Bonus Lawsuit: Self-Represented Plaintiff
When you’ve read and researched hundreds of malpractice cases, sometimes you find a few oddities. I usually spend my time hand-picking the best cases for readers, but I recently stumbled across a bizarre lawsuit. Its an entertaining gem from a pro se (self-represented) plaintiff.
Most malpractice cases start with an initial filing that lays out the basic allegations of negligence against the doctor and hospital. They usually run 20-100 pages and are filled with legalese. Not this case. This is the entire text.
A few things about this case:
1) Brevity is key. While not particularly effective in a legal sense, he lays out his entire case in just a few hand-written sentences.
2) The plaintiff is a bold negotiator. Most settlement offers range from $250,000 to $10,000,000 (with notable exceptions on the high end). I have one case I’ll publish later this year that starts with a offer to settle for $12,500,000. This plaintiff goes straight for the 10-figure number.
3) No expert witness. This plaintiff did not obtain an opinion from an expert witness supporting the allegations of negligence. This illustrates why expert witnesses are so important. The legal system relies on some degree of self-policing among physicians. If you work as an expert witness, be careful to avoid taking cases without clear negligence. It’s tempting because you will be likely be paid $10,000+ but it may be unethical if you’re simply being paid to have whatever opinion the plaintiff’s attorney wants you to have. I have a folder of terrible opinions that I’ll be publishing over the course of the year.
4) A common question I get is “can I be sued for this”? This lawsuit illustrates the answer to that question. All someone has to do is walk to the court house, ask for a piece of paper to write a few sentences on, and pay a small fee. You can get sued for anything by anyone. But it doesn’t mean the lawsuit will go anywhere (although your lawyer will spend at least a few thousand dollars of their time responding to it).
5) This plaintiff only named a hospital. Fortunately no physician was named. But imagine the angst if you’re a physician who has to list this frivolous lawsuit on every job application for the rest of their career.
6) This lawsuit was quickly dismissed. It took 6 months from filing to dismissal, which is quite fast in the world of medical malpractice. For perspective, I recently wrote up a case that happened in 2012, was filed in 2014, and is still ongoing today.
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