In June 2009, Alan J. Fumuso obtained a defense verdict in a case tried for 4 weeks in Supreme Court Suffolk County. The plaintiff was a now 6 year old girl who suffers from cerebral palsy, and is significantly and permanently handicapped. It was alleged that Mr. Fumuso’s client – her delivering obstetrician – and the co-defendant St. Charles Hospital, were negligent in failing to recognize the obstetrical emergency of a ruptured uterus during labor and negligently delayed her delivery, resulting in hypoxic brain damage. The delivery was an attempted VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarian section), and carried an increased risk of uterine rupture. Plaintiff’s offered proof of 93 million dollars in economic damages. An 8 million dollar settlement offer on behalf of both defendants was rejected prior to the summations. The jury in their second day of deliberation returned a unanimous verdict on behalf of the defendant obstetrician and St. Charles Hospital.
