A Hartford jury in 2023 awarded the $8.5 million verdict to Linda Sobin in her individual capacity and as the administrator of her husband Peter Sobin’s estate. Linda Sobin had claimed the defendant, Orthopaedic Sports Specialists P.C., had failed to diagnose and treat the decedent’s deep vein thrombosis after a knee surgery, and that this alleged negligence led to Peter Sobin’s death….law.com, Nearly $13 Million Judgment Affirmed by Appellate Court
The jury concluded the defendant’s negligence was a substantial factor that caused Peter Sobin’s death, and that Linda Sobin had proved her claim for loss of consortium.
On appeal, the defendant claimed the trial court failed to strike some responses from the plaintiff’s medical expert regarding hypothetical questions that were not based on evidence. However, the Appellate Court concluded there was testimony and circumstantial evidence that was “sufficient to support a factual inference” that Peter Sobin had communicated symptoms of deep vein thrombosis to the defendant.
The Appellate Court agreed with the plaintiff’s argument that “any impropriety was unintentional” and any potential prejudice was stamped out when the court instructed the jury that there was no claim in the case that Libby had violated any criminal law, and the jury should not consider this possibility.
The defendant also claimed the trial court erred in instructing the jury that it could award damages for death itself, and that the plaintiff was entitled to “either the death itself or for pain and suffering, not both.”
The Appellate Court disagreed and stated that damages for both death itself and for pain and suffering before the death are consistent with Connecticut case law. The court also concluded the defendant’s argument does not hold up because the court simply instructed the jury “that it may, not must, award damages for the death itself.”