- Quickdraw McLaw
- 15 Comments
- 177 Views
Well folks, Robert Eglet, Will Kemp, and our famed Clark County jury pool have done it again! After a harrowing six-week trial, the jury awarded three plaintiffs a total of $24 million against Nevada’s largest insurer, the Health Plan of Nevada, finding HPN negligent in its oversight of Dr. Desai. (For full stories, check out Bloomberg, the RJ, or the Sun.) The jury awarded one plaintiff $9 million, while another was awarded $12 million (and not only was she awarded $12 million, but her septuagenarian husband was awarded $3 million for loss of consortium). Next up, Eglet has said that he will press his luck and ask the jury for the largest verdict ever in southern Nevada–punitive damages in the amount of ONE BILLION DOLLARS.
You have to hand to it Eglet for getting big results, but really, can you get much luckier as a plaintiff’s lawyer? First, Judge Walsh and then Judge Williams? Really? And as for the jury, you have to give them credit for not awarding the full amount Eglet was seeking for his married clients ($20 million for her and $5 million for him, but really, how can you award a 71 year old man $3 million for loss of consortium? Isn’t there some cap on non-economic damages or does that not apply? We are expecting all of you smart readers to enlighten us on whether we’re missing something here and/or why this award is right.
Also, lest he be forgotten, HPN’s counsel, D. Lee Roberts, Jr. of Weinberg Wheeler had no comment after the hearing, but we’re sure an appeal is in the works.
Finally, the number two headline on the local news last night was that Sheldon Adelson almost caused a mistrial after less than an hour on the stand in the Sands trial. The RJ reports that Mr. Adelson reached down and pulled out some previously undisclosed pamphlets. Apparently, from the time Adelson pulled out the books until the time attorney John O’Malley objected was approximately 80 seconds. O’Malley asked for a mistrial. For Judge Bare, that 80 seconds, plus the fact that O’Malley appeared to help stack the books, meant he acquiesced for at least a short period of time, so he refused to seat a new jury, but did instruct them to disregard what they saw. (Go ahead and try and unring that bell!)
One billion would be punitive alright!
First Teva, now HPN. Two completely different, almost contradictory, theories of liability. Elected judges. Uneducated jury pool. I love Las Vegas.
Looks like WWHGD associated in on Feb 22, replacing holland and hart.
Imagine this phone call call:
Caller: Hello Lee? This is corporate counsel's office over here at HPN, we'd like you to try a case for us in a month.
Lee Roberts: What's the case about?
Caller: This whole stupid Dr. Desai thing. Some guy's suing us saying we should have known that Desai was a bad guy and that we should have taken him off our provider list. Crazy stuff.
LR: Who's trying the case for the plaintiffs?
Caller: Oh, a couple of contingency-fee ambulance chasers named Kemp and Eglet.
LR: Really?! Who's the judge?
Caller: Oh, some guy named Williams.
LR: Hmmm. What are they asking for?
Caller: North of a billion dollars. Can you believe this nonsense?
12:50- Awesome!
There is only a cap on non-economic damages if the case is med-mal, which this wasn't.
I feel genuinely sorry for the defense lawyers. Like lambs to the slaughter
Looks like Weinberg got the call a few months before that, but were dropped into sole counsel role a bit ago. (Perhaps H&H got dropped because they didn't want to be associated with such a loss? )
If they got LR involved it was probably someone over at HPN who got scared and wanted someone with a lot of experience dealing with lost causes and making the best of a bad hand when situations changed or former counsel screwed things up.
Well, it looks like my health insurance premiums will be going up soon.
If they get the billion, I say Eglet and Kemp take us all to the Heart Attack Grill to celebrate, their treat.
Serious comment: April 8, 2013 at 10:44 AM is spot on; there needs to be some reasonably objective standard or at least parameters for punitive damages in cases like this. There is a difference (or there should be) between punishment and pure unadulterated angry, bitter, class vengeance from a resentful jury. Unfortunately, I just got back from 4 days in Carson City and I don't see great change in this regard.
Then again, why ask for $1 billion when you can ask for $2.49 billion?
The day that punitive damages are paid to foundation set up to work with those affected by the supposed evil acts (i.e. Legal Aid Society, or CDC Hep C research, etc.) is the day that I will support punitive damages. Until then, it's just a naked cash grab.
Sharkpimp, in regard to your comment "there needs to be some reasonably objective standard or at least parameters for punitive damages in cases like this", take a look at State Farm v. Campbell.
April 8, 2013 at 1:39 PM: Thank you for the citation. A reasonable standard to be sure. I will now demonstrate my ignorance and ask if the plaintiff's counsel is even worse at math than I am, because even pimp math can't make 24M times 10 a billion simolians…
Shark Pimp, where did you go to law school again?
April 9, 2013 at 5:41 PM – The Sponge Bob School of Law. It's not my job to practice the law, but every citizen needs to be aware of it.
Besides, can you argue with my math?
Shark Pimp probably swallowed when Bonaventura kick him, so what the hell.