Goodell DeVries Persuades Appellate Court to Vacate $13M Verdict for Improper Mary Carter Agreement

Goodell DeVries’s Appellate and Critical Motions team persuaded the Appellate Court of Maryland to vacate a $12M judgment (after a $13M verdict) in a Maryland birth-injury litigation.

Led by practice Chair Derek Stikeleather, the team appealed the jury verdict in a medical negligence case on behalf of a defendant hospital. The hospital had been found vicariously liable for the negligence of an obstetrician, and directly liable for the actions of nurses employed by the hospital, resulting in the multi-million-dollar judgment.

The Appellate Court of Maryland found that the improper use of a Mary Carter agreement between the plaintiff and the obstetrician denied the hospital a fair trial under the abuse of discretion standard, even after the Harford County Circuit Court judge found that the trial was fair.

This is the fourth time that Goodell DeVries has vacated final judgments in Maryland birth-injury litigation, including the three largest appeals of such verdicts in Maryland history: Byrom - $229M, Biggs - $34M, and Martinez - $55M.