Connecticut Supreme Court building in Hartford. Photo: Michael Marciano/ALM

A unanimous ruling by the Connecticut Supreme Court has allowed a $4.2 million verdict to stand against an obstetrics and gynecology center in Bridgeport, which a trial jury agreed was responsible for permanent nerve damage to a child born in their care.

Plaintiffs counsel claimed that defendant OB-GYN Services P.C. failed to file an appeal of the October 2016 verdict within a mandatory 20 days.

The defendant had filed a motion to suspend the rules of the Practice Book to permit a late appeal. It also argued that the the Connecticut Appellate Court's decision to dismiss an untimely appeal was an abuse of discretion.

But the state's high court disagreed.

"Our decision in the present case means only that each case must stand or fall on its own merits," Justice Raheem Mullins wrote for the majority. "And the merits of this case do not persuade us that the Appellate Court abused its discretion."

Mullins wrote that a mistake on the part of the defense in filing an appeal was not the fault of the Appellate Court.

"Nor was the Appellate Court required to determine that the defendants' untimeliness was due to a reasonable, albeit mistaken, belief that Practice Book No. 63-1 (c) (1) provided them with a new appeal period," Mullins wrote.

The decision closes the matter, and allows the $4.2 million jury verdict and $1.6 million in interest for the family of Jenniyah Georges in Georges v. OB-GYN Services to stand.

The ruling stemmed from a 2011 lawsuit, which Maria Leoma filed against the Bridgeport-based health facility and certified nurse midwife Brenda Gilmore, alleging daughter Jenniyah sustained severe and permanent nerve damage following her 2009 birth.

Leoma claimed the defendants committed malpractice during her pregnancy, labor and during the delivery of her child.

In a separate, divided opinion, the high court ruled the Connecticut Appellate Court was not obligated to grant defendants a late appeal, despite arguments to the contrary. In the 4-2 ruling, Justices Gregory D'Auria and Richard Palmer dissented, saying the Appellate Court should have allowed the defense to file.

"I see no floodgates of late appeals bursting open if appellate courts were to take account of such confusion when considering whether to permit late appeals," D'Auria wrote for the minority.

Representing the plaintiffs were Alinor Sterling and James Horwitz of Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder in Bridgeport. Sterling declined to comment and Horwitz could not be reached by press time.

Representing the defense was David Robertson of Heidell Pittoni Murphy & Bach in Bridgeport and Malaina Sylvestre, who worked on the case when she was with the firm of Heidell Pittoni Murphy & Bach. Robertson declined to comment and Sylvestre did not respond to a request for comment.

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