Comedian's Lawsuit No Laughing Matter.
Film and television comedian Dana Carvey went to trial against the surgeon who grafted the wrong artery in his 1998 heart bypass surgery.
David Baum represented Carvey who lost $7.5 million in film and TV jobs because of the doctor's error.
Carvey at 42 had surgery to clear a blocked artery after three angioplasties (balloon procedures) failed to keep it open. After surgery, he complained that he was worse than before. Angiograms showed his central artery had not been bypassed because the surgeon had grafted to a small branch instead. A series of medical illustrations demonstrated the error for the jury.
The malpractice case was successfully concluded in the plaintiff's favor at the close of two weeks of testimony in San Francisco Superior Court. Continued from the front page The surgeon admitted his mistake for the first time in court under cross-examination by Baum after previous denial of any error. The trial featured extensive expert testimony on medical and show business issues. When he learned of the botched surgery, Carvey was devastated, and "lay in my bed just sobbing," he told the jury. He was unable to perform for months, but since made a full recovery and resumed his career.
Terms of the settlement are confidential but interviews with Dana Carvey in People Magazine, and Larry King, indicated that he was pleased with the settlement and achieved his goal of making the defendant accountable.
Persistence Pays Off in the Case of the Over-Sized Infant.
A case handled by Baum & Blake showed the value of persistence and dedication-handling it in different states over a 10 year period.
Baby Alex Brenot was delivered at the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota by military personnel. A prenatal ultrasound indicated a normal-sized fetus, but when Alex was delivered to his 4'11", 100 lbs. mother, he weighed 13 lbs. His birth was difficult amd delayed, with resulting mild brain damage to the newborn.
The year was 1989. Baum and Blake filed suit in California where the family then lived. The case was fully prepared and set for trial in the US District Court in 1994 but the court then transferred it to North Dakota, where additional defendants were added, before it was re-set for trial.
Plaintiff contended that all defendants were negligent in misreading the ultra-sound, erroneously calculating the estimated fetal weight, and not acting properly to deliver an over-sized infant.
The case, handled by David Baum, along with Kathleen Flynn Peterson of Minneapolis, was settled in January 2000, for $1,500,000.
Secret Videotaping of Pitcher Backfires
When an insurance company was faced with a substantial injury claim by a nationally ranked softball league pitcher, it reacted by ordering a private investigator to secretly videotape his rehabilitation activities including weight lifting and pitching. These undercover activities backfired when Martin Blake exposed during discovery that the wrong person had been videotaped playing softball and that the investigator's observations of the plaintiff weight-lifting corroborated his disability and confirmed his motivation.
Despite these blunders, the insurer disputed the extent of the plaintiff's head and back injuries and the case was twice set for trial and required extensive mediation before the insurer agreed to pay $400,00 in settlment.
"An honest person has nothing to fear from an insurer's secret surveillance but it often requires careful lawyering to reveal the defects in such potentially damaging evidence," says Martin Blake.
Settlement of an Unusual Injury Case
A taxi-pedestrian accident involving unique medical issues was settled by Baum & Blake at trial of the case.
The plaintiff was a successful clothing designer who was struck by a taxi cab which rolled backwards down a steep San Francisco hill and knocked him down. He was released from the emergency room the same day. Though he had little treatment thereafter, plaintiff had increasing difficulty doing his work as a designer because of arm weakness, neck and back pain, and difficulty sitting at his drawing board. Over a year later a new doctor diagnosed a herniated disc in his neck and an associated ulnar nerve injury, requiring a surgical fusion A lumbar fracture was also diagnosed and treated. The defense claimed these conditions were all pre-existing but a story-board exhibit prepared for trial (see below) showed how the multiple impacts to the plaintiff were the cause of his injuries.
The case was settled by David Baum during trial for $950,000.
Martin Blake Elected to ABOTA
In December 1999, Martin Blake was elected a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates ("ABOTA") one of the most prestigious associations of trial lawyers in the United States. Members of ABOTA include many of the finest consumer, insurance and business lawyers in the nation. Election is based not only upon trial experience but also advocacy skills and ethical standards. We are delighted to announce that Martin joins David as a member of this association.
