San Francisco Injury Lawyer Blog

In most personal injury lawsuits, there is more than one defendant. For example, if you are injured in a car accident, you may sue the driver of the vehicle, and his insurance company could also be a defendant in the case. Or, if you sue for medical malpractice, then there may be multiple health care providers involved in the lawsuit, or the hospital in which the doctors worked, or the distributor of a certain drug that the doctor used that ended in injury. In cases in which there are multiple defendants, the jury or the judge, depending on who is the trier of fact, may determine how much liability that each defendant is exposed to. Essentially, one of the defendants could be completely free from liability in the case, while the other defendants share the responsibility.

In a court case in Philadelphia on May 18, 2009, Rosalyn James won a medical malpractice suit against St. Joseph’s Hospital and two emergency room doctors. James filed the lawsuit on behalf of her husband who died as a result of heart complications that could have been prevented if the doctors had interpreted his x-rays in time. The jury in the case attributed 48% of the liability to Dr. Thomas Powell, 36% to Dr. Emil Skobeloff and 16% to St. Joseph’s Hospital. It is likely that the malpractice insurance for the doctors and the hospitals will pay the James $2.815 million.

In this case, the defendants were attributed 100% of the liability, but that is not the case all the time. Sometimes, the defendants may only be attributed a portion of the liability while the plaintiff might be responsible as well. For instance, if the victim fails to look both ways across the street, or was reckless in his actions, the jury may find that the victim may be partially responsible while the defendant is responsible for his own wrongdoing. To find out your rights in a potential lawsuit, you should speak to the lawyers at Greenberg & Rudman LLP, who have over 50 years of combined experience. Call us now at 1-800-252-9776 (1-800-ALAWPRO) for a free and confidential consultation. Check out our website, www.alawpro.com to read more about our attorneys and stories on our successful lawsuits.