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Philadelphia – A common pleas jury has awarded $20.8 million to a Philadelphia podiatrist whose foot was amputated after she entered the hospital for treatment of an unrelated illness.



In March 1997, the podiatrist, Ellisa Young, entered Hahnemann hospital for treatment of Crohn’s disease. Shortly after being admitted, a central venal catheter was inserted into her internal jugular so that steroids could be administered intravenously, said her attorney, Rob Ross of Kline & Specter.



Ross said the catheter was left inside Young for 25 straight days, even after she had a fever that jumped three days before the instrument was removed and a white blood cell count that was high – all signs of a septic infection.



After the catheter was removed, the infection caused a pus-filled clot to travel from Young’s lungs into her left foot. The foot became gangrenous. On April 19, Young was released from Hahnemann and was admitted to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.



At HUP, her embolism was diagnosed. However, gangrene infested her foot so severely that it was amputated to the ankle in two surgical procedures.



Young returned to her home soon after the surgery but was bedridden and confined to her home for almost two years, Ross said.



Ross also said that even when Young was able to go to work, she could not perform her duties.



“She could not work as a podiatrist because that is a physical occupation. She had to get on the floor to examine patients. The rigors of the job would make it very difficult to do while she was in pain,” Ross said.



Young then filed suit against Norman Zitomer, her attending physician; Ahmer Kashif, a resident who treated Young; and Hahnemann.



At trial, Zitomer was represented by Kevin Wright of Wright Young & McGilvery. Kashif and Hahnemann were represented by William Sutton of Post & Schell.



Ross tried the case with Jonathan Cohen, also of Kline & Specter.



According to Ross, the defendants argued that the increase in blood sugar and white blood cell count were all symptoms of Crohn’s disease. The amount of time the catheter stayed in Young was also disputed. The defense said the device was removed after seven days and was then reinserted for an additional 18 days.



After a two-week trial before Judge Norman Ackerman, the jury returned its $20.8 million verdict, attributing 60 percent of liability to Zitomer and 5 percent to Kashif. The jury also attributed 35 percent of the liability to the hospital in a separate verdict, Ross said. The verdict against the hospital included agents who examined Young during the course of her treatment.



Wright said he plans to appeal on behalf of Zitomer.



“My client does not have $20 million in his checkbook. … I feel like I am Atticus Finch, because the evidence clearly has nothing to do with the outcome,” he said.



“The jury deliberated for about 3 1/2 hours. The verdict sheet had at least 20 questions on it. They were able to do all that, plus decide on the amount of the verdict in that amount of time? The jury probably would have found against the cafeteria workers if they had been on the verdict sheet.”



Sutton could not be reached by press time for comment.

Federal Court Holds Lawyer Has Valid Defamation Claim Against ABA Journal

Philadelphia – Attorney Richard Sprague has cleared a significant hurdle in his defamation lawsuit against the American Bar Association and its monthly magazine, the ABA Journal, now that a federal judge has ruled that readers of the magazine could have attached defamatory meaning to the magazine’s labeling Sprague a “fixer.”



The ABA’s lawyers had urged U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr. to dismiss the suit, arguing that the description of Sprague in an October 2000 article as “perhaps the most powerful lawyer-cum-fixer in the state” was clearly intended as a compliment.



“The use of the term ‘fixer’ to describe a prominent, highly successful lawyer, widely known and sought after for his effectiveness as a problem-solver and trouble-shooter in connection with politically sensitive issues and cases, is not unusual,” attorneys David H. Marion and Joyce S. Meyers of Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads wrote.



But Yohn sided with Sprague and found that “fixer” also has a negative meaning that includes the criminal act of “fixing” cases.



Yohn found that the ABA Journal’s use of the term was not absolutely clear – even when read in context.



“Because of this ambiguity in the context of the article, I must find that readers of ABA Journal could possibly have understood the term ‘fixer’ to be defamatory,” Yohn wrote in Sprague v. The ABA, PICS Case No. 01-2270 (Pa. E.D. Nov. 14, 2001) Yohn, J. (11 pages).



Sprague sued over a four-page article headlined “Cops in the Crossfire” in which reporter Terry Carter detailed the unusual court battles that ensued after Philadelphia police officer Christopher DiPasquale shot Donta Dawson, an unarmed black teen-ager in the early morning hours of Oct. 19, 1998.



When the District Attorney’s Office chose not to prosecute DiPasquale, the article said, a group of black leaders and elected officials filed a private criminal complaint and won a court order from a black judge that required D.A. Lynne Abraham to pursue murder charges.



Sprague’s suit focuses on a single paragraph: “The political stakes were raised in May when the D.A. accepted outside help in the case from her former boss, Richard Sprague, perhaps the most powerful lawyer-cum-fixer in the state. The appearance of the storied Dick Sprague set off alarms in the black precincts. Within a week, they brought in their own big guns.”



In its November 2000 issue, the magazine printed a clarification that said: “Attorney Richard Sprague has objected to a reference made to him in ‘Cops in the Crossfire.’… The Journal intended the reference to mean that Sprague is known for his problem-solving skills in politically nuanced cases. The Journal did not intend to convey that Sprague has engaged in any unethical or illegal activity. The Journal regrets any confusion that may have arisen from its reference to Sprague.”



In his suit, Sprague and his lawyer, James E. Beasley of Beasley Casey & Erbstein, allege that the article falsely implied that Sprague has “fixed” cases and “used ‘power’ to influence and/or arrange their outcomes by improper and/or unlawful means.”



Such a description, the suit says, “falsely ascribed to [Sprague] conduct and a character that would adversely affect his fitness to properly perform the practice of law.”



But the ABA’s lawyers argued that Sprague’s suit should be tossed out because it is “based on three words taken out of context” and “relies on a forced, strained and unreasonable interpretation of the words.”



Now Yohn has refused to dismiss the suit in an 11-page opinion that includes several capsule accounts of the use of the term “fixer” to describe notorious criminals.



Yohn found that readers of the ABA Journal are usually members of the bar and are therefore a “sophisticated audience.”



“Trained in law school, such readers would be tuned to nuance and be conscious of word choice. Such readers would be aware that the term ‘fixer,’ as defendants admit, does have two meanings,” Yohn wrote.



One of those meanings, Yohn said, is the one the magazine insists that it intended – that Sprague has a reputation as a politically savvy lawyer who can achieve results for his clients that others with fewer skills or connections could not.



But Yohn said Sprague had also proved that the term “fixer” is used by lawyers and judges to refer to illegal and improper acts.



House OKs Two-Year Moratorium on Landfills



Harrisburg – The House of Representatives approved a two-year moratorium on most new or expanded landfills last week, and Gov. Mark Schweiker said he would likely sign the bill if it reaches his desk.



The legislation, including several floor amendments, was approved 196-0.



One of several environmental bills the House approved and sent to the Senate last Monday, the bill would bar the Department of Environmental Protection from issuing permits for most new landfills or expansions of existing landfills for two years. Exceptions would be allowed in certain cases, such as for landfills with less than five years of remaining capacity.



It also gives host municipalities, defined in the amended House bill as any municipality within a mile of a landfill site, the authority to veto DEP permit decisions.



Ironically, the House also approved a bill dealing with fees and other standards for trash trucks that includes an amendment to require a three-year landfill moratorium. Proponents said it was insurance against expected efforts in the Senate to gut the moratorium bill.



Former Gov. Tom Ridge had advocated the moratorium, and fellow Republican Schweiker told a Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon last week that he would likely sign the measure if it reaches his desk.



“Based on what I know now, I’m comfortable with it,” Schweiker said. “It would likely earn my support and signature.”



Pennsylvania is the nation’s largest importer of out-of-state trash, and Democrats criticized the DEP for standing by while both the trash and authorized landfill capacity have grown.



“The battle now turns to the Senate, where an entrenched and well-heeled waste industry has many friends,” said Rep. Camille “Bud” George, D-Centre, a longtime champion of a landfill moratorium who sponsored successful amendments to both the moratorium and the trucking bills.



Rep. David K. Levdansky, D-Allegheny, bemoaned the absence of any provision to roll back thousands of tons per day of landfill capacity that is authorized under existing permits, which will allow many of the state’s 50 landfills to continue to grow even with a moratorium.



Levdansky introduced an amendment to curb excess landfill capacity, but it bogged down in a series of parliamentary rulings by House Speaker Matthew Ryan, R-Delaware.



Also last Monday, by a vote of 195-0, the House approved a bill to regulate “light pollution” under state law for the first time.



The proposed Outdoor Lighting Control Act, which still must be approved by the Senate, would require state agencies to use fully shielding lighting units in all outdoor installations of new or replacement lighting.



The bill also would require the Conservation Department to designate and manage Cherry Springs State Park in Potter County as a “dark sky preserve.”

Case Dismissed, Strip Club Remains Closed