A team of Georgia attorneys achieved a record-setting eight-figure verdict for the value of an unborn child’s life. Of the $25 million verdict returned by a Bibb County State Court jury against a pair of obstetrician-gynecologists, jurors awarded $4 million for the “economic value” and $15 million for the “intangible value” of the fetus’ life…law, $25M Verdict Follows A.I.-Influenced Closing Argument, By Cedra Mayfield, Apr 2025
Per the complaint filed in January 2019, the unborn child died after on-call Dr. Kathleen Mont-Louis failed to diagnosis Hinnant with a severe case of preeclampsia that required subsequent monitoring at HCA Coliseum Medical Center.
Plaintiff counsel Katherine L. Macarthur of McArthur Law Firm alleged Mont-Louis discharged Hinnant in violation of American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Guidelines for close monitoring. At Mont-Louis’ instruction, Hinnant followed up with her treating obstetrician, Dr. Susan Thomas. However, by the time Hinnant could be seen by Thomas several days post-discharge, allegedly neither Mont-Louis nor hospital nursing staff had updated Thomas’ office on their receipt of finalized lab results that indicated the severity of Hinnant’s preeclampsia, per the complaint.
Without having access to “the complete medical record from the hospital,” the plaintiff complaint alleged Thomas discharged Hinnant home with the instruction to return for semiweekly check-ups thereafter.
But tragedy struck first.
The treating OB, Dr. Susan Thomas, assumed that the [preeclampsia] had not had severe features because the mom had not been kept in the hospital. Dr. Thomas did not do her own investigation or make sure of that point through calling the other doctor or the hospital. “She sent the patient home that Friday saying she would see her twice a week in the office. Two days later, the mom started having bleeding, an ambulance was called, and she was taken to Houston Medical Center, where it was determined that the baby had died because they could not find a heartbeat. The mom had to be induced and deliver her baby girl knowing she was deceased.”
Contending the doctors’ individual and collective negligence caused Hinnant to experience “conscious pain and suffering” and the unborn child to die “before her delivery but after she was able to move and had a heartbeat detected by [the] defendants,” plaintiff counsel sought damages on behalf of both the unborn child and her parents.
In addition to Mont-Louis and Thomas, plaintiff counsel named Coliseum Medical Center, Empower Women’s Health Center and Women’s Healthcare of Middle Georgia as defendants.
defense counsel for Coliseum disputed Hinnant’s breached standard of care claims, arguing that “no negligent act or omission on their part proximately caused or contributed to Shanta Hinnant’s injuries.” Alleging the same, counsel for Mont-Louis noted that under the defendant’s care “Hinnant’s blood pressures appropriately responded to medication” ahead of her discharge “with specific instructions to follow-up with her primary obstetrician in 24 hours.”
After eight days of trial and seven hours of deliberations, the Bibb County State Court jury returned a $25 million verdict in favor of the plaintiffs. Jurors awarded $6 million to Hinnant for her pain and suffering. The remaining $19 million went to Hinnant’s unborn daughter.
Katherine L. Macarthur shared that she leveraged artificial intelligence to help prepare her closing remarks. “I used some AI suggestions on how to perform and what to say in the final closing argument,” McArthur said. “It gave great suggestions and even showed how other great trial lawyers would argue for the life of a child that never got to live her life. It was very helpful and inspirational.“