2014 | $800,000

A Cook County baby suffered shoulder dystocia during labor and delivery, and the boy was left permanently disabled and disfigured.

2009 | Angela C. v Rockford Health Physicians | Cook County | $5,000,000 Settlement

Angela, who was taking medication for high blood pressure, presented to defendants for a third trimester checkup. Allegedly, Angela was showing signs of pre-eclampsia. Although tests to check for pre-eclampsia were ordered, they were never completed, and the condition went undiagnosed. As a result, baby Nicholas sustained a brain injury with cerebral palsy. Nicholas, now 12, can walk only short distances and lacks fine motor skills. His cognitive ability is good, but his speech is slow.

2005 | Mateo R. v Friedman | Cook County | $3,270,000 Verdict

A male newborn suffered a severe stretch injury to the right-side brachial plexus nerves at C5-C7 and T1 (which resulted in permanent strength and range of motion deficits in his right arm) during his vaginal delivery after shoulder dystocia was encountered. Among other things, the defendants allegedly failed to properly assess the mother’s risk of fetal macrosomia (the baby weighed 11 pounds 5 ounces at birth), did not recommend a C-section despite a protracted second stage of labor, and employed excessive lateral traction during the delivery.

2004 | $10,000,000 Verdict

A four-year-old boy from Norridge, Illinois suffers birthing injuries including permanent brain damage after doctors failed to perform a timely C-section on his mother. $10 million annuity is expected to yield $54 million over the course of the child’s lifetime. The boy is now a teenager.

2015 | Alizabeth + Elvin H. v ISMIE Mutual Insurance Company | Cook County | $14,350,000 Verdict

Plaintiffs are the parents of a child who was born with severe brain damage at Rush North Shore Hospital. They filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against several parties (05L-7692) which resulted in a jury verdict of $6,171,119 against Dr. Albert Chams, Dr. Joyce Chams, and Chams Women’s Health Care S.C. (reported at JVR’s AAA 40/1). These three defendants were insured by ISMIE. Prior to the medical malpractice trial, the plaintiffs had made a settlement demand for what they believed was the Chams’ $5 million policy limits, but ISMIE refused to make any offer to settle the case or even engage in settlement negotiations. Plaintiffs later learned the Chams only had a total of $3 million in coverage. After applicable setoffs for settlements by the hospital and other defendants in the case, the judgment on the verdict exceeded the Chams’ policy limits by $1,350,000. Plaintiffs then filed this bad faith action against ISMIE to recover the excess amount (after assignment of the claim from the Chams). Plaintiffs asserted ISMIE acted in bad faith by failing to negotiate a settlement of the underlying case within the policy limits despite repeated opportunities to do so and despite the Chams’ written and oral demands to ISMIE to settle the matter within the policy limits. Plaintiffs further argued ISMIE misrepresented the amount of coverage as $5 million when only $3 million existed, failed to timely inform Dr. Joyce Chams of the possibility of an excess verdict with the potential of individual liability, misrepresented to the Chams that the case was winnable despite an ISMIE claims analyst’s belief there was only a “better than even” chance of winning, misrepresented to the Chams that it would engage in a high/low agreement during trial despite having no intention to do so, refused plaintiffs’ counsel’s request to reduce the excess verdict against the Chams by paying $800,000 of the child’s medical bills through the mother’s policy under the Illinois Family Expense Act instead of including them in the limited coverage available through the Chams’ policies, pursued an appeal of the underlying verdict despite knowing the chances of success were slim and knowing the Chams could be liable for post judgment interest while the appeal was pending, and refusing during five years of litigation to settle the bad faith claim for the excess amount of $1.35 million. ISMIE denied it acted in bad faith in declining to settle and denied any of its conduct justified submitting the issue of punitive damages to the jury. The defense maintained the entire claims staff, the Physicians Review committee, and retained counsel all favored defending the case and taking it to verdict, and ISMIE asked the Chams what they wanted to do when the jury announced it had reached a verdict and they responded that they wanted to “take the verdict”; the Chams later claimed they believed “take the verdict” meant entering into a high/low agreement. The jury in this 2015 trial deliberated one hour. ISMIE filed post-trial motions on several issues, including the constitutionality of the six-person jury. Plaintiffs’ counsel reports that deft’s post-trial motions for a new trial and remittitur of the punitive damages have been denied, and the court ruled plaintiffs will be awarded attorneys’ fees pursuant to the Illinois Insurance Code Section 215 ILCS 5/155.

2011 | Beverly v USA | Cook County | $9,000,000 Verdict

Wrongful death of a 40-year-old woman who was married, the mother of six children and pregnant. This also charged the wrongful death of her unborn child. Beverly was a 40-year-old mother to six girls and was pregnant with her seventh child. During her 34-week prenatal visit, she was noted to be short of breath and was advised to go to the emergency room of Norwegian American Hospital. Shewas admitted for pneumonia and she was known to have a history of asthma. Approximately 24 hours into her admission, she went into pulmonary-cardiac arrest and died. A crash c-section was performed but her baby was stillborn.