It’s a challenge to win a jury trial in a medical malpractice case, but it’s even a bigger challenge to win it not just once, but twice!
On Wednesday afternoon, the defense team of Marcy Magee, Natalie Bursi and Bill Haltom won a jury verdict in the defense of a physician for the second time in three years.
In 2015, Marcy, Natalie and Bill won a jury verdict for their client only to have the verdict set aside a few months later by the trial judge as “13th juror.”
Under Tennessee law, the trial judge has the power to set aside a jury verdict if he or she disagrees with it. Such a decision by the trial judge as a “13th juror” is totally discretionary under Tennessee law and therefore not subject to an appeal.
Accordingly, the jury verdict that Marcy, Natalie, and Bill won for their client a few years ago was set aside, and the case was retired over the past couple of weeks.
Late Wednesday afternoon, the defense team of Marcy, Natalie and Bill won a second jury verdict for their client, hopefully bringing this matter to a final conclusion.
LT congratulates Marcy, Natalie and Bill for, in effect, sweeping a double header.
Marcy D. Magee, a shareholder in the Memphis office, focuses her practice primarily on general civil defense litigation matters, with an emphasis on medical malpractice and products liability litigation. Ms. Magee has handled numerous jury trials to verdict in Memphis and surrounding counties. She also has a vast amount of experience arguing cases before the Tennessee Supreme Court and the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
Natalie Bursi joined Lewis Thomason as an associate in the firm’s Memphis office in August 2013. Ms. Bursi focuses her practice primarily in the areas of health care liability defense and insurance defense. She has assisted in trying civil matters to verdict in Tennessee state and federal court. During law school, Ms. Bursi worked as an intern for the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office and served as an extern for the Honorable Judge Holly M. Kirby of the Tennessee Court of Appeals, Western Section. She also served as the managing editor of the Mental Health Law & Policy Journal; was a graduate assistant to Estelle Winsett, assistant dean for Law Career Services; and an orientation leader.
Mr. Haltom is an award-winning newspaper and magazine humor columnist. His columns appear in The Commercial Appeal, Memphis’ largest daily newspaper, monthly in the Tennessee Bar Journal, and 24/7 on his blog, www.billhaltom.com. He is the author of six books and has been a newspaper and magazine humor columnist for over 20 years. He has served as chair of the editorial boards for four magazines, including the ABA Journal, the flagship publication of the American Bar Association. A popular speaker, Bill has delivered commencement addresses and has been the featured speaker at conventions, banquets and leadership seminars.