A medical malpractice jury trial is underway in Judge Su Chon’s court in the Third District, David Scott v. University of Utah, #110917738. The case concerns a brain biopsy for a suspected tumor that turned out not to be cancerous. However, the plaintiff, a wealthy businessman, suffered a stroke as a result of the procedure and was disabled. As I understand it, the essence of the claim is that the biopsy was unnecessary given the low risk of cancer. The potential economic damages are huge.
The trial started on Tuesday, February 17th, and is expected to last for two weeks. I’ve uploaded the case docket here.
Plaintiff’s counsel is Mike Worel of Dewsnup King & Olsen and Charlie Thronson of Parsons, Behle and Latimer. Mike, a recent arrival from Alabama, is a master of the “Reptile” method of case preparation and trial. Charlie, of course, is a long-standing top Salt Lake City medical malpractice plaintiffs’ attorney.
The University is represented by the ever-capable Terry Rooney of Snow Christensen & Martineau, assisted by Bradley Blackham. Terry and Brad achieved a defense verdict against the same plaintiffs’ counsel in Turner v. University of Utah, tried three months ago in the Third District.
I did not mediate this Scott case, but the rumor is that there were no significant settlement offers.
This is a great opportunity to watch some excellent trial lawyers in action, so you might want to drop down to Judge Chon’s courtroom. You can always check the court calendar here: http://www.utcourts.gov/cal/
I will update my blog as more information becomes available.
