mother claimed a delayed delivery damaged baby's brain.

Parties: Plaintiff Robert Grundy v Defendant Gary Stone

The plaintiff, Robert L. Grundy, lost a leg in a forklift accident. Grundy, of Carthage, was a 30-year employee of Schreiber Foods Inc. when, the lawsuit alleged, a co-worker backed a forklift into and then over Grundy on March 12, 2009, at its Jasper County manufacturing warehouse.

In a recent medical malpractice case involving bowel obstruction, the jury sides with the woman and a large verdict is won on her behalf.

Court: Greene County Circuit Court

Parties: Leatonya King v. Litton and Giddings radiology and others

Facts / Claims: Our client, Leatonya King, was seen by several physicians who followed one radiologist's interpretation that her issue was a mild and partial bowel obstruction. After suffering substantial pain, a surgeon operated and found an incarcerated, strangulated hernia that was cutting off blood supply to the small bowel, resulting in stomach perforation.

The CT scan was falsely interpreted and should have been read as a complete bowel obstruction. Instead of a rather simple procedure, she had to have 6 surgeries in 22 days. Many other complications have resulted and she may someday have to have a surgery to re-establish a connection from her esophagus to her stomach, which is a procedure that has a high risk of death.

Pathologist Misses Melanoma, Leading to Man’s Death

Facts/Claims: A Springfield pathologist missed the diagnosis of melanoma from a skin biopsy. Four years later, the melanoma had spread throughout the man’s body and when the original biopsy was reviewed by a specialist, it was interpreted correctly as melanoma and the report was revised. It was later discovered that this was the second misdiagnosis where a person ultimately died because of the same pathologist having missed the diagnosis of melanoma. The man died in his 40s, leaving a wife and two young children.

On February 23, 2015, Plaintiff James "Gary" Cooper underwent a laparoscopic Nissen Fundoplication by Defendant Dr. Jeffrey Kellar at North Hills Surgery Center. During the surgery, a dilator, called a bougie, is passed into Gary's esophagus. It is noted by Dr. Kellar that there was difficulty passing the bougie. During the surgery a perforation of Gary's esophagus occurred and was unrecognized. Dr. Kellar did not perform any intraoperative testing to confirm the integrity of the esophagus. The surgery was completed in 45 minutes from start to finish. Gary was discharged from the outpatient surgery center within 2 hours of the surgery having been completed.

Following the surgery, Gary began having pain in the throat and down to the upper abdomen. He had pain with swallowing water and was unable to even swallow his medications.

On February 24, 2015, Gary and his girlfriend placed 10 calls throughout the day to Dr. Kellar's office reporting that his pain was greater than expected and he had difficulty swallowing.

Just prior to midnight Gary was taken via helicopter to Washington Regional Medical Center where it was discovered that he had a 2cm linear tear of his posterior esophagus that had been leaking into his chest and abdomen. This resulted in the development of mediastinitis, respiratory failure, pulmonary empyema, an esophageal fistula, bilateral DVT in the arms, sepsis, hematomas and a subsequent incisional hernia.

As a result of the perforation, Gary was hospitalized for a total of 73 days. He underwent a total of 6 surgeries, numerous procedures to place and remove chest tubes and drains, required admission to a long term acute care facility, and home health nursing. It took Gary approximately 18 months to recover from his injuries and be able to become independent in his daily activities.

Plaintiff's experts testified that the difficulty passing the bougie was a red flag that there may have been injury to the esophagus. They testified that the esophagus was either injured by the bougie or during Dr. Kellar's dissection. Plaintiff's experts testified that the standard of care required Dr. Kellar to have performed a thorough inspection of the esophagus for any signs of injury as well as perform intra-operative testing such as an EGD with air insufflation of the esophagus while submerged in saline, a dye test, or an upper GI. Dr. Helling testified that the standard of care required Dr. Kellar to keep Gary admitted to the hospital for observation at least 23 hours after surgery. All three surgeon experts agreed that it is their practice to keep the patient in the hospital overnight for observation.

Defendant's expert, Dr. DeLoach, argued that the standard of care did not require such intraoperative testing, unless the surgeon had a strong suspicion that injury had occurred. Dr. DeLoach argued that difficulty passing the bougie was common during these procedures. Dr. DeLoach admitted that the standard of care required the surgeon to perform a thorough visual inspection of the esophagus during the surgery. Dr. DeLoach testified that the perforation was a result of Dr. Kellar's surgery and most likely occurred during the surgery.

All of the experts agreed that the standard of care required that an esophageal perforation be identified and repaired during the surgery if it existed at that time. All of the experts agreed that the subsequent hospitalizations, treatment and medical bills were the result of the delay in diagnosis of the perforation, and most likely would have been avoided had the perforation been repaired during the initial surgery.

During cross-examination- Dr. Kellar admitted that he had not re-inspected the esophagus after the attempt to pass the bougie. Dr. Kellar admitted that he had not taken any specific steps, aside from the prior visual inspection, to rule out injury to the esophagus. Dr. Kellar admitted that he could not rule out that the esophagus had been perforated during his surgery.

The jury deliberated for 9 hours. After 8 hours of deliberation, a settlement demand in the amount of $1,000,000 was conveyed to the defense. That demand was rejected and no offer was made.

The jury voted 9-3 in favor of Plaintiff on the issue of liability and all 12 jurors agreed to the award of damages. The jury awarded $1,712,038.81, the exact amount asked for by Plaintiff’s counsel.

Parties: Plaintiff Rhonda Parrott v Defendant Severs Trucking LLC and Brandon Black

The widow of a man who died following surgery weeks after breaking his kneecap in a tractor-trailer collision won $1.6 million from a Newton County jury last month.
The wrongful death lawsuit stemmed from an April 2007 crash in Oklahoma that broke James Parrott’s kneecap. About three weeks later, he died of a heart at-tack after outpatient surgery to repair his knee.
The time between the accident and the death made it tricky to persuade a jury to pay out on a claim against the other driver, said plaintiff’s attorney Roger Johnson.
“We knew that this was a perception issue,” said Johnson, who represented Rhonda Parrott, James Parrott’s wife. “We had to get over a hump with the jury be-cause Parrot didn’t die immediately after the accident but a few weeks later.”
The jury returned a unanimous $1.62 million verdict for Parrott’s family but assigned Parrott 5 percent of the fault, slightly reducing the amount owed.
The accident occurred in Mayes County, Okla. Parrott was driving a tractor-trailer on Highway 69 when he collided with Brandon Black, who was driving a milk tanker truck owned by Severs Trucking, Johnson said.
In Missouri, a wrongdoer is liable for necessary medical treatment that results in complications that cause death, Johnson said.
“[Parrott] was seriously injured at the time with the broken kneecap, but it did not appear life-threatening,” Johnson said. “That’s what made it a little different than the regular trucking accident.
“We had to show but for the collision, he would not have needed surgery, and but for the surgery, he would not have had the complications and died.”
The choice of law also played a role in the trial and verdict, said both Johnson and defense attorney Judy C. Moore, of Flanigan, Lasley & Moore in Carthage.
Both drivers and their companies are from Missouri, but the accident occurred in Oklahoma. Missouri’s standard for negligence in such a case is “the highest degree of care,” while Oklahoma uses the “ordinary care” standard.
The judge decided to apply Missouri law over defense objections.
Johnson said the 49-year-old Parrott was “a veteran of Desert Storm, a tough-as-nails fellow” before the accident.
“He was in good health,” Johnson said. “He hadn’t had to see a doctor other than for [Department of Transportation]-required checkups for his trucking license.
“In this situation, the autopsy wasn’t conclusive,” Johnson said. “It was really a matter of showing he was likely having chest pains, and the anesthesia and pain medication masked those chest pains.”
The Parrott suit contended that Black was negligent by failing to properly look out for traffic; failing to yield the right-of-way when he pulled out from a stop sign; and driving on the shoulder for about 200 feet before entering the highway.
Black was only driving 25-30 mph when he entered the roadway in front of the Parrott vehicle, which was operating at highway speeds of 65 mph, Johnson said.
Severs Trucking and Black presented accident reconstruction expert Jay Pfeiffer, who argued Parrott should have been able to see the defendant in time to avoid the collision. The expert also disputed that the defendant was driving on the shoulder before the collision.
Johnson countered with an eyewitness who said the defendant was on the shoulder and that there wasn’t enough time for Parrott to have reacted to avoid the accident.
“We chose to keep it simple and basic,” Johnson said. “We didn’t use an [accident reconstruction] expert. We relied on the eyewitness, and I guess that was the part we were sweating over a little.
“Given the unanimous verdict,” Johnson said, “I think it’s pretty clear that the jury gave the most weight to the eyewitness and not their [reconstruction] expert.”
Moore said the defense is considering an appeal.
“We believe there are good grounds for an appeal, and our clients are considering their options,” Moore said. “There are numerous points of evidentiary and instructional error.”

Woman in 30's Suffers Catastrophic Stroke When Warning TIAs Not Followed up on by Doctors

Facts/Claims: A Joplin woman was sent for an MRI of the brain/orbit area by her ophthalmologist when he detected that she was not able to see entirely from her peripheral vision. The MRI report revealed mini-strokes had occurred, which is a warning sign of a potential major stroke. The radiologist faxed the report to the eye doctor several days later, but the findings were not reported to the patient, nor was she set up to see a neurologist. Three weeks after the MRI report, she suffered a catastrophic stroke.

Jury favors plaintiffs in stillborn baby suit

Parties: Plaintiff Delfina Sosa and Cody Masteller v Defendant Julia Chowdhury, M.D.

$1M Verdict in Bonetti Wrongful Death Case

Facts/Claims: Marcel Bonetti, a renowned Springfield chef, died five days after undergoing a straightforward umbilical hernia repair. He returned to the hospital two days after the surgery, complaining of constipation pains and abdominal distention. Dr. McCarthy diagnosed Bonetti with a post-operative ileus before sending him home. The patient went back to the hospital two days later, and doctors finally diagnosed him with bowel ischemia. However, Bonetti was already septic by the time he was taken to the operating room. He died several hours after the surgery.

No offers were made by Dr. McCarthy or the company that contracted with him: Southeastern Emergency Physicians of Memphis (SEPM). The St. Charles jury returned a verdict for one million dollars ($1,000,000.00) against Dr. McCarthy and found that he was the agent of SEPM.

Woman Dies of Breast Cancer Following Failure By PCP to Order Tests

Facts/Claims: A family doctor did not order BRAC genetic testing on a woman whose mother had died of breast cancer in her 30s. He also did not encourage mammograms for his patient, despite early awareness reports from the American Cancer Society that encourages this testing. The woman developed breast cancer, which had metastasized by the time she was diagnosed. Later BRAC testing of the woman confirmed that she had the gene for breast cancer.

Facts/Claims: A passenger in the sleeper birth of a semi truck was injured when his vehicle was forced off the highway by another semi truck. Minutes before the incident, a drunk driver drifted off the highway and struck a guardrail, causing the guardrail to protrude partly into the slow lane of traffic. The incident occurred at night while the driver of the offending semi truck was distracted by a conversation he was having over his CB radio. Due to his distraction, the offending driver did not timely see the guardrail in the roadway even though the headlights of his truck would have illuminated it for several hundred feet. When the offending driver finally saw the guardrail, he swerved abruptly to the left, forcing another semi truck that was traveling in the fast lane off the roadway where it overturned. The injured man suffered a permanent nerve injury in his back and right leg. He could not return to work due to his injuries. The man settled with the drunk driver for $50,000 and the trucking company that employed the driver that swerved for $750,000. Key evidence against the offending semi truck driver included the fact that he was engaged in conversation over his CB radio, an activity that causes “inattentive blindness” and is similar to intoxicated driving. This inattentive blindness distracted the driver from perceiving the guardrail until he was almost upon it. Had the driver not been engaged in a CB radio conversation, he would have had time to either stop without striking the guardrail altogether, or slow to such a nominal speed that striking the guardrail would have been harmless.

Woman Survives Tornado, but Dies When Doctors Fail to Diagnose Internal Bleed

Facts/Claims: A Neosho area woman was caught with her husband and daughter in a tornado and flung airborne, suffering a mild head injury and a serious leg fracture. She went to one hospital by ambulance, while her husband and daughter went to another. She was not given a CT of her abdomen and pelvis and a bleed was undetected. She began having alarming symptoms the next day, but the nurse did not timely notify the doctor. She ultimately bled to death internally from the undiagnosed bleed.

Emergency Room Physician Fails To Treat Heart Patient, Who Dies After Discharge

Facts/Claims: A Joplin emergency room doctor sent a patient home who had been recently discharged from the hospital after having open heart surgery and had returned to the hospital with acute abdominal pain. The doctor did not consult with the surgeon, nor did he have any imaging studies or blood work to assess whether it was safe to send the patient home. The man died within 24 hours of being discharged when peritonitis caused stress on his heart, which resulted in a heart attack.

Catastrophic Stroke Missed In ER by Doctor Who Brings Down Blood Pressure Too Far Too Fast

Facts/Claims: A Carthage woman presented to an emergency room with extraordinarily high blood pressure and a bad headache. The ER doctor had possible stroke on his differential diagnosis, but he did not rule it out with a CT scan. Instead, he lowered her blood pressure too far, too fast, thereby disabling the body’s natural responses to fighting off the undiagnosed stroke, and then he sent her home, where she had the completion of a disabling stroke over the next 24 hours.

Facts/Claims: A Joplin woman was driving her pickup when it was struck broadside by another vehicle that failed to stop at a stop sign. Her vehicle rolled over twice and came to rest upside down. Her legs were pinned and the extrication lasted 1 hour 45 minutes. She suffered lumbar fractures and a pelvic fracture.

Woman Obtains Jury Verdict Victory for Missing IUD/Medical Malpractice Case

Stephanie Carr of Green County had a birth control intrauterine device (IUD) implanted into her body in early 2005. Only a month later, a pelvic ultrasound was unable to locate the IUD and her doctors stated that it had been expelled from her body; this was contradictory to her own statements. Despite the missing IUD, no abdominal ultrasound or additional testing was used.

In both 2009 and 2011, Carr suffered miscarriages. Before 2005, she had successfully carried two children to term. In 2013, she switched to another medical provider, who decided to conduct an abdominal ultrasound. This ultrasound, some eight years later, located the IUD within her abdomen, far away from where it had been implanted. It is worth noting that after the IUD’s removal, she was able to have another healthy pregnancy that was carried to term.

She brought a lawsuit against Ferrell-Duncan OBGYN Clinic for personal injury and wrongful death of her unborn fetuses caused by their decision to not perform any additional testing or ultrasounds over the course of several years, despite her open concerns about the missing IUD. The defense counsel contested Carr, expert witnesses, and Attorneys Johnson, Vorhees, and Scholfield-Johnson of Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci at every step. It was able to challenge the wrongful death claims by citing its own expert testimonies that believed there was no link between the missing IUD and the miscarriages. Attorney Johnson has already begun plans to appeal that portion of the decision.

The case was able to close with a jury award of $488,157 given to Carr for noneconomic damages.

Linda Moody, Robert Moody v. Cox-Monett Hospital Inc., Scott Freeland, M.D., St. John's Clinic in Monett, Anjum Qureshi, M.D.

Lead Attorney: Roger A. Johnson

Plaintiff suffered a large bowel obstruction that led to a colostomy, open wound & three additional surgeries.

Case Summary:

ATV Rider Gary Bogle will be awarded upwards of $383,000 after being struck by a car and suffering serious injuries. While conducting a controlled burn with his father on their 20-acre property in Kansas, Gary was hit head-on by Patrick Coman. The accident occurred on a country road neay the fire, and had a ripple effect: After hitting Bogle, Coman was then struck from behind by his friend following in the vehicle behind him.

Coman and his friend both blamed overwhelming smoke from the fire as the ultimate cause of the collisions that ensued; claiming their vision was impaired by a fire that had surpassed the tree line and come into the ditch area where they were riding. Attorney Roger Johnson argued this, pointing out the inconsistencies in how far the defendant and his friend each said they traveled in the smoke. When compared to the police report and official statements from the day of the fire, inconsistencies were also found in the degree of visual impairment expressed by the defendant and his friend.

Ultimately, the jury found Conman 100% at fault for the accident. He has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to Bogle, who continues to suffer from head trauma, torn ligaments, and fractures as a result of the accident.

An ER Doctor Misses Diagnosis Of A Heart Problem, Leading To Man's Death

Facts/Claims: A middle-aged man went to the emergency room with acute chest pain and trouble breathing. The doctor diagnosed him with sleep apnea without ordering necessary tests. The doctor sent him home despite O2 saturations being dangerously low. Within twelve hours, the man died while resting in bed. The autopsy revealed an undiagnosed coronary artery blockage.

Birth Injury Leads To Acute Bleeding When Young Doctor Hits Artery While Rupturing Membranes

Facts/Claims: A family doctor resident who was in training for OB attempted to rupture the membranes of a young mother who was in labor. He inadvertently caused an acute bleed on the baby. When he and his supervising doctor tried to get the attending OB physician to come to the hospital in the middle of the night, they could not get him to come in even with repeated calls as the baby's fetal heart monitor show signs that the baby was in trouble. When the OB finally arrived, an emergency c-section was performed. Fortunately, the baby did not suffer catastrophic injuries, though he had to be in the NICU for several about two weeks.

Parties: Allen v. Kusnerick, American Family, et al.

Facts/Claims: A Joplin area man was killed when Mr. Kusnerick pulled directly into his path from an intersection controlled by a stop sign. Kusnerick’s view to the left was impeded by an overgrowth of foliage and brush. Mr. Allen was on a motorcycle and was being followed in a car by family members, including his young children. Kusnerick’s insurance company paid its policy limits; American Family paid its UIM limits. A further payment was made by the property owner’s insurance, and the County, despite disputing fault.

Medical Bed Left Unlocked Causes Fall and Fractured Back

Facts/Claims: A southeast Kansas woman was in the hospital. When she returned from the restroom to her hospital bed to get back on the bed, the bed moved, causing her to fall and fracture her back (which had been previously surgically repaired), requiring surgery to repair the fracture. The bed had been left unlocked.

Woman Struck While On Way To Car Outside Grocery Store

Parties: Teegardin v. Smith, Hartford, et al.

Facts/Claims: A woman was walking from the grocery store to her car when a woman struck her in the crossing area. The woman was turned around yelling at her child and had not been watching where she was driving. Mrs. Teegardin had a serious laceration to her head and orthopedic injuries. The woman's insurer paid its policy limits of $25,000. The Hartford paid UIM coverages of $100,000 and then stacked the policy with another $75,000, after losing on summary judgment on the issues of whether it had a stackable policy. The supermarket paid $20,000 on claims that it was negligent for not having warning stripes in its crosswalk. The Hartford paid another $25,000 under its med-pay provision.

Settlement with liability carrier: $50,000

Parties: Pawlak v. American Family

Facts/Claims: A landscaper suffered back injuries when his vehicle was run off the road by a vehicle that crossed the center line. Mr. Pawlak tried to recover on his own, but ultimately the back pain became worse, he was worked up by a surgeon and had a fusion in his lower back. He was not able to continue his job as a landscaper. The underinsured driver settled for $50,000. A jury trial in Federal Court resulted in a jury verdict for Mr. Pawlak for $213,000.

Facts/Claims: A Golden City woman slipped on gravel and fell in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant. The decorative gravel had been allowed to gather and remain on the parking lot from a nearby planter. She suffered a torn fractured left humerus and torn rotator cuff that required three surgeries. The manager of the fast food restaurant testified that he had known for fifteen years about the gravel falling out, that it created a risk of falls and nothing had been done to alleviate the dangerous condition.

Facts/Claims: A Joplin man's foot fell through the deteriorated wooden porch of his rental home and he suffered a spiral fracture in his left ankle which required surgery. He had a prolonged recovery involving two separate hospitalizations and post-operative infection. The owner of the rental home was aware of the rotten planks on the porch and his own insurance carrier had sent him a letter stating the front porch had weak boards and needed to be repaired. The owner chose to only replace a few boards rather than all the rotten boards.

Woman With Breast Lump Misdiagnosed

Parties: Mounts v. Freeman and Southwest Radiology

Facts/Claims: Plaintiff felt a small lump in her breast but when she went in for a mammogram she was told it was only cystic tissue. A year later she realized the lump was larger. She went to a different doctor and was diagnosed with Stage 3A breast cancer. After undergoing a double mastectomy and chemotherapy, she went into complete remission. A jury awarded a verdict of 99% fault against the Freeman surgeon who misdiagnosed Mrs. Mounts and 1% fault against the radiologist. Freeman settled before trial for $50,000.