Mr. Robert Smith and Mr. Patrick McHale successfully defended an Infectious Disease Physician and his group in a Cook County medical malpractice case involving the death of a 64-year-old male from sepsis.  The plaintiff alleged the defendant physician negligently failed to diagnose and treat sepsis, and should have prescribed antibiotics and antiviral therapy even though there was no evidence of a known infection on the date in question.  The jury deliberated for one hour before returning a not guilty verdict in favor of both defendants. 

Christopher Cahill, a member of Lowis & Gellen’s Corporate Practice Group, has been named to the Board of Directors of Baroque Band, Chicago’s period-instrument orchestra.  For the Baroque Band’s concert schedule and other information, please see http://www.baroqueband.org/.

Congratulations!

Lowis & Gellen has been named "Banking & Finance Litigation Law Firm of 2013 - North America" by InterContinental Finance Magazine
For more information contact Jerry Haberkorn @ jhaberkorn@lowis-gellen.com

TRIAL VICTORY IN SEXUAL HARASSMENT/HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT CLAIM

Lowis & Gellen partners Pamela L. Gellen and Patrick R. Moran obtained a not guilty verdict in federal court on behalf of the Will County Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Paul J. Kaupas and a retired lieutenant after a two-week jury trial.  The plaintiff, a former correctional officer at the Will County Jail, sued the Will County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Paul Kaupas and a retired lieutenant under Title VII alleging that eight coworkers had sexually harassed her over a 15-month period while she worked at the jail.  She also alleged that she had to leave her job due to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) she developed as a result of the harassment, and is now no longer employable in any capacity because she has a difficult time leaving her home and caring for herself as a result of the PTSD.  At trial, Ms. Gellen and Mr. Moran established that the plaintiff was not sexually harassed, that she did not complain to anyone about sexual harassment while she was working and that the reason she left her job had nothing to do with sexual harassment.  They were able to show that the plaintiff had friendships with several coworkers she had accused of sexual harassment, including one with whom she had started a romantic relationship after the alleged harassment began.  Although the plaintiff said she complained to numerous supervisors about sexual harassment while she was working, the supervisors, many of whom are women, testified that the plaintiff made no such complaints.  The plaintiff's fiancé, who was also one of the plaintiff’s coworkers at the jail, testified that he did not know of any sexual harassment while the plaintiff was working.  Finally, the defense showed that the plaintiff stopped working after she was caught falsifying an official incident report regarding an inmate fight.  Throughout the trial and especially during her testimony, the plaintiff had several emotional outbursts and moments of uncontrolled sobbing, but the defense played audio recordings from an interview the plaintiff had given to an internal affairs investigator in which she calmly described the same instances of alleged harassment without any emotion.  The defense also played a surveillance video recording that showed the plaintiff doing activities outside of her home she said she could no longer do.  As for the plaintiff's alleged inability to work, the defense contended that she did not have PTSD and had no functional limitations that prevented her from working.  Notably, the trial judge struck the plaintiff’s treating psychiatrist’s opinion that the plaintiff had PTSD as a result of what occurred at the jail because the psychiatrist recanted her opinions under questioning by Ms. Gellen.

Congratulations to 2013's Super Lawyers:

Pamela L. Gellen

Gerald Haberkorn

Andrea H. Kott

Robert H. Smeltzer

Rising Star for 2013 is:

Elizabeth M. Smith

Trial victory for Defendant Physicians

Lowis & Gellen partners Scott R. Wolfe and Mark J. Smith obtained a “not guilty” for Joliet, Illinois cardiologists in a multi-week trial ending on January 16, 2013. The plaintiff, a 63 year-old male, was evaluated for bilateral knee pain. He was a complex patient with a prior history of myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease, multiple vessel bypass surgery, arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation, pacemaker implantation, defibrillator implantation, insulin-dependent diabetes, obesity and diminished lung capacity. An orthopedic surgeon asked Lowis & Gellen’s client, a large cardiology group, to clear the patient to undergo surgery. The cardiologists OK'ed surgery, which took place May 12, 2004. In the first few days following surgery plaintiff had a myriad of complications including blood clots, pulmonary embolism and bowel ileus. Eventually the patient’s bowel perforated and was emptying contents into plaintiff's abdomen, causing a massive infection, sepsis. The patient spent a month in the ICU of a Joliet, Illinois area hospital and underwent two major abdominal surgeries. He was then transferred to a Chicago referral center and underwent 2 more emergency surgeries to attempt to save his life but these also failed and he died due to multi-system organ failure, nearly $1,000,000 in bills, leaving a wife, adult children and several grandchildren. Plaintiff alleged the patient should never have been cleared for an elective surgery given his severe chronic medical conditions. Scott and Mark successfully argued although the patient had severe conditions, they had been relatively stable for several years and it prospectively appeared the patient would survive the operation. Therefore, clearance was appropriate and the standard of care was met. Scott and Mark also argued that the post-operative complications that arose were non-cardiac. However, the jury never reached those arguments in their deliberations, telling Scott and Mark that their defense on the prospective standard of care was so persuasive, they found for the cardiologists on standard of care issues alone.