$4 Million Verdict for Child with Brain Damage and Mental Retardation Caused By Negligence of Midwife.

Following a three and one-half week trial, on November 18, 2011, Christian Mester and Maria Dawson, R.N., J.D., obtained a Four Million Dollar verdict on behalf of their 13 year old client. The jury deliberated for over ten hours before reaching its verdict. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the minor child in the District Court for Burleigh County, North Dakota. It was alleged that while at the hospital, the midwife was negligent in failing to deliver the minor child many hours prior to when he was eventually delivered. By that time, the lack of oxygen and/or lack of blood flow to the brain had already caused permanent brain damage. All babies have what’s known as fetal reserves, which allows them to withstand the rigors of the labor process. The fetal heart rate tracing lets the care providers know if the baby is doing well: if there are problems on those tracings, then the care providers must act and either resolve the problems or get the baby out of that environment. In this case, the midwife did not do that. The midwife also allowed this labor induction to go on for 61 hours in the hospital before finally calling a doctor to come in and deliver by cesarean section. For more information about this verdict click here.

Christian Mester had an article published in the May 2010 issue of the peer-reviewed journal TRIAL Magazine on properly preparing your medical negligence expert for deposition. Click here to read the article

2011 Excess Verdict in Prince George's County!

$175,000.00 verdict in Circuit Court for Prince George's County for a girl who broke her arm when she was hit by a car while crossing the street in the crosswalk. This verdict was in excess of the defendant driver's $100,000.00 insurance State Farm Insurance policy. State Farm's lawyer disputed liability, arguing that their driver was not at fault and that our client, although a minor child, was contributorily negligent and barred from recovery. State Farm chose not to make a settlement offer in this case, which forced the case to trial and exposed its insured driver to an excess verdict. Although the defendant driver only had $100,000.00 in liability insurance, the insurance company ultimately ended up paying more than its insured's policy limits since it made the wrong decision in forcing this case to trial. This is Goldberg, Finnegan & Mester's second verdict in excess of a State Farm insured's policy limits in the past 12 months.

Kevin Goldberg was the 2009-2010 President of the Maryland Association for Justice (formerly the Maryland Trial Lawyer s Association).

Christian Mester and Jean Jones, R.N., J.D., recently resolved a medical malpractice case for $4.15 Million Dollars on behalf of a baby who suffered from lack of oxygen to her brain during labor and delivery, resulting in cerebral palsy and other severe neurologic conditions. The firm alleged that the health care providers failed to recognize signs on the fetal heart tracings over many hours; had those providers acted timely, the baby would have been delivered without any problems. The parents now have the funds to allow their daughter to receive the substantial care she requires.

Trial Magazine Article written by Kevin Goldberg and Richard Neuworth about private causes of action under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act. Click here to read the article.

Kevin J. Finnegan was selected for "Maryland Superlawyers 2009"

Kevin I. Goldberg is the President of the Maryland Association for Justice (formerly Maryland Trial Lawyer's Association).

Christian C. Mester is the current Chair of the Medical Negligence Section of the Maryland Association for Justice.

Christian C. Mester was selected for Maryland Superlawyers 2009. Click here to read this Superlawyers Feature Article.

- Kevin Finnegan wrote an Article titled Maximizing Your Medical Expenses Claim In Your Auto Negligence Case. To read the article click here.

- Spring 2009: Justin Katz and Mark Schofield wrote an Article about personal injury lawsuits in the District Courts of Maryland titles "Tips For new Lawyers Plannng To File Lawsuits IN The District Court Of Maryland." The Article was published in the Spring 2009 Maryland State Bar Association Young Lawyer Section Newsletter. To read the article click here.

- November 2008: Kevin J. Finnegan wrote an indepth article discussing a practical way to prosecute the plantiff's premise for a liability case. The artcile is written as a guide to help prosecute a platiff's premise for a liabliity case.

- August 2008: Christian Mester was appointed by the Governor of Maryland to serve on the Task Force on Discipline of Health Care Providers and Improved Patient Care. This task force will make recommendations to the Governor and the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene regarding the disciplinary programs of the health occupation boards, including measures that can enhance the fair, consistent and speedy resolution of reports concerning substandard, illegal or unethical practices by health care professionals.

- August, 2008: Christian Mester settled a case for $455,000 on behalf of a 21 year old Maryland man who suffered a fractured femur, requiring surgery and physical therapy, when his health care aide negligently pushed his wheelchair over rough terrain, causing the man to be thrown to the ground, fracturing his femur.

- The Maryland Trial Lawyer s Association s Summer 2008 Edition of Trial Reporter Magazine published two articles written by attorneys at our firm.

The Articles are:
Not So Fast Don t Accept A Low Policy Limits Settlement Offer For Your Catastrophically Injured Client by Kevin I. Goldberg, and Cost Effective Presentation Of The Auto Tort Case In Maryland by Mark Schofield and Justin Katz.

- June, 2008: Christian Mester and Thomas Farrington settled a case for over $750,000 on behalf of a family who lost their wife and mother after the defendant surgeon performed an unnecessary surgical procedure, which led to the death of the 36 year old woman several days following the surgery.

- Kevin I. Goldberg was installed as the President-Elect of the Maryland Trial Lawyer s Association on May 31, 2008

- The Maryland Daily Record published an Article by Kevin I. Goldberg on unsafe toys. To read the Article, click here.

- The District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed Christian Mester s and former partner Ken Suggs s verdict of $5.9 million dollars that they obtained on behalf of a woman and her husband where the health care providers failed to treat a blood clot compressing her spinal cord until it was too late. On the first issue presented, the appellate court stated, [t]hat Dr. Dennis too may have been negligent in failing to order prompt surgery even without confirmation of the CT scan by an MRI, as the jury found, did not nullify the Hospital s fault in not timely conducting the test he had ordered. On the second issue presented relating to the verdict in the amount of almost $1 million dollars for the husband s loss of consortium claim, the appellate court stated [t]he injuries to Mrs. Ford were well documented in the testimony, and it would have required little imagination for the jury to evaluate the effect of that condition upon her relations with her husband. Read the full opinion of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals here.

- Kevin I. Goldberg was featured in Maryland Super Lawyers 2007 Magazine and in Washington D.C. Super Lawyers 2007 Magazine where he was selected as among the top 5% of practicing attorneys in a peer review and evaluation process conducted by Law & Politics. A photo of the Law Firm and an Article about the firm appeared in Maryland Superlawyers 2007 Magazine. To see the 2007 article, click here.

- Kevin Goldberg was selected by his peers for inclusion in Maryland Superlawyers and Washington, D.C. Superlawyers in 2007 and 2008.

- Kevin Finnegan was selected by his peers for inclusion in Maryland Superlawyers and Washington, D.C. Superlawyers in 2008.

Click here to read this Superlawyers Feature Article

- Kevin J. Finnegan and Thomas W. Farrington obtained a $580,000.00 verdict on behalf of a child chased into the street by a pit bull. This verdict came after nearly 4 years of litigation. To see an article about this case that appeared in ATLA s Trial Magazine, click here.

- Thomas W. Farrington also obtained a $167,000.00 verdict in Prince George's County Maryland. This verdict exceeded the defendant's $100,000.00 policy limits and the Firm will now attempt to pursue the insurance company for "bad faith" for their failure to settle the case within their insured's policy limits of $100,000.00.

- Kevin Goldberg successfully resolved a truck accident case for $1.8 Million Dollars. This amount was well in excess of the available insurance coverage.

- Justin Katz and Kevin Goldberg obtained a $500,000.00 verdict from a Prince George's County jury on behalf of a lady who slipped and fell on a dangerous ceramic tile surface. Prior to trial, the Defendant did not make a settlement offer.

- Thomas W. Farrington obtained a $1.37 Million Dollar Verdict in Calvert County, Maryland in June 2006. The press reported this as the largest verdict in Calvert County history. To learn more about this verdict, here are two articles you can read: Article 1 and Article 2.

- Kevin Goldberg received a preeminent 5.0/5.0 “AV Peer Review Rating” from Martindale Hubbell on April 20, 2011 in Automobile Negligence, Bodily Injury and Medical Malpractice.Click here to read this "AV Peer Review Rating"