Three Favorable Decisions for Appellate Practice

Three Favorable Decisions for Appellate Practice

June 2, 2022

HPS attorneys Hugh Griffin and Jacob Goldstein, Appellate Practice Group co-chairs, have successfully argued three cases in separate appellate jurisdictions. These appellate decisions, coming less than two months apart, underline the value of HPS's Appellate Group, which was recently recognized as one of the Chicago region's and one of the nation's top appellate practices.

Illinois Appellate Court
April 8, 2022, Decision

Appellate Court vacated its initial decision ordering a new trial, and affirmed the jury's verdict in favor of defendant hospital on the ground that none of the trial errors claimed by Plaintiff affected the issue of proximate cause, and therefore under the "general verdict/two-issue" rule, the claimed errors were harmless.

Nevada Court of Appeals
April 20, 2022, Decision

Appellate Court unanimously affirmed the district court's order dismissing Plaintiff's complaint for failing to comply with NRS 41A.071's medical expert affidavit requirement.  In addition to rejecting several separation of powers, equal protection, and due process challenges to the statute under both the U.S. and Nevada Constitutions, the Court also agreed with the defendants that Plaintiff's claim relating to an alleged delay in transferring patient medical records to a subsequent care provider sounded in professional negligence, rather than ordinary negligence, and thus required an expert affidavit.

United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
May 25, 2022, Decision

While reversing and remanding some of Plaintiff's claims against the County Defendants, the 10th Circuit unanimously affirmed partial summary judgment in favor of the numerous individual and entity medical defendants on Plaintiff's Section 1983 claims arising out of the Plaintiff's decedent's death from a sudden fatal epileptic seizure in April 2014. The Court agreed with the medical defendants that Plaintiff had failed to raise a material issue of fact establishing that either the nurses or the physicians involved in overseeing the decedent's care and treatment were deliberately indifferent to his medical needs while he was in pretrial custody at the Mesa County Detention Facility.