Sufficiency of Evidence – Expert Testimony

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Felicia Madden, Administrator of the Estate of Phillip Madden and Individually, v. United States Department of Veterans Affairs

Case No.: 16-3740

Officials: BAUER, ROVNER, and SYKES, Circuit Judges

Focus: Sufficiency of Evidence – Expert Testimony

This case was brought by the estate of decedent Phillip Madden (“Madden”). The claim arises under the Federal Tort Claims Act against the United States from an ultimately fatal medical incident Madden suffered while in the care, custody, and control of the Jessie Brown V.A. Medical Hospital (“Hospital”). After a bench trial, the district court found in favor of the United States. Madden now appeals. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

Madden argues the trial court was biased against the plaintiff throughout the entirety of the bench trial, but specifically in finding the United States’ expert witness was credible while Madden’s expert witness was not credible. In so arguing, Madden claims the discrepancies in Dr. Husain’s testimony the district court relied on were “de minimus matters.” We disagree.

Madden also challenges a litany of other factual findings regarding the standard of care provided by the Hospital. Some of these include: the Hospital’s denial of a sitter upon Mad‐ den’s wife’s request; allowing Madden to sleep in his wheelchair; the Hospital’s decision to lay Madden on the floor rather than lift him to the bed during the Code Blue; and the fact that it took the Hospital 25 minutes to intubate Madden. With no valid reason to set aside the district court’s conclusion on the credibility of each expert witness, we have no reason to conclude that the court’s factual findings based on their testimony were clearly erroneous.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.