Articles Posted in Judgments

A federal trial judge has upheld a $6.2 million award by the presiding trial judge for a man permanently disabled because of medical negligence at a veteran’s hospital even though the man died three days after the judgment.

Wesley Jordan’s daughter and state administrator, Katherine J. Henry, sued the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) under an agency theory for medical negligence for injuries Jordan sustained from cardiac bypass surgery that went wrong.

Jordan was then 61 years old when he was admitted to Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Administration Hospital in Cook County, Ill., complaining of difficulty breathing and moving.
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The signed forms juries bring back with their findings when deliberations are completed are typically referred to as verdicts. Section 2-1303 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure calls for computing post-judgment interest on verdicts “from the time when made or rendered to the time of entering judgment upon the same.” Based on this law, the administrator of Keith Stanphill’s estate argued that post-judgment interest on a $1,495,151 verdict against Rockford Memorial Hospital and Lori Ortberg started running on June 2, 2016 when jurors rendered their verdict.

The trial judge had tossed aside the verdict based on the answer to a special interrogatory. It wasn’t until Oct. 31, 2017 that the Illinois Appellate Court reversed the trial court and remanded with instruction to enter judgment on the verdict.

The trial judge then concluded that the administrator was entitled to $155,544 in post- judgment interest running from Oct. 31, 2017 when the case was returned to the trial court for entry of that judgment.
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