Lashly & Baer earn trio of defense victories

Patrick E. Foppe, member of Lashly & Baer, P.C. in St. Louis, Missouri, recently obtained summary judgment for American Millenium Insurance Company (AMIC). Zurich and Amazon had sued AMIC in an insurance dispute seeking more than $10 million in damages. The United States  district Court for the Western District of Missouri found that AMIC owed no legal duties to Zurich and Amazon in AMIC’s handling of an underlying wrongful death trucking accident case. Amazon Logistics, Inc., et al. v. Tedros Lake, et al., 4:2020cv00763-FJG (W.D.Mo. September 22, 2023).

In another matter concluded on September 22, 2023, Lashly & Bear attorneys Michael Barth and Katherine Vojas obtained a defense verdict for their healthcare clients in the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis. The case involved claims of academic medical practice and allegations that the Department of Ophthalmology failed to timely diagnose and treat a retinal detachment in a severely autistic, non-verbal adult. The defendants denied the allegations and asserted at trial that they were unable to perform a complete eye examination and the presenting complaint of “red eye” did not require further testing, such as an examination under anesthesia to examine the back of the eye. The defendants also presented evidence that the retinal detachment ultimately diagnosed about 3 and half months later was an old injury that had been present for at least a year or possibly years. After a week-long trial where plaintiffs requested nearly $5 million, the St. Louis City jury deliberated for 30 minutes before rendering its decision in favor of the defendants.

Finally, on August 8, 2023, attorneys William Magrath and Riley Brown obtained a unanimous defense verdict for their clients. Plaintiff claimed the defendants were medically negligent in not explicitly warning him to protect his numb limb from extremes of hot and cold after administering a popliteal nerve block. Plaintiff burned his foot on a car heater leading to an amputation. Defendants denied any negligence and challenged plaintiff’s theory of causation. The St. Louis County jury deliberated for less than an hour before rendering a unanimous defense verdict.