Cindy's Case

Written by Nelson Tyrone, Staff Member and 2000 TLC Grad

Scroll to the bottom to read an article published on this case in the Daily Report.

Thanks to everyone for the kind words and thanks to all the warriors who helped with this case. First of all, to my co-counsel, Mary Alice: Cindy and I couldn’t have done it without you. For anyone who doesn’t know, Mary Alice is a formidable lawyer. When she was done with the Defense’s RSD expert, I actually felt sort of sorry for him. (He just looked so small and confused.) If you’ve got an RSD case, you would be a real fool not to ask Mary Alice to join your team.

We did a lot of TLC work on this case. Katlin flew to Atlanta to spend a day working with Cindy and her husband. Mary Alice and I were joined by Josh Schiffer, Adrienne Hobbs & Chuck Pekor and Lloyd Bell helped us. Josh and Adrienne and Lloyd read depos during the trial. Alan Cleveland offered and was en-route until our witness order changed. Vicki Slater flew to Atlanta and helped me with (one of many) focus groups. Nick Rowley and I traded emails about how to express the horror of RSD. Jude kept my spirits up when I was going broke funding the litigation. Katlin flew back to Atlanta to help us pick a jury. Countless others pitched in with their ideas and support. Thanks to you all. We couldn’t have done it without you.

The litigation lasted nearly 3 years. There were 188 pleadings filed. 5 motions to compel (by me). 4 motions for sanctions (all denied). 34 depositions. 5 focus groups.

We had a fantastic case heading to trial and were left with just a “good” one by the time the Judge was through with us. Put another way, the judge gutted our case in the week before trial – he sanitized all the outrage. Before trial, we had sworn testimony from QT’s claims supervisor that, in response to burning Cindy, QT researched the customer complaints and learned they had burned 20 other people with the same machine under the same circumstances. QT “learned” this in the exact same month they filed their Answer denying responsibility. After Cindy they burned 10 more people. The Judge kept it ALL out and directed a verdict against my Attorney Fee claim. We were left without our strongest evidence of outrage and betrayal (what some would call a “plain” Negligence case).

We were also left with a horribly damaged client. The Defense pointed, over and over, to Cindy’s Rheumatoid Arthritis and to how her condition had been so bad she had been in a wheelchair two years before they burned her. Cindy’s doctors were confused by her injury – they didn’t diagnose RSD for over a year. In the meantime they had sent her to hand surgery (yes, an intervening trauma sufficient to cause RSD on its own). The hand surgeon was scared he might have committed malpractice. To protect himself he testified that the surgery he performed had nothing to do with the burn, but was entirely related to her pre-existing condition of Rheumatoid. Mary Alice and I double-teamed him. She took him at deposition and I took him on at trial.

Even Cindy’s treating doctor, the Anesthesiologist who diagnosed her with RSD refused to agree that her condition was permanent – sometimes he thought it was, and sometimes he thought it wasn’t – and refused to agree with our expert on Cindy’s future medical needs.

Finally, we were in the toughest county in Georgia to get a verdict. Folks in Cobb County returned a verdict last year – the second highest to ours – for 1.2 Million in a wrongful death case for a 52 year old mother. Tough, tough, crowd.

With Cindy’s family and friends behind us, we kept pushing forward. The Defense offered $88k to settle before trial. They then asked for mediation. We told them to pound sand. We spend ½ a day on Voir Dire. Tried the case in 3 ½ days with testimony from 20 witnesses (7 of them doctors).

In closing, we talked about Cindy as our hero – imperfect, but courageous, stoic, and refusing to give in to the pain disorder that started with her hand and had taken her arm below the elbow by the time of trial. We talked about how, after knowing Cindy, we would never be able to complain again without thinking of her. We talked about how her courage had shown us what is possible.

In the end, the jury reached a verdict that was probably a compromise. I understand from speaking with some of them that some folks wanted to give Cindy nothing and some wanted a lot more. Had the judge not gutted us, I think we would have done even more for Cindy.

The jury returned a verdict at 5 p.m. on Friday. The punitive phase was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Monday morning. Over the weekend, QT caved and settled the whole case in a confidential settlement. I can tell you they rolled all the way over.

The verdict will allow Cindy to get the best medical care money can buy. With Mary Alice’s involvement in directing Cindy to a specialist, Cindy will be on a plane in January to Denver to meet with the best RSD doc in the country. Keep Cindy and her family in your prayers. She still has a real fight on her hands.