Nov 15th, 2015

FKB’s Neil Kornfeld and Lauren Simon obtained a defense verdict in Supreme Court, New York County in a podiatric malpractice action


The case involved allegations that the defendant podiatrist negligently performed a bunion surgery resulting in the development of neuromas, altered gait, and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. The plaintiff also claimed that as a result of the surgery she could no longer work as a manager of a nightclub, claiming over $2 million in past and future lost earnings.

Plaintiff’s podiatry expert claimed that the defendant podiatrist improperly performed the surgery by placing a k-wire for fixation at the site of a bone cyst. Plaintiff’s expert drew a diagram to depict the negligent placement of the k-wire for the jury. On the defendant’s case, the defense compared the plaintiff’s podiatry expert’s drawing to the actual intra-operative radiology films that depicted that the k-wire was placed in an entirely different location and proved that the k-wire was in fact nowhere near the bone cyst. On cross-examination of plaintiff’s expert neurologist and the plaintiff herself, the defense established that plaintiff was able to work, thereby impeaching the credibility of plaintiff’s lost earnings claim.

The jury returned a unanimous defense verdict finding that the defendant podiatrist’s surgical technique was entirely within the standard of care.