Verdicts and Settlements Won for Our Clients
At Heimberg Barr LLP, we’re justly proud of our track record: getting many multi-million-dollar verdicts and securing an extensive number of multi-million-dollar settlements for our clients. We have been able to obtain these results due to our unique combination of legal ability and deep knowledge of medicine and medical issues.
Here are just some of the many verdicts and settlements we’ve won for our clients:
$68,035,482
THIS VERDICT WAS MORE THAN 3 TIMES ANY OTHER MEDICAL MALPRACTICE VERDICT IN CALIFORNIA HISTORY AND THE LARGEST PERSONAL INJURY VERDICT EVER IN FRESNO COUNTY. The jury verdict was delivered in favor of a 71-year-old man and his wife after he suffered brain damage due to improper care and follow up during and after cardiac surgery. Heimberg Barr LLP lawyers established that the surgeon prematurely left the OR and failed to timely respond to emergency calls when complications arose. The jury declared the surgeon negligent and awarded punitive damages. This verdict led to Heimberg Barr LLP being recognized for numerous honors including being named the top Medical Malpractice firm in the country by The National Law Journal.
$9,000,000
SETTLEMENT FOR MAN PARALYZED IN A SOLO MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT. A 33-year-old man was paralyzed as a result of a one-car auto accident in the rain near Barstow, California. We claimed the State of California negligently designed the highway and failed to safely adapt the area to prevent problems. When the case came to our office, it was going to be thrown out of court because of an unacceptable delay in filing the lawsuit (long past the allowable time under law) by the prior attorney. Our attorneys battled and defeated the defense that the problems were a consequence of improper subsequent medical treatment rather than that the State of California had failed to properly design the road.
$7,100,000
VERDICT for the birth injuries suffered by twins who were delivered unnecessarily at 30 weeks, resulting in both babies suffering brain damage. Our brain injury lawyers successfully uncovered, with advanced technology, that doctor altered the medical records.
$6,000,000
VERDICT AGAINST A SCHOOL DISTRICT for a boy who was dog-piled in the playground and suffered serious injuries. Heimberg Barr attorneys proved that the school failed to implement safety measures and negligently supervised its students.
$5,075,000
SETTLEMENT FOR MOTHER AND BABY FOR FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE FETAL DISTRESS AND FOR UNTIMELY DELIVERY. Mother who was monitored only by labor and delivery nurses during the majority of her labor delivered via C-Section. The negligent care of the hospital, its staff and obstetricians caused an unreasonable delay in delivery and the uterus to rupture causing the baby to be born with brain damage.
$4,500,000
IMPROPER MONITORING OF FETAL MONITOR STRIPS DELAYED DELIVERY OF THE BABY AND RESULTED IN BRAIN DAMAGE. Mother was admitted at 40 weeks gestation and despite non-reassuring findings in the fetal monitor strips, the hospital staff failed to involve a physician and delivery was not attempted, causing the baby to suffer partial prolonged hypoxia, leading to brain damage.
$4,275,000
IMPROPER TRIAL OF LABOR AFTER CESAREAN CAUSED UTERINE RUPTURE AND BRAIN DAMAGE TO BABY. Mother who had previously given birth via C-Section attempted vaginal delivery due to lack of proper informed consent. After a prolonged labor, the uterus ruptured, and the baby ultimately had to be delivered via C-Section. The negligent care by the hospital, its staff and obstetricians caused an unreasonable delay in delivery, in the uterine rupture and the baby being born with brain damage and cerebral palsy.
$4,000,000
LARGEST MEDICAL SETTLEMENT IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY to that date was reached for a 17 year old high school athlete who suffered brain damage while in the care of physicians at the urgent care clinic. The boy was brought to the facility after experiencing dizziness and suffered a heart attack while being examined. However, resuscitation was not provided or available resulting in brain damage.
$3,800,000
SETTLEMENT in a medical malpractice case brought by a 48 year old woman who was brought to a hospital's emergency room with severe anxiety. The woman had a critical reaction to the medication given, which wasn't monitored appropriately or treated in a timely manner causing her extensive brain damage.
$3,500,000
SETTLEMENT for the birth injuries caused to an infant of a 21 year old woman due to the needless delay of a cesarean section.
$2,985,000
SETTLEMENT FOR SEVERE BIRTH INJURIES CAUSED BY THE DOCTORS’ FAILURE TO APPROPRIATELY MONITOR the fetus during labor and delivery, for failure to recognize obvious evidence of fetal distress, and failure to intervene earlier via a cesarean section delivery.
$2,300,814
FAILURE TO PROPERLY DIAGNOSE AND TREAT RESPIRATORY SYMPTOMS. A Ventura County jury returned a verdict against the doctors who failed to properly diagnose a 24 year old man who presented with respiratory symptoms and also failed to warn of potential chicken pox in adults, which resulted in his death days later of varicella (chicken pox) pneumonia.
$2,250,000
SETTLEMENT in a medical malpractice case in which a 26 year old man was misdiagnosed and not transferred to another hospital that could have provided the tests he needed to detect an epidural abscess pressing against his spinal column that caused him to suffer spinal cord injuries.
$1,700,000
SETTLEMENT FOR BIRTH INJURIES resulting in severe spastic quadriplegia, causing motor and speech impairments.
$1,650,000
SETTLEMENT in a medical malpractice case for failure to diagnose and to treat in a timely manner an epidural spinal abscess, resulting in paraplegia and incontinence in a 54 year old man.
$1,575,000
SETTLEMENT failure to monitor, diagnose and treat a blood disorder in a 37 year old man, leading to his death.
$1,560,000
SETTLEMENT for a baby’s brain injuries for failure to undertake a cesarean section in the face of a breech.
$1,550,000
IN A CASE OF FIRST IMPRESSION, MICRA HELD INAPPLICABLE IN A PURE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CASE. An Orange County jury returned a verdict in favor of a 51 year old man who died due to physicians’ failure to properly and timely diagnose and treat a dangerous infection despite multiple visits. Heimberg Barr lawyers successfully convinced the trial Judge in pre- and post-trial motions that MICRA was inapplicable to the managed care entity defendant resulting in a jury verdict for $800,000 in general damages (MICRA caps at $250,000).
$17,000,000
LARGEST VERDICT DELIVERED IN THE HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA AND LOS ANGELES COUNTY at the time for a baby’s birth injuries during labor and delivery caused by a doctor’s failure to respond to the baby’s problems, causing brain damage.
$10,550,000
LARGEST MEDICAL SETTLEMENT IN THE HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA AND LOS ANGELES COUNTY REACHED DURING DAMAGE PHASE OF TRIAL. Largest settlement at the time for negligent misdiagnosis and improper recommendation of a caesarian section delivery of triplets 25 weeks into the pregnancy, resulting in the death of one infant and the other two having severe birth injuries due to prematurity.
$9,000,000
VERDICT for a woman born with congenital brain problems that had required a brain shunt. Her shunt became infected and in one of the largest verdicts delivered in Norwalk, jury found that the doctors ignored/not properly diagnosed the infection for over 3 years. This resulted in substantial additional brain damage and disability, including near-paralysis on one side of her body.
$7,000,000
SETTLEMENT UNDER CALIFORNIA ELDER ABUSE AND DEPENDENT ADULT CIVIL PROTECTION ACT (EADACPA) for the death of a 44 year old man who died while hospitalized.
$6,200,000
SETTLEMENT FOR THE FAMILY OF A MAN WHO SUFFERED FATAL INJURIES IN AN OFF-ROAD VEHICLE CRASH. Heimberg Barr attorneys overcame defendants’ numerous defenses that included assumption of the risk associated with off-road racing.
$5,900,000
SETTLEMENT FOR BIRTH INJURIES resulting from negligent failure to recognize fetal heart rate tracings showing decreased variability, recurring variable decelerations, late decelerations, and fetal tachycardia on the electronic fetal monitor strips and failure to perform necessary interventions to promptly deliver the baby causing hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE).
$5,000,000
FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE AND TREAT SPINAL CORD COMPRESSION RESULTING IN QUADRIPLEGIA. Settlement for a 57 year old man involved in a solo auto accident who underwent successful neck surgery and was transferred to a rehabilitation center where his condition deteriorated, with loss of sensation in his arms and legs, and suffered respiratory arrest. The delay in diagnosis and treatment of the spinal cord compression resulted in quadriplegia.
$4,275,000
NEGLIGENT EXTUBATION AFTER KNEE SURGERY CAUSED PERMANENT BRAIN DAMAGE. Settlement reached for a 60 year old man suffered brain damage when, after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery, the physician extubated him without ensuring that he was able to breathe on his own.
$4,250,000
NEGLIGENT SURGERY FOR AORTIC ANEURYSM RESULTED IN DEATH. Settlement for a 57 year old man who presented with an aortic aneurysm and was negligently operated on, resulting in his death five days later. Heimberg Barr lawyers contended that the surgeons and the hospital were negligent respectively for performing and for permitting surgery to be performed.
$4,000,000
DELAY IN DIAGNOSIS OF BACTERIAL MENINGITIS IN INFANT RESULTS IN BRAIN DAMAGE. Baby delivered via C-Section at 35 weeks was hospitalized at neonatal intensive care unit where he developed symptoms of sepsis. Despite evidence of brain damage, the doctors did not perform proper work-up to ascertain the infection for another 2 weeks. By the time the infant was diagnosed and treated for bacterial meningitis, he had suffered severe and permanent brain damage.
$3,750,000
SETTLEMENT for birth injuries and permanent disabilities caused by the negligent delay in the delivery of a baby in distress.
$3,200,000
LARGEST MEDICAL SETTLEMENT IN KERN COUNTY HISTORY at the time for a 57 year old woman who became a quadriplegic due to physicians’ failure to timely diagnosis an epidural abscess in the cervical spine.
$2,999,999
SETTLEMENT FOR NEGLIGENT REDUCTION IN ANTI-PSYCHOTIC MEDICATION and failure to monitor a male psychiatric patient with suicidal tendencies resulting in his attempting suicide, causing severe permanent brain damage.
$2,750,000
BABY BORN WITH BRAIN DAMAGE DUE TO FAILURE TO RECOGNIZE DEVELOPING ABNORMALITIES IN FETAL MONITORING STRIPS. 22 year old first- time mother was admitted at 38-weeks with severe symptoms of preeclampsia. Despite signs of developing abnormalities, the hospital staff failed to promptly notify the physician and undertake preparations for a C-section causing unreasonable delay in the delivery of the baby who was born with severe brain damage. Heimberg Barr lawyers overcame defense arguments that severe preeclampsia caused baby’s injuries before mother ever presented to the hospital, prompting a settlement after 16 days of trial.
$2,250,000
LARGEST SETTLEMENT IN VENTURA COUNTY HISTORY at the time for a baby’s birth injuries caused by a doctor’s failure to respond to fetal distress, causing brain damage.
$2,022,500
SETTLEMENT for an 18 year old man who was not properly intubated during brain surgery, resulting in severe brain damage.
$1,700,000
SETTLEMENT FOR NEGLIGENT AND UNSUPERVISED INTRAOPERATIVE NEUROPHYSIOLOGIC MONITORING (IONM) during back surgery resulting in spinal cord injury in a 53 year old man.
$1,650,000
SETTLEMENT in a medical malpractice case in which a 72 year old woman went into the hospital for a knee manipulation and came out of surgery with extensive brain damage due to the doctors’ failure to monitor her during and after her receiving an epidural anesthesia.
$1,500,000
SETTLEMENT for the wrongful death of a 37 year old man due to the failure of the doctor and hospital to diagnosis and to treat a rare blood disorder.
$1,050,000
SETTLEMENT for failure to treat blood clots resulting from hormone therapy in a 47 year old woman, which caused an above-the-knee amputation.
$14,640,784
VERDICT FOR MAN WHO SUFFERED BRAIN DAMAGE DUE TO IMPROPER CPR AND LACK OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN AT LA FITNESS. Riverside County jury returned a $14.6 million verdict in favor of a man who went into cardiac arrest while playing basketball at an LA Fitness and his wife. Heimberg Barr LLP lawyers proved that LA Fitness was grossly negligent in its preparation and response, and performed inadequate CPR, leading the jury to conclude that the delayed and negligent conduct of LA Fitness employees caused Plaintiff to suffer severe brain damage. Overcoming numerous and complex legal issues of contractual waiver, statutory immunities and assumption of risk defenses, this became one of the first successful cases to hold a fitness club responsible for inadequate emergency response,
$8,949,999
SETTLEMENT AGAINST A HOSPITAL AND DOCTORS who failed to diagnose a developing hydrocephalus and failed to properly treat intracranial hypertension in a 16 year old boy with a history of brain tumor leading to permanent brain damage.
$8,225,000
CASE SETTLED DURING TRIAL for a 71 year old man who became a quadriplegic due to negligent spinal surgery and negligent intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring (IONM) by an unsupervised, unlicensed technician. Heimberg Barr attorneys successfully proved that MICRA should not apply in this medical malpractice case.
$6,600,000
TREATABLE FORM OF BREAST CANCER MISDIAGNOSED AND ALLOWED TO METASTASIZE. Settlement was reached during trial for a 43 year old woman whose treatable form of breast cancer (estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer) was misdiagnosed due to hospital and/or pathologist error in preparing and/or reviewing slides, which was not discovered until the cancer had metastasized six years later. Heimberg Barr lawyers claimed plaintiff was not treated with proper medication and as a result, her cancer recurred and spread.
$4,800,000
SETTLEMENT WITH PHYSICIANS WHOSE FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE INTESTINAL OBSTRUCTION REQUIRED REMOVAL OF MULTIPLE ORGANS. 50 year old woman with severe abdominal pain was seen multiple times over a two-week period by multiple physicians and in the ER. Medical providers failed to perform sufficient work-up to render a proper diagnosis and delayed the needed surgery, all of which ultimately necessitated removal of portions of the liver, pancreas, and other organs.
$4,711,735
FAILURE TO TIMELY DIAGNOSE AND TREAT OCCLUSION OF AORTIC STENT GRAFT RESULTED IN PARALYSIS. 27 year old motorcyclist suffered an aortic tear and required placement of an aortic stent graft after a collision with a police cruiser. A year later, he began to exhibit neurologic symptoms, decrease in urine output, incontinence and other symptoms which were eventually found to have been caused by a lack of blood flow from occlusion of the aortic stent graft.
$4,250,000
INADEQUATE PRE-SURGICAL WORKUP, NEGLIGENT AND UNNECESSARY HEART SURGERY FOLLOWED BY NEGLIGENT POST-SURGICAL CARE RESULTED IN PERMANENT NEUROLOGIC DAMAGE. Settlement for a 54 year old man who underwent a highly complicated cardiac procedure and suffered neurologic damage requiring permanent 24-hour care. The cardiac procedure was performed without adequate pre-surgical workup and resulted in significant complications during surgery, despite which he was prematurely extubated, resulting permanent neurologic damage.
$4,250,000
FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE AND TREAT EPIDURAL ABSCESS RESULTING IN QUADRIPLEGIA. Settlement for a 40 year old woman who was seen in the ER on three separate occasions over four days with complaints of severe neck and shoulder pain without timely diagnosis or treatment. The negligent failure to diagnose and treat the plaintiff’s epidural abscess resulted in severe spinal cord compression and quadriplegia.
$3,800,000
SETTLEMENT for the birth injuries of a baby. Heimberg Barr attorneys established that the injuries were caused by the needless delay of a cesarean section needed by the infant’s 27 year old mother.
$3,285,000
LARGEST PERSONAL INJURY VERDICT IN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY HISTORY AT THE TIME. The jury declared that the oncologist failed to follow established treatment criteria for a five year old leukemia patient, and carelessly continued chemotherapy beyond the proper treatment period, carelessly monitored for neurotoxicity, and negligently failed to respond to warning signs and other significant events leading to paralysis from the waist down.
$2,995,000
IMPROPER MONITORING AND INTERPRETATION OF FETAL MONITOR STRIPS DELAYED DELIVERY OF THE BABY AND RESULTED IN BRAIN DAMAGE. The hospital staff was negligent in reviewing the non-reassuring findings in the fetal monitor strips and failed to involve a physician, which delayed the delivery of the baby and caused the baby to suffer brain damage.
$2,500,000
SETTLEMENT FOR THE DEATH OF A 72 YEAR OLD WOMAN ON TRANSPLANT LIST WHO UNDERWENT NEGLIGENT OPEN HEART SURGERY. Heimberg Barr lawyers contended that the surgeon and the hospital were grossly negligent for improperly performing an unnecessary surgery and then effectively abandoning the patient post-surgery while she remained unstable but alive for the next 19 hours.
$2,250,000
OBSTETRICIAN AND ANESTHESIOLOGIST’S FAILURE TO RECOGNIZE FETAL DISTRESS AND TO TIMELY PERFORM CESAREAN resulted in the baby being born with brain damage.
$1,750,000
NEGLIGENT MITRAL VALVE REPLACEMENT AND POST-SURGICAL CARE LEADING TO DEATH. Settlement for a 49 year old woman underwent a mitral valve replacement in which the surgeon mis-sewed the valve, which leaked, and caused her to suffer significant bleeding and other associated symptoms, resulting in her death weeks later.
$1,700,000
SETTLEMENT FOR NEGLIGENT PLACEMENT OF A CENTRAL VENOUS LINE into the wrong vessel following surgery for colon cancer, causing a stroke in a 71 year old woman.
$1,600,000
SETTLEMENT in a medical malpractice case for failure to diagnose in a timely manner and to treat a thoracic level spinal fracture resulting in paraplegia after a 22 year old woman was in a car accident.
$1,500,000
SETTLEMENT for a 36 year old man with congenital heart condition suffered an air embolus to his brain due to improper settings on the heart bypass machinery during surgery causing an aortic aneurysm.