Plaintiff Permitted to Obtain New Affidavit of Merit When It Was Unknown That Original Expert Had Retired – Castello v. Wohler, 2016 WL 3369247 (N.J. App. June 20, 2016)

By Michael Zerres

This is a medical malpractice matter where the plaintiff’s counsel timely served an Affidavit of Merit (“AOM”) and reasonably relied on the AOM and the expert’s curriculum vitae, which erroneously stated that the witness is currently practicing medicine. Plaintiff’s counsel later discovers that error, through no fault of his own, after the 120 day deadline,
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Appellate Division Affirms That a Patient’s Treating Doctor May Testify as to the Cause of an Injury – Rothman v. Cole (A-1838-14T1) Decided July 21, 2016

By Michael Zerres

This is a medical malpractice matter where the defendant is appealing from a final judgment following a jury trial. Plaintiff, a 64-year-old woman who underwent a heart pacemaker implant surgery performed by defendant in 2008, was later advised in 2009 by her long-term treating physician and cardiologist, Dr. Amendo, that the pacemaker wire had been
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Minor Plaintiff Cannot Dismiss a Claim Without Prejudice If Affidavit of Merit Not Timely Filed – A.T. et al. v. Cohen et al., Decided April 27, 2016

By Michael Zerres

In this medical malpractice suit, minor plaintiff’s mother filed this suit individually and on behalf of her daughter asserting medical malpractice claims. The Appellate Court considers whether a minor plaintiff can take a voluntary dismissal without prejudice under Rule 4:37-1(b) to avoid a dismissal with prejudice of her complaint for the failure to provide an
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Testimony of Plaintiff’s Expert May Be Used to Establish “Fault” of Settling Defendant for Purposes of “Young v. Latta” Apportionment – Gatesy v. Perotte and Elliot, et al., Decided April 7, 2016 (A-0360-13T3)

By Michael Zerres

In this medical malpractice action, the plaintiff experienced pain in his neck and difficulty breathing after engaging in playful wrestling the previous evening. The attending emergency physician, Dr. Perotte, applied a hard cervical collar and ordered an x-ray of plaintiff’s cervical spine. A CT scan was then performed, which revealed that plaintiff was experiencing a
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Appellate Court Affirms That Plaintiff May Read in Testimony of Unavailable Treating Physicians – Sheets v. Siegler (Decided March 27, 2015) (A-1836-11T4)

By Michael Zerres

In this dental malpractice case, the plaintiff experienced excruciating pain following a wisdom tooth extraction performed by the defendant dentist. She later developed numbness in her tongue and shooting pain from the back of her jaw, causing her difficulty speaking and swallowing. The patient, thereafter, underwent surgery to repair an apparent injury to her right
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