On July 2, 2010, a Clay County, Missouri returned a verdict of $2.487 Million for one of the firm’s clients in a complex wrongful death, personal injury and medical malpractice case. Rick Morefield, lead counsel and Pat Bottaro, second chair, handled the week long jury trial which involved two defendants and a number of novel legal issues.

One of the defendants had an epileptic seizure while driving his SUV.  The defendant drove over the back of the motorcycle ridden by the firm’s client and her husband.  The collision broke the client’s pelvis and lower leg and caused the death of her husband who was burned to death when the motorcycle became trapped under the SUV and caught fire. The widow retained Bottaro, Morefield, Kubin & Yocum, L.C. to file suit against the driver and against the driver’s doctor who was alleged to have negligently provided medical treatment to the driver.  It was alleged that the doctor never informed the driver that he might be at risk of having a seizure while driving and that the doctor never informed the driver that his alcohol consumption could dangerously alter the effectiveness of his epilepsy medicine.

The jury rendered its verdict for the widow and assessed 100% of the fault against the driver of the SUV.  The jury awarded the widow more than $1.3 million for the death of her husband and $1.1 million for her own personal injuries.  The case was unusual in that there are very few situations in which Missouri law permits anyone other than a patient to make a medical malpractice claim against a doctor.  Missouri law permits such a claim, however, when someone is injured because the doctor fails to warn a patient that it is not safe to drive either due to medical treatment that was provided or due to a patient’s lack of understanding about his medical condition.

This is believed to be the largest verdict in Clay County in 2010 and it is one of the top 10 verdicts in the Kansas City area. Congratulations to Rick Morefield and Pat Bottaro on an outstanding result.