Attorney Sandra Cianflone Discusses Healthcare Litigation Mega Verdicts on the Emerging Litigation Podcast

Hall Booth Smith Attorney Sandra Cianflone joined Emerging Litigation Podcast host Tom Hagy to discuss the trend of growing damages awards in health care litigation.

Damage awards in litigation against physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers have been consistently increasing, with juries awarding more than $20 million in a recent series of cases. What are the factors behind this mega-verdict trend, and what can defense attorneys do?

“Ultimately what’s happening is the plaintiff is putting out their number to the jury first,” Cianflone explains. “Instead of having the plaintiff control the narrative as to what the value of a case is, the defense bar needs to start anchoring numbers in a jury’s mind. If you set the value of a case first, you can then adjust that number. But if you present them nothing, they have no reasonable alternative but to look at the plaintiff’s number and take that as the truth in what they should be awarding.”

To listen to the full conversation, click here.