Senior Trial Partner Bruce Habian, Partner Emma Glazer, and Associate Christian McCarthy obtained a dismissal in a hip surgery case venued in Suffolk County. This case involves a then 62-year-old man with a history of hip problems and procedures who underwent a revision of total left hip arthroplasty, performed by our client doctor. It was claimed that this procedure was negligently performed, and that the plaintiff thereafter sustained dislocation of the implanted device, which subsequently required removal. Following our client doctor’s revision of the left hip, plaintiff had two recurrent additional dislocations.
Plaintiff failed to prosecute this case and we learned that the plaintiff was also enrolled in a Texas-based class action concerning the hip prosthetic used in the surgery at issue. In reading about the class action, we noted that the claims made appeared to be contradictory to those asserted against the assureds and pressed for plaintiffs’ counsel to voluntarily discontinue the instant action after we were notified that plaintiffs received a settlement in the class action. Despite the settlement, plaintiffs’ counsel still refused to discontinue the action or resume prosecution of the case against our assureds. We moved to dismiss this action, citing plaintiffs’ failure to prosecute the case and comply with a 90-Day Notice, which was granted by the Court.