On December 12, 2024, senior trial partner Christopher A. Terzian, assisted by associate, Roger Wong, obtained a unanimous defense verdict in favor of MCB’s client, an orthopedic surgeon in Richmond County Supreme Court. The plaintiff, a 17-year-old Division I college soccer player tore her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in a game on September 10, 2017, against a rival college. MCB’s client, performed surgery to remove her torn ACL on October 4, 2017, replacing it with a hamstring tendon graft. The plaintiff alleged our client negligently placed the tendon graft, causing it to be lax instead of taut.
Approximately eight months after the surgery, our client cleared the plaintiff to return to college level soccer, after she successfully completed her rehabilitation program without any complications. However, instead of returning to college soccer, the plaintiff sought the opinion of another orthopedist, based on the advice of a physical therapist, who believed the tendon graft was loose and not taut. One month later, the plaintiff elected to have the tendon graft, placed by MCB’s client removed by another orthopedic surgeon, and replaced by a patella tendon graft.
About one year after the surgery by the subsequent surgeon, plaintiff was cleared to return to playing soccer. However, she then tore the subsequent surgeon’s patella tendon graft playing soccer. The plaintiff argued that she underwent unnecessary surgery by the second surgeon due to the alleged improperly performed hamstring tendon graft surgery performed by our client. Additionally, the plaintiff claimed she would suffer a lifetime of early onset osteoarthritis in her left knee, along with accompanying pain, swelling, and immobility due to the alleged negligence of our client. Plaintiff sought $1 million in damages.
During the trial, Mr. Terzian, through his expert orthopedic surgeon and client, proved the tautness and stability of our client’s hamstring tendon graft through post-operative arthroscopic images of our client's graft, preoperative arthroscopic images of our client's graft before it was removed by the second surgeon, and preoperative MRIs of plaintiff’s left knee before the second surgeon removed the graft placed by our client. Mr. Terzian and his witnesses also proved to the jury that any current knee problems plaintiff now has are due to her original knee injury, when she not only tore her left ACL, but also sustained bone fractures, bone bruises, and tears and sprains of other ligaments. Based upon this evidence, the jury found the graft placed by our client was properly positioned, straight, taut, and not lax before it was removed by the second surgeon. The jury rendered a unanimous defense verdict in under an hour.