Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a jury verdict in favor of a hospital client and defendant pediatrician obtained by partners Daniel G. Federico and Amanda L. Tate, following a trial in the Southern District. The 2d Circuit appeal also affirmed a pretrial dismissal of a malicious prosecution claim, which was granted on summary judgment. That claim became the subject of the appeal and concerned allegations that the insured Defendants, as well as a co-defendant City agency, conspired to “cover-up” a purported medical misdiagnosis allegedly resulting in the removal of a child from the home. The 2d Circuit, performing a de novo review of all claims, concluded that the District Court correctly observed, even in a light most favorable to the Appellants, that the Appellants failed to adduce evidence of bad faith sufficient to negate probable cause.
The underlying trial proceeded solely on the medical malpractice claims and surrounded an Emergency Department visit to the defendant hospital regarding an alleged failure to diagnose a femur fracture in a pediatric patient. Appellants contended that the District Court abused its discretion during a pretrial ruling allowing evidence of the plaintiff-parents’ behavior and conduct to be admitted. The 2d Circuit disagreed, underscoring the limiting instruction given by the District Court and further positing that the statements regarding the insured physician’s state of mind and thought process relative to the care and treatment plan of the infant, as well as the length and scope of the examination were relevant to the medical malpractice claim, thus, finding the evidence of the conduct was correctly admissible Additionally, the 2d Circuit rejected the Appellants’ argument that there were remarks made by defense counsel during summation that ran afoul of the District Court’s limiting instruction regarding the infant-parents’ behavior to attack their credibility, correctly noting that no objections were raised on this point during trial and the appeal failed to demonstrate how such an error was so serious and flagrant as to impact the integrity of the trial. The 2d Circuit emphatically rejected Appellants’ challenges on various points and affirmed the jury’s verdict in favor of Defendant-Respondents with respect to the medical malpractice claims.