The Superior Court of the District of Columbia (“D.C. Superior Court”) is the trial court of general jurisdiction for the District of Columbia, which was established by the U.S. Congress in 1970. The D.C. Superior Court consists of a chief judge, 61 associate judges, and 24 magistrate judges as well as retired judges who have been recommended and approved as senior judges.
The D.C. Superior Court released its data regarding medical malpractice cases that were tried to verdict between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2014. Of the 8 D.C. medical malpractice cases tried to verdict during 2014, three were in favor of the plaintiff and five were defense verdicts. The highest plaintiff’s medical malpractice verdict was $463,725.76 (the other two plaintiff’s verdicts in D.C. medical malpractice cases during 2014 were in the amounts of $400,000.00 and $120,000.00, respectively).
All three D.C. medical malpractice verdicts in favor of the plaintiff exceeded the last offer by the defendant (there were no settlement offers made by the defendants in any of the eight medical malpractice cases tried to a verdict in D.C.). The was only one plaintiff medical malpractice verdict in D.C. that exceeded the plaintiff’s last settlement demand: the verdict in favor of the plaintiff was $463,725.76 and the last settlement demand by the plaintiff in that case was $200,000.00.
With regard to the D.C medical malpractice case that resulted in a plaintiff’s verdict in the amount of $400,000.00, the plaintiff’s last demand was $20,000,000.00.
With regard to the D.C medical malpractice case that resulted in a plaintiff’s verdict in the amount of $120,000.00, the plaintiff’s last demand was $5,000,000.00.
The last settlement demands by the plaintiffs in the medical malpractice cases that resulted in defense verdicts were $15,000,000.00, $3,159,194.00, $1,000,000.00 (in two cases), and $900,000.00.
The D.C. medical malpractice verdicts during 2014 occurred in January, February, March, May (two cases), June (two cases), and in October (the plaintiff’s verdicts occurred in January, March, and June 2014).
Three of the D.C. medical malpractice cases involved claims of misdiagnosis (two of the cases resulted in plaintiff’s verdicts), two of the cases involved claims of incompetent surgery (one resulted in a plaintiff’s verdict – the largest plaintiff’s verdict – and also included a claim for misdiagnosis), one involved a claim of lack of informed consent (along with a claim of incompetent surgery – defense verdict), one involved a claim of birth complication (defense verdict), two involved “other” claims (one resulted in a plaintiff’s verdict), and one did not specify the type of medical negligence claim alleged (defense verdict).
The injuries alleged were death (one case – defense verdict), one alleged no permanent injury (defense verdict), one alleged non-serious permanent injury (plaintiff’s verdict), and five alleged serious permanent injury (two were plaintiff’s verdicts and three were defense verdicts).
If you or a loved one may be the victim of medical malpractice in the District of Columbia or elsewhere in the United States, you should promptly consult with a District of Columbia medical malpractice attorney or a medical malpractice attorney in your state who may investigate your medical negligence claim for you and represent you in a medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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