Judge Shalonda Jones-Parker, Clayton County State Court (Courtesy photo)

The $31 million verdict finally hammered out late Friday in the case of a child who suffered a botched circumcision left the nurse and doctor who had already been held liable for his damages responsible for 80 percent of the award.

The jury also found that three defendants should be liable for $100,000 in punitive damages and $150,000 in attorney fees.

The initial verdict was complicated when the owner of two companies involved, Life Cycle Pediatrics LLC and Life Cycle OB/GYN LLC, was declared negligent by the jury, but the jury also said she did not cause the boy's injury. Even so, the jury still apportioned Anne Sigouin 10 percent of the damages.

Faced with this inconsistency, the judge ordered the jury back into deliberations, after which they changed the verdict to find causation on her part. Her attorney said he is likely to appeal that ruling.

The case began in 2013 when the child's mother took the 18-day-old boy to Life Cycle OB/GYN and Pediatrics in Riverdale for a circumcision. A nurse midwife, Melissa Jones, performed the procedure, which left the child bleeding profusely.

Jones summoned pediatrician Brian Register, who advised using pressure and silver nitrate sticks to stop the bleeding and called the facility's owner, Sigouin, to tell her a portion of the tip of the child's penis had been severed.

Jones called Willis' treating pediatrician, Abigail Kamishlian, and told her about the incident. Kamishlian advised Jones to tell Willis to take the infant to the emergency room if the bleeding started again and to see Kamishlian the next day. Unbeknownst to Willis, the severed piece of penile tissue had been stored in a refrigerator, but there was never any attempt to reattach it.

Willis sued Life Cycle, Jones, Sigouin and Register, as well as Kamishlian and her employer, Daffodil Pediatric and Family Medical services, in Clayton County State Court in 2014.

In June, Clayton County State Court Judge Shalonda Jones-Parker struck the defenses of Jones, Register and his practice as a sanction for destroying the severed tissue, ruling they “deliberately acted to keep the plaintiff from seeing the severed tissue sliced from the penis of her 18-day-old infant initially by failing to inform her altogether and then by destroying the tissue upon learning of the pending lawsuit against them and their employer.”

Sigouin and Life Cycle Pediatrics were not sanctioned.

During a nine-day trial before Jones-Parker, a plaintiffs' team including Pope McGlamry lawyers C. Neal Pope, Jay Hirsch, Michael Blakely Jr., Courtney Engelke and Caroline McGlamry and Atlanta solo Jonathan Johnson urged jurors to hold all of the defendants liable.

Jones, Register and the OB/GYN practice, whose defenses was stripped by the judge's sanction, were defended by Hall Booth Smith partner “Chip” Benton III. Benton conceded that damages were justified but asked that jurors be “fair” and “reasonable,” suggesting between $500,000 and $1 million as appropriate.

Sigouin and Life Cycle pediatrics were represented by Huff Powell & Bailey's R. Page Powell Jr. and Michael Frankson, who argued they bore no responsibility and that Sigouin had simply relied on Register's expertise as the on-site doctor.

Kamishlian and Daffodil were represented by Robert Monyak and Austin Ellis of Peters & Monyak.

In closing, Monyak said Kamishlain's only purported offense was taking Jones' phone call and, after hearing the nurse midwife's assessment, issuing reasonable advice to make sure the bleeding was controlled and instructing Willis to come in the next day.

On Friday, the final jury verdict awarded $30 million in past and future pain and suffering, along with $400,000 in past and future medical expenses for the child and $380,000 for his mother, for a total of $30,780,000.

Of that, 50 percent was apportioned to Jones and the OB/GYN; 30 percent to Register and the OB/GYN; 10 percent to Sigouin and 10 percent to Kamishlian and Daffodil.

The $115,000 in attorney fees and $100,000 in punitive damages, awarded against Jones, Register and the OBG/GYN and against Sigouin, bring the total award to $30,995,000.

Pope did not respond to a request for comment, but Johnson said “it was truly a privilege and an honor to work with the trial team at Pope McGlamry to obtain an outstanding verdict for our client.”

Read the verdict form: