Success

The Plaintiff was a 54-year-old lady who was having hip pain. She consulted with a local orthopedic surgeon who, without proper workup, decided to do a hip replacement. During the surgery, the doctor encountered problems, resulting in the hip prosthesis being implanted incorrectly. The patient was left with one leg longer than the other.

To correct this, a second surgery would be needed to remove the hardware and replace it. The Pierce Law Firm went to bat for her. During discovery, the doctor was forced to admit that the device was not positioned correctly. Mr. Pierce even had the expert hired by the defendant concede that a second surgery was necessary to fix the mistakes. Rather than face trial, the doctor agreed to a confidential settlement.

Plaintiff worked for a construction company. He had gone to the County garage to perform repairs in the ceiling insulation. While Bergfeld was working in one of the bays, a County driver was attempting to reenter the building and opened the overhead door. Plaintiff was forced to retreat, hand-over-hand, along the door rail.

Unfortunately, the door was quicker, crushing plaintiff’s hand and leaving him hanging 15 feet in the air until rescuers could reach him. Plaintiff alleged that the County should have instructed drivers not to open the doors and/or warned plaintiff that trucks would be returning soon. Mr. Pierce assumed the defense from another law firm after the close of discovery. The jury reached a unanimous verdict in favor of the County and its driver.

The plaintiff runs a tattoo parlor in Alton. He was a potential witness in a criminal investigation. Officer Vambaketes went to the plaintiff’s business to serve Plaintiff with a subpoena. Plaintiff alleged that, after a heated discussion between the officer, plaintiff’s wife and others, Vambaketes struck Puklich in the face. The jury exonerated the police officer.

Plaintiff, a 29 year old contractor, presented with knee pain. After a workup failed to identify the source, the surgeon did a diagnostic athroscopy. During this procedure, he elected to perform a lateral retinacular release, a procedure which is somewhat controversial in the field of orthopedics. The plaintiff became disillusioned during his rehab, expecting to be back to full strength quicker and claimed that he did not consent to this procedure.

By the time of trial 5 years post-surgery, he continued to have weakness and pain. He claimed that it impacted his earning ability to the tune of about $1.5 million, past and future. Mr. Pierce obtained a defense verdict for the physician, despite the defendant’s expert conceding that he wouldn’t have done what the defendant did.

The plaintiff was the administrative assistant to the Police Chief. After she was fired, she claimed that she was sexually harassed and had been told that she’d get better evaluations if she provided sexual favors to the Chief. Mr. Pierce convinced the jury otherwise, resulting in a defense verdict.

A taser was used on the plaintiff during his arrest. He sued, alleging that the force was excessive. The case was surrounded by much publicity over the use of Tasers by police in general. Despite an amateur video of the arrest which seemed to support plaintiff’s version of events, the jury found in favor of the police officer.

Mr. Pierce represented a prominent local plaintiff’s attorney in this premises liability claim. The plaintiff was a sole practitioner who tripped and fell over a clear glass table in the defendant’s offices, breaking his hip. He sued for $500,000 in medical costs and lost wages. Despite testimony by the plaintiff’s expert witnesses that the size and location of the table were improper for the office environment and interfered with delineated traffic patterns, Mr. Pierce secured a jury verdict for his client.