LDM Obtained Summary Judgment in Medical Malpractice Case

After 7 years of litigation, two mistrials, and only days before starting a third jury trial, LDM obtained summary judgment in a medical malpractice case. The case involved a woman who lost her breast after developing mastitis caused by an especially aggressive strain of MRSA. The parties first tried the case in the summer of 2022. It ended in a mistrial after 3 jurors were excused less than 24 hours of being seated, leaving the parties with fewer than the statutory 12 jurors. The second trial, in January 2023, resulted in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked. A year later, the parties geared up for their third jury trial. Given the Nebraska Supreme Court’s clarification of the locality rule in Carson v. Steinke, 314 Neb. 140 (2023), a pretrial motion in limine was filed to determine whether the plaintiff’s experts had sufficiently demonstrated their familiarity with the local standard of care to give standard of care opinions. The district court agreed the experts had not and precluded them from giving any such opinions at trial. Unable to establish a prima facie case of medical malpractice, the district court granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Patrick Vipond and Cathy Trent-Vilim served as trial counsel in all three instances.