Cunningham, Meyer lawyers get 2 not guilty verdicts in less than one hour. In a matter of minutes on Wednesday, July 18th, partners at Cunningham, Meyer & Vedrine P.C. secured two defense jury verdicts in nearby courtrooms on the 24th floor of the Daley Center. The first verdict stemmed from a medical-malpractice suit in which plaintiff alleged optometrist failed to diagnose the plaintiff with compressive optic neuropathy during an eye examination on January 30th, 2014. As a result of the incident the plaintiff alleged she lost 80 percent of the sight in her left eye. CMV Partner, Dan Mills, argued the plaintiff had Graves’ disease, commonly referred to as hyperthyroidism, which can cause also swelling in and behind the eye. The verdict was reached for the defense after about 45 minutes of deliberation following a trial before Judge Robert E. Senechalle Jr. Plaintiff asked the jury for between 1.2 million and $1.5 million.
Seven minutes later, in a nearby courtroom, Cook County jurors delivered a verdict for the defense in a case stemming from another medical-malpractice suit in which a plaintiff patient alleged a doctor being defended by CMV Partner, Dave Burtker, failed to properly assess the plaintiff’s risk for a stroke and monitor her pre-existing atrial fibrillation. The plaintiff further argued the doctor incorrectly gave her aspirin in April 2013 and should have instead prescribed an anticoagulant to monitor the situation. The plaintiff did suffer a stroke which caused right arm and leg weakness as well as limitations on day-to-day functions. Defense attorney David C. Burtker said his client assessed the plaintiff on a five-factor scale to determine the risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. The scoring system, which has been approved by several medical organization, was updated 11 months later to include two additional factors: female gender and reduced the age factor to 65. Burtker said while his client recognized the system could be improved, he could not consider any additional factors in his assessment until they were adopted into the criteria officially. Plaintiff’s counsel requested from the jury $5.1 million. The jury deliberated for 21 minutes and returned a not liable verdict for both defendants.
The firm’s most recent feat was not its first situation of its kind. In 2015, the firm won three jury verdicts in about 30 hours.