Defense denied liability, offered zero. Claimed we could never win in San Luis Obispo
because jurors are conservative and would send us packing. Defense, through the insurance company
NORCAL, told us to take our best swing and we did.
The local news and bloggers and talk shows ridiculed us
during the trial. The paper published
love stories about the doctor such as a full page story "DR. HAUPT WAS THE
RIGHT ONE FOR OUR TWINS". We were
called greedy, frivolous, among other things.
But, yes a big win.
Everybody is emailing me and texting me.
It feels good. It boosts the
ego. But, as I sat there with the jury
and laid in bed last night, I was humbled by the Justice that the jury
decided. And, with that I want everybody
to know some things.
First, this was a team effort. Credit is due for what we accomplished to
Michels and Watkins, Phil, Shirley and Jin Lew and Russ Kussman (Judge) and our
teams. Judge Kussman had the case
initially and believed in the case. When
he made the tough decision of retiring his practice as a lawyer and becoming a
Judge he trusted Michels and Watkins with the Blunt Family's case. Michels & Watkins worked up the case
expertly. Jin Lew's work, Phil's work,
Shirley's work, all exceptional.
We, Carpenter, Zuckerman & Rowley, got called into
the case a few weeks before trial because the case was preferentially set and
Michels & Watkins had other conflicting trials with preferential settings.
Our partner Robert Ouinjan and I met the Blunt family and
took the case on. Rod Ritner, a trial
lawyer from our midwest offices flew out immediately and jumped into the
fight. We worked together with Michels
& Watkins all throughout the trial on witness preperation, law and motion issues,
and all the chaos that comes with a 7 week med mal jury trial.
We were all told/warned by the defense that the highest
verdict in San Luis Obispo was low seven figures and that a med mal case had
not been won in San Luis Obispo County for 24 years.
I handled the voir dire, opening, cross exams of
witnesses, and closing arguments. We
split up the other witnesses and Robert and Rod were exceptional during the
trial and the jurors followed what they accomplished to the tee. Robert and Rod were involved with every part
of the case. We would work late night
and early morning thinktanking strategy with each witness.
Steven Glass worked endlessly on legal issues in the case
which got us the verdict form we needed and the instructions needed to guide
the jury to the verdict.
A jury consultant and trial strategist, Steven Halteman,
flew in and was present every part of the trial. Steve's work and contribution to the case was
a big part of the verdict. He worked
with witnesses and storytelling, aligning the chapters of the story of the case
to the themes we presented in voir dire and opening. Steve's role also included staying in tune
with each individual juror during the trial and reversing roles with each juror
so we could explore what each juror needed each day. Steve would lead us in role reversals
throughout the trial to understand each witness and the feelings of the
jury. Steve leads us in running us into
the ground every morning before trial so our heads are clear. The ideas that come to us as we all run
together end up being some of the best at trial. I would suggest 50 minutes of cardio early
each morning before trial for any trial lawyer.
PATRICK LOGAN, our visual arts genius. Pat got involved with the case to handle all
of the technology and to design a visual presentation which told the story and
communicated the themes to the jury. I
have had Pat as part of many of the verdicts I have been part of. He is one of the hardest workers I know,
brilliant, and loyal as old yeller, except his favorite color is orange. We love you Pat, could not have done it
without you.
I would recommend Pat Logan and Steve Halteman for help
on your cases, but I think we plan to keep them busy and close!
My partners John and Paul made this all possible. Gave us all the support we needed. At Carpenters, Zuckerman & Rowley, we are
a team. We support eachother through
thick or thin. I could have never
imagined being part of such a wonderful firm.
I am so honored. Paul and John
supported me, helped me, every day. John
came before closing and helped me prepare as he often does and was present
during closing and helped me with key points in the rebuttal which the jurors
repeated after trial. Thank you Paul and
John, love you.
There are some of you who I cannot mention by name
publicly, who have mentored me, supported me, and who have been integral in my
development personally and professionally.
You each know who you are, I am thinking of you, imagining your faces,
thinking of you. I will see you very soon
and you are included in this email.
My dear friends and mentors of mine Gary Dordick, Garo
Mardirossian, and Jude Basile helped me throughout the trial and gave 100%
support and advise. Gary Dordick has
become a best friend to me, a brother, a mentor. Words cannot express how much Gary has helped
me over the past couple years. Jude
Basile and Gary Dordick and Garo made themselves available to me everyday. Jude himself showed up during the entire
trial and offered and delievered help, thank you Jude. Arash and Conal, Brian Witzer, Ricardo
Echeverria, and many other fellow warriors were supportive and gave good advice
throughout the trial also. Rex Parris
has been a big brother to me who I so very much appreciate. The support I had, words cannot express how
appreciative I am to my friends and fellow trial lawyers who care about seeing
a fellow warrior succeed. Thank you so
much, having friends and mentors who believe in you and support you, words
cannot express how much it means. This
is a win for us all! When we support
eachother, believe in eachother, put our egos aside, and care about eachother's
clients, the battles we face, we all win together. We also all lose together. In the military, having commrades, fighting
for a team, for a cause, not just for yourself and your own ego, that is what I
loved most. When I see Trial Lawyers for
people putting aside their egos and greed (which we all have) that is when I
see the best results.
Geoff Fieger, who has taught me so much, thank you. Geoff recently obtained a nine figure verdict
in a similar case. Geoff, the way he communicates,
the feelings that travel from him to the jury, is something that I have only
seen in few. Geoff is a master at
exposing injustice and getting the jury to feel it within themsleves. Much of what I learned from him went into
this trial.
Tiffany Chung, my mentee, who has worked with me since I
first started practicing, and who is now a licensed CA attorney, worked
relentlessly on the case. Thank you
Tiffany.
Bekah Krueger and Joe Krueger, flew out from our Iowa
office and helped on the case, they are among our most loyal, are hardworking
and brilliant. They are both soon to
take the California bar.
Sally Schwartzoff, my personal assistant, and manager of
our midwest offices, took care of us all as she always does during trial, which
basically means she takes care of us all year around because we are always in a
trial. Love you Sally!
The Blunt family, are among the most precious people we
have ever met. They are gems, the best
clients anybody could ever imagine.
Andrew was a Marine, 7 years, two tours in Iraq. Jennifer has a Masters degree and is the
Director of the Head Start program for the County. They have their two daughters, Charlotte,
almost 2, and SOFIA WHO JUST TURNED THREE.
Sofia has cerebal palsy because of medical malpractice and we exposed a
cover up including destroying medical records and Sofia's cord blood which
would have conclusively proven acidosis in her brain. Cord Blood is taken and tested in babies who
are born depressed. Dr. Haupt, the
Defendant, and Sierra Vista medical center destroyed the cord blood, when Sofia
was born and looked dead and needed resuscitation.
Sofia is beautiful, smart, trapped in a body that does
not work. She eats through a GI
tube. She needs 24 hour care and will
not get it.
The defense, through the defense lawyers, through their
experts took the position that they should have to pay less because Sofia would
likely not live to see age 21. And, the
reason she would die is suffocating in a pillow or aspirating (drowning) on her
own body fluids. SO, THE DEFENSE SAID,
LETS ONLY GIVE HER 4 HOURS OF CARE PER DAY.
Lets leave her to sleep alone at night.
WELL, the jury did exactly what I asked them. They gave Sofia every penny of care in our
life care plan. And, they gave her the
life expectancy I asked for, which was age 63 years old! Thank you ladies and gentleman of the jury
for not sweeping this under the rug, and for standing up for a family of your
community.
The experts in the case were exceptional. They stood up as patient advocates for what
had happened to Sofia and her family.
Barry Shifrin, fetal medicine (fetal heart monitor specialist), Dorothy
Sims (neonatalogist), Carter Snead (pediatric neurologist), Sharon Kuwai (life
care planner), Peter Formuzis (economist).
The judge, Crandall, was fair, he let both sides try
their case. He gave us the fair shake
that we needed. The jury also agreed to
be fair. I asked them all in voir dire,
each one individually "I am asking for a lot of money in a malpractice case
against your local hospital and a popular doctor, do I have any reason to be
afraid having you on this jury". I
believe we had approximately 20 jurors who disqualified themselves for cause.
This family deserved every penny that the jury gave. WE PLAN TO APPEAL THE MICRA REDUCTIONS. We are actually going to ask the Judge,
Crandall, Dept 9, San Luis Obispo, to make factual findings that MICRA is
archaic, outdated, and not rationally based, and after making those factual
findings, we plan to ask him not to reduce pursuant to MICRA forcing the
defense to appeal the non economic damages.
The defendant, during trial, said they wanted any
judgment periodicized, which under the law that Steve Glass researched and
found meant that the jury decides gross value of the damages instead of present
value to prevent a double reduction. The
defense went ape shit to say the least because the writing on the wall was one
that told us there would be a good verdict.
Before trial, zero offer, the defense had a full team of
experts from Stanford University. We
exposed them one by one. The ship was
sinking and the hospital jumped off and paid us millions. The doctor and his group then offered
$2M. We said NO. It was a tough decision to turn down the
"hush money" but we all stayed strong and perservered.
To the Blunt Family, Thank you for giving all of us the
opportunity to be your warriors and for letting us be the voice for your family
in this most important case. You have
not only stood up for yourselves, but for all the victims of malpractice and
their families throughout this country.
You have shown that courage against all the odds can prevail.
Last, but not least, Gerry Spence, my mentor above
all. You believed in me many many years
ago and told me I could do this. You
trained me, not just at your college, but personally mentored me over the past
8 years. You have loved me and been a
father to me. You have given me so much
and I am doing my best to pay it forward.
I, and the teams I am a part of, carry the torch of justice
proudly. I love you old man!
Sometimes, just sometimes, Justice Does Happen, But We
Have To Fight Against The Odds and Risk It All, we have to be willing to fight
and lose. We must be willing to get up
again and again after being beaten, knocked down and pissed on. Keep up the fight, never give up,
Nicholas C. Rowley
CARPENTER, ZUCKERMAN & ROWLEY
Record $74 million-ish Med Mal Verdict In SLO!
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2012/04/20/2037565/blunt-malpractice-lawsuit-haupt.html
This evening Nick Rowley, Robert Ounjian, and Rod Ritner
of Carpenter, Zuckerman & Rowley and Phil Michels, Shirley Watkins, and Jin
Lew of Michels & Watkins won a $74+ million dollar jury verdict. It is iby far
one of the largest plaintiff’s med mal verdicts in California history.
We’re told it’s the first plaintiff’s medical malpractice
jury verdict in San Luis Obispo in more than 20 years!
The victory is even more remarkable given that the local
newspaper – which covered the trial – ran a prominent story praising the
defendant obstetrician shortly before closing arguments.
Michels & Watkins worked up the case expertly. Rowley, Ounjian, and Ritner -- who were associated into the case as trial
counsel a mere three weeks before trial began -- knocked it out of the park.
Briefly, the 7-week trial involved a young girl’s birth
injury. The young girl was born at
approximately 41 weeks gestation at Sierra View Regional Medical Center. She was born after a 4+ hour second-stage of
labor and prolonged pushing and crowning.
Plaintiffs alleged that the obstetrician, Kurt Haupt, was oblivious
during the delivery – not performing an episiotomy, attempting to vacuum, or
conduct a forceps assist -- while the fetal strips deteriorated. At one point, Dr. Haupt removed the IUPCs but
did nothing to assess the mother’s contractions for 30 minutes. The child was born depressed. Post-delivery, the hospital staff were unable
to adequately incubate or ventilate the baby.
The child suffers from cerebral palsy.
The plaintiffs sued the hospital and Dr. Haupt. The hospital and Dr. Haupt presented a
unified defense insisting that neither were negligent. They hotly contested causation and damages.
The hospital settled mid-trial for $2 million. Later in the trial, Dr. Haupt also offered to
settle for an additional $2 million, but the plaintiffs trusted the jury.
The jury found 12-0 for the plaintiffs on negligence and
causation. While there was some division
on damages, post-verdict interviews revealed that the dissenting jurors wanted
to give more money!
The vast majority of the verdict was for economic
damages, and therefore is not subject to the MICRA cap on non-economic damages.
Dr. Haupt retired from medicine during the middle of the
trial.
Defense counsel for Dr. Haupt: Peter Bertling of Bertling
& Clausen (Santa Barbara). Defense
counsel for the hospital: Jay Hieatt of Hall Hieatt & Connely (SLO)
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