Turned down by other law firms, a young widow whose husband had been abhorrently ignored by ER doctors at a Florida Hospital turned to Leesfield & Partners for help. Ten months later, Leesfield & Partners was able to secure a multi-million dollar settlement during the claim’s pre-suit period, for the loss of her husband and for her young son’s loss of his father.
Earlier this year, the firm reached another multi-million dollar settlement on behalf of an adolescent girl whose doctor failed to recognize that his patient had sustained a stroke. The doctor’s unbelievable failure to diagnose caused delay in administering known effective treatment. Due to this physician’s negligence, our 17-year-old client was left with permanent cerebral sequelae which have drastically altered the quality of the remainder of her life.
These catastrophic medical malpractice cases were the main target of previous Administrations who actively sought (and succeeded to) limit the recovery of medical malpractice victims through arbitrary and unconstitutional laws. Indeed, since 2003, Justice for medical malpractice victims has been very hard to obtain due to insurance company-friendly laws. Governor Jeb Bush at the time forced the passage of statutory caps for plaintiffs who had been victims of medical malpractice, limiting the monetary compensation they rightfully deserved. The preeminent argument was that malpractice insurance premiums for Florida doctors were skyrocketing and causing good doctors to flee the state as a consequence.
Fast-forward 14 years, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision that caps on damages in medical malpractice cases are unconstitutional. Victims and Advocate Groups finally prevailed against a despicable law that was nothing more but tort reform pretext made up as Floridian’ salvation from frivolous claims. In other words: a total lie.
The very much intended consequence of the 2003 amendment was to kill medical malpractice claims in their infancy – and it worked! For 14 years, Personal Injury Lawyers had to review potential medical malpractice claims through the prism of statutory caps. As a result, an inordinate number of valid claims were turned down because the laws in place were mightily deterrent, regardless of the magnitude of injury or the type of negligence committed.
Leesfield & Partners’s recent settlements is the positive sign that Floridians should welcome. At last, their damages will be heard. Health practitioners and their insurance carriers have started to compensate victims adequately or face a jury not bound by artificial and unfair caps. Lady Justice got her scale back.