Supreme Court Heading to Mercer Law
The event is one of a few sessions each year when the high court travels outside Atlanta to hear cases for the stated purpose of making the court's business and the judicial process more accessible to the public.
April 08, 2019 at 06:04 PM
3 minute read
The Georgia Supreme Court will hold oral arguments at Mercer University School of Law in Macon Friday in the Bell-Jones Courtroom, beginning at 10 a.m.
The event is one of a few sessions each year when the high court travels outside Atlanta to hear cases for the stated purpose of making the court's business and the judicial process more accessible to the public. The justices will hear appeals from a medical malpractice trial and a murder conviction.
Rockdale Hospital is seeking reversal of a Georgia Court of Appeals decision ordering a new trial in a medical malpractice case. In January 2012, 60-year-old Janice Evans woke up one night with what she described as the worst headache of her life, and she was sick to her stomach. She thought it was food poisoning. After two days of this, her husband took her to Rockdale's emergency room. The triage nurse failed to document the initial complaint of headache, according to the court's summary. The nurse did document her extremely high blood pressure, which can also signify bleeding on the brain. She was sent home with instructions to follow up with her primary care physician. Her husband made the first available appointment for six days later. Her problems continued until suddenly she couldn't get up. She returned in an ambulance to the ER, where a CT scan showed a blood clot in her brain. She was transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where further testing showed she had suffered several strokes as a result of a ruptured brain aneurysm. She is now permanently and totally disabled, requires a feeding tube, cannot speak and requires 24-hour care.
A DeKalb County jury awarded the amount her lawyers requested for medical expenses, $1.2 million, but nothing for future medical expenses, lost wages or pain and suffering. The jury awarded her husband $67,000 for pain and suffering. And the jury apportioned 49 percent of the fault to her, reducing her recovery.
The Court of Appeals set aside the verdict and ordered a new trial, finding that the award of zero damages for Evans' past pain and suffering “rendered the award of damages so clearly inadequate under a preponderance of the evidence as to shock the conscience and necessitate a new trial.”
The hospital is being defended by Daniel Huff, R. Page Powell Jr. and Sharonda Barnes of Huff Powell Bailey. Janice and Shawn Evans are represented by Leighton Moore, Lawrence Schlachter, Lloyd Bell and James Wilson Jr.
In the murder case, Robert Mitchum is appealing a Bryan County court's denial of his motion for a new trial, alleging that prosecutors had improper communication with the jury, according to the court's summary.
Mitchum's attorneys are Sarah Gerwig-Moore of the Mercer Habeas Project, Meagan Hurley, E. Addison Gantt and Matthew Gilbo. On the state's side are District Attorney J. Thomas Durden Jr., Assistant DA Billy Nelson Jr., Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, Deputy AG Beth Burton and Senior Assistant AG Paula Smith.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All40% Contingency: A New Ruling Just Cost This Plaintiff Team $827K in Legal Fees
6 minute read'David and Goliath' Dispute Between Software Developers Ends in $24M Settlement
Trending Stories
- 1Litigators of the Week: A Knockout Blow to Latest FCC Net Neutrality Rules After ‘Loper Bright’
- 2Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout-Outs
- 3Norton Rose Sues South Africa Government Over Ethnicity Score System
- 4KMPG Wants to Provide Legal Services in the US. Now All Eyes Are on Their Big Four Peers
- 5Friday Newspaper
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250