HMA Law – Blog

Dentsply International has announced that it will be suing a law firm that it claims displayed professional negligence in losing a breach of contract case that was filed against it, this losing the dental device maker more than $15 million.

The law firm had represented them in a breach of contract lawsuit that had been filed against it by Guidance Endodontics over a supply deal for dental obturators, endodontic files and ovens

The courts eventually awarded in favour of Guidance, with http://www.massdevice.com stating that Dentsply had to fork out “$4 million for the breach of contract, punitive damages of $40 million and legal fees of more than $3.5 million, according to court documents. The judge in the case later reduced the punitive damages to $4 million, according to the documents.”

Not the company is making a professional negligence lawsuit against the law firm that represented it, claiming that Lewis & Roca and Gulley were guilty of professional malpractice as they ”failed to develop a theory of the case prior to trial,” “failed to conduct adequate and appropriate discovery,” “failed to retain appropriate experts or elicit necessary expert testimony,” “failed to object to erroneous jury instructions and invited error,” “failed to make appropriate motions” and “failed to preserve key issues for appeal.”

The lawsuit continues “As a direct and proximate result of defendants’ professional negligence, breach of contract, and breaches of the applicable standard of care and fiduciary duties, Guidance obtained a verdict against clients in excess of $44 million dollars, and clients sustained damages in excess of $15 million dollars.”

There has been no comment from the law firm as of yet about the case.

Two more professional negligence lawsuits have been filed against the NFL by former players who claim that governing body of American Football failed to protect players from the after-effects of suffering concussions on the field.

The lawsuit was filed in Philadelphia and blames the NFL for yet more cases of concussion-related dementia and brain disease, in addition to claiming that the NFL hid vital medical evidence about the risk associated with getting a concussion.

The National Football League is also believed to have failed to inform players that they risked permanent damage if they returned to the game too soon after suffering a concussion.

One lawsuit names eight former players and five spouses as plaintiffs; the other includes 42 former players and 23 spouses. Amongst the players making the professional negligence claims are Leroy Kelly and Keith Byars.

A host of other similar lawsuits have sprung up across the United States and it is looking increasingly likely that the NFL will be forced to offer some form of compensation.

The Commonwealth Ports Authority has announced that it will be filing a professional negligence lawsuit against a Texan company after the group produced a faulty design for the construction of the West Tinian Sirport facility in Singapore.

The CPA are looking to claim $1 million in the lawsuit, in which they accuse Leo A. Daly Co of professional negligence, breach of contract, fraud and professional malpractice in addition to providing designs that are in violation of the Consumer Protection Act and the CNMI Building Safety Code.

The group are claiming that the Texan company used its international reputation to secure the contract before violating it in a number of areas, with the professional negligence lawyers representing CPA commenting “For example, [Leo A. Daly's] work was not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, nor was it compliant with typhoon and earthquake standards applicable to Tinian.”

The company provided construction management services in addition to designing the improvements to facilities that was carried out at West Tinian Airport, completing the contract in 2008.

The Japan Coast Guard have arrested a pair of ship captains, who operated Russian and Singaporean ships, on Thursday on a charge of suspected professional negligence after the vessels that they were commanding collided into the Niigata port on Tuesday.

Zaika Alexander, the 50-year-old Russian skipper of the 2,163-ton Russian-registered freighter Tanya Karpinskaya, and Ignacy Marek, the 65-year-old Polish master of the 6,245-ton Singaporean-registered container ship Kota Duta, are both to stand accused of professional negligence for their apparent failure to prevent the collision, which also caused the Russian vessel to sink.

All 17 members aboard the Russian vessel were rescued after the collision, which occured when it was moving to a different pier at the same time as the Kota Duta left port.

The ship was carrying a cargo of two vehicles and 13,000 tons of scrap metal, with the owner of the ship claiming that he had returned to Japan to return the vehicles after Russian authorities refused them due to their having higher-than-allowed radiation levels.

Nathan Bracken, who is a former Australian cricketer and aspiring television dancer, has announced that he will be filing a lawsuit against Cricket Australia for the professional negligence that they apparently displayed when treating the knee injury that eventually ended his career.

He claims that the doctors and lead physiotherapist who work as part of the group are incompetent and can’t give the correct advice to elite athletes. Lawyers for Cricket Australia are already busy defending against the allegations.

The case has yet to go to court, however a Supreme Court hearing ordered the ex-cricketer to declare the amount that he would be making a claim for, with Bracken eventually settling on a figure of $1 million for lost earnings as a result of the injury and failure to properly treat it.

According to http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ ”In his statement of claim, Bracken states that the two doctors and a physiotherapist working for Cricket Australia should have recognised from MRI scans that he needed to have arthroscopic surgery on his knee in 2007.”

He said the failure to refer him to a specialist restricted him from training and eventually ruined his career in the game.

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has ruled that a physician can be sued for professional negligence if it is adjudged that their actions caused emotional distress, even if they made no physical impact that led to distress.

The ruling was made in a case that centres around a mother’s accusation that her doctor was professionally negligent after failing to prepare her for the shock of seeing her newborn babies deformities. The decision may now open the watershed for similar claims against doctors in the area.

“The really troubling thing about this case is that nothing could have been done to change the [baby's] condition,” said Daniel Rovner, an attorney for Chester County Hospital, one of the defendants. “There was no treatment, nothing medically that could have been done. The bigger picture is that the plaintiff’s bar is going to use this as an attempt to expand the law to explain emotional distress.”

Jeanelle Toney claims she went to Pennsylvania radiologist Maheep Goyal, MD, back in March 2003 for an ultrasound that didn’t turn up any abnormalities, however she later went on to deliver a child with pronounced deformities, including partial arms and legs.

She is now suing Dr Goyal, claiming that he failed to prepare her for the shock of this, claiming he was negligent in doing so. The claimant states that she experiences ongoing grief, rage, nightmares, nausea, hysteria and insomnia. The lawsuit did not include a medical negligence claim.

Dr Goyal defended, stating that Toney must prove that she was subject to a physical impact if she is to claim damages for emotional distress. However the court has thrown this defence out, leaving the doctor open to a professional negligence charge.

A psychiatrist who has admitted to having sex with one of his patients is now being sued for professional negligence by the woman, who claims that he abused his position of trust. He argues against this, claiming that he shouldn’t be punished a the intercourse did her no harm.

The patient, Dr. Abigail McNally, is a licensed psychologist who was undergoing psychoanalysis with Smith as part of a training program at the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis. She had intended to become a psychoanalyst.

However she eventually started a sexual relationship with Smith and is now suing him for professional negligence reckless infliction of emotional stress, and unfair and deceptive practices under the state Consumer Protection Act. The woman’s husband is also a plaintiff in the case, claiming that the incident led to his wide becoming distant. He claims to have lost the “companionship, society, services, and affection” of his wife.

Whilst having sex with a patient is now a crime in Massachusetts, it is grounds for the revocation of a licence. As such Smith gave up his medical licence in June 2010, before the lawsuit was filed, and has also resigned from a number of psychiatric organisations.

An investigation into the 2011 Brisbane River floods has found that, with proper management, the entire catastrophe could have been contained within the Wivenhoe Dam.

The flood, which affected thousands of properties and caused billions of dollars worth of damage, would never have happened if dam operators had not displayed professional negligence in failing to strictly follow the manual related to dam operations according to Andrew Dragun.

Mr Dragun is an academic expert who specialises in water management and he claims that his new study showed that the dam’s operators, SEQWater, were negligent in that they were too slow to release small amounts of water, leaving them to release large amounts instead thus causing the flood.

The study, based on a mathematical construct and simulations, comes as lawyers specialising in professional negligence, look to build a case against the dam’s operators. Professor Dragun’s conclusion differs to that of hydrologists who have previously testified in the inquiry and the investigation will now looking into the possibility that dam regulations were broken during operation.

Professor Dragun commented “The clear evidence from the actual data of the flood event indicates that SEQWater were very slow to adopt the appropriate dam water release strategies, as indicated by the prevailing water levels in the dam and explicitly required in the operations manual,” his paper states. “There are numerous reports during the incident and after which claim that the dam was being managed by the ‘appropriate’ strategies, but in most cases these claims are not supported by the water releases which the authority actually made. The facts are that the entire incident could have been managed within a clear program of releases which only marginally exceeds a maximum release regime of 3500 cumecs.

“Brisbane city did not need to experience the level of flooding that it was exposed to.”

A number of people have hit out at the security forces on duty during the recent stadium riots in the Egyptian city of Port Said, claiming that the professional negligence that they displayed was partially to blame for the incident.

The riot left at least 74 people dead, with hundreds more injured, and officials from the club Al-Ahly have claimed that there may even be shadows of politically motivated violence behind the disturbance. Some players have also claimed that they now intend to end their professional careers.

Protesters have now gathered in Cairo to protest against the supposed negligence on the part of security forces, with hundreds also gathering in Port Said.

Soldiers have already been deployed in an effort to prevent any further unrest and the head of the Military Council, Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, has instigated an investigation into the riot.

According to Egypt’s Health Ministry, at least 1,000 people were injured. The death toll is currently believed to be between 74-77, with security forces also making up some of the dead.

A recent court ruling has confirmed that a firm’s retainer can’t be transferred over to another firm if the initial firm is taken over. The ruling looks set to seriously damage a professional negligence case that has been levied against Pinsent Masons by Shepherd Construction.

The two firms have been embroiled in a legal battle for a number of years after Shepherd alleged that Pinsents and the firm that preceded it failed to provide them with good advice relating to the effectiveness of ‘pay when paid’ clauses. They also allege that the firm failed to advise them on the effect that The Enterprise Act 2002 would have on such clauses.

The blow comes after the firm had attempted to amend the particulars of their claim, contending that their relationship with the firm and its legacy practices, including pre-LLP Pinsent Masons and Masons, amounted to a single relationship for the firm. They claim that the advice given to it could have been reviewed at later dates as part of a continual contract.

Pinsents responded by attempting to have the amendment struck out, with Mr Justice Akenhead eventually finding in favour of the firm. He stated that it would be “commercially and professionally worrying if professional people are to be held responsible for reviewing all previous advice or indeed services provided,” as part of his ruling.