Three months after a Philadelphia jury handed up the state's largest medical malpractice verdict of the year, the plaintiff's attorney is now asking the trial court to allow for a new trial solely on the issue of punitive damages.

The defendants in the case, meanwhile, are seeking to have the nearly $20 million verdict be tossed based on the plaintiff's counsel's "repeated attempts to inflame the jury."

In late September, a Philadelphia jury faulted Dr. Gyi Mo, a defendant in Melendez v. Mo, for allegedly allowing a lesion on plaintiff Diana Melendez's spinal cord to go undiagnosed for more than four years, leaving her with leg spasms, incontinence and trouble walking. The jury awarded $19.7 million against the defendants, but also found 6% comparative negligence against Melendez.