FKB’s Tracy S. Katz and Irina Zamyatin obtained a unanimous decision in the First Department, Appellate Division, affirming summary judgment on behalf of FKB’s client, a podiatrist, and dismissing the case against him in its entirety.  The case involved allegations that our client a podiatrist, failed to timely and properly treat the patient’s heal ulcers leading to infection and death. On appeal, plaintiff’s counsel argued the lower court incorrectly granted summary judgment to our client, as plaintiff submitted two expert affirmations (by both an internist/pulmonologist and a podiatrist) in opposition to FKB’s motion. 

Tracy S. Katz and Irina Zamyatin argued that the lower Court correctly determined that the plaintiff’s expert affirmations were speculative and conclusory and failed to establish that our client’s actions were in any way the proximate cause of the patient’s development of infection, osteomyelitis, sepsis and death.  The Appellate Division agreed with FKB’s arguments, finding that that the plaintiff’s expert’s opinions were speculative and conclusory and that plaintiff’s counsel failed to raise a triable issue of fact with regard to any deviations from the standard of care or proximate cause.