Laura B. Jordan

Laura Jordan (Partner-White Plains, NY) and Christopher Hofmann (Associate-White Plains, NY) obtained a Decision and Order from Bronx County Supreme Court granting partial summary judgment in favor of a large New York City hospital. The plaintiff alleged that our client failed to timely perform a caesarean section as necessitated by indications of fetal distress in utero resulting in a hypoxic event and causing infant plaintiff’s subsequent cognitive and physical developmental delays and impairments. In moving for summary judgment, Laura and Chris argued, among other things, that there was no objective evidence that the infant-plaintiff suffered a perinatal hypoxic ischemic injury, including hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, during labor and delivery that caused any alleged neurological injuries or any of the infant-plaintiff’s impairments. The motion was supported by the affirmation of an expert Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Clinical Genetics with a subspecialty in Maternal Fetal Medicine; the affidavit of another expert Board Certified in Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Neurology; and the affidavit of an expert Board Certified in Radiology with a special qualification in Neuroradiology. The parties were invited to conduct oral argument before the court, with Chris appearing on behalf of our client. Following the court’s partial grant of summary judgment, the plaintiff’s counsel dramatically reduced their demand from $3 million to $150,000, which is attributed to the breadth and sufficiency of the underlying motion papers. 

Laura Jordan (Partner-White Plains, NY) and Christopher Hofmann (Associate-White Plains, NY) obtained a Decision and Order from Westchester County Supreme Court granting their motion for summary judgment in favor an orthopedic surgeon and his practice group alleged to have failed to properly perform, supervise, and manage post-operative rehabilitation for a 46-year-old patient following right labrum repair. It was alleged that the premature introduction of certain exercises during physical therapy caused the plaintiff to sustain re-injury to his shoulder requiring further surgery that resulted in residual deficits in strength, range of motion, and functionality. Having performed the initial arthroscopy and labrum repair, our orthopedic surgeon ordered and oversaw the plaintiff’s course of post-operative rehabilitation, which included attending physical therapy at the practice group with co-defendant physical therapist who was employed by the practice group. In granting our motion for summary judgment, the court agreed with Laura and Chris that the plaintiff’s expert affidavit was insufficient to defeat our motion for summary judgment because it was submitted by a physical therapist who did not and could not include in his affidavit that he had personal knowledge of the standard of care in the field of orthopedic surgery. Because the claims against the orthopedic surgeon sounded in medical malpractice, arising from the patient-physician relationship, they argued that the plaintiff’s expert was unqualified to opine as to the applicable standard of care. The court also adopted our argument in reply that since plaintiff’s expert was a physical therapist rather than a medical doctor, he was unqualified to opine within a reasonable degree of medical certainty that any deviation was a proximate cause of the injuries. The court’s Decision also granted co-defendant’s motion for summary judgment, which merely adopted and incorporated by reference the expert submissions and arguments raised by Laura and Chris.