Personal Injury Law

Closing Arguments: Something to Remind the Jury in Serious Personal Injury Cases

Pat Malone put on his website a closing argument he made in a Maryland medical malpractice case. In his final thoughts to the jury, he reminded the jurors of what I always remind jurors of when I'm delivering a closing: the memories of the victim will fade for you and for me, but this person is going to live with these injuries for the rest of his/her life.

In this Montgomery County medical malpractice case, the jury awarded $5.8 million for the wrongful death of a 47-year-old lawyer whose untreated mole turned into a skin cancer that spread to his brain. The jury awarded $3 million in non-economic damages, including $1 million each to Plaintiff?s widow and to his estate and $500,000 each to Plaintiff?s two children. That portion of the award will be reduced to $812,500 due to Maryland?s cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases with at least two claimants. Plaintiff is expected to appeal arguing the unconstitutionality of Maryland?s cap on damages generally and the specific portion of the cap that applies to medical malpractice cases.

Full post as published by Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog on December 16, 2008 (boomark / email).