Drake, Narup & Mead, PC

Congratulations on another verdict goes to Chris Biswell, President of Drake, Narup & Mead, PC, who, with the help of Jason Schutte, won a defense verdict in favor of a local orthopedic surgeon and his practice clinic. It was alleged that the surgeon had committed malpractice by failing to timely diagnose a cerebral spinal fluid leak after having previously performed surgery on the patient's lower spine. Chris was able to show the jury that the patient neither displayed nor complained of any symptoms that could lead to that diagnosis. The jury agreed because after a four-day trial, it returned a verdict in favor of the doctor on April 25, having deliberated less than one hour!

Drake, Narup & Mead, PC won a major appeal in the Illinois Appellate Court in defense of a cardiologist wrongly accused of malpractice. Briefing and argument of this appeal was handled by Randall Mead. The case was tried by Richard Narup and Christian Biswell. The bar association reported the case as follows:

Wilson v. Dande, 2024 IL App (5th) 220552 (February 20, 2024) Coles Co. (CATES) Affirmed.
Plaintiff, as special administrator of an estate of a deceased individual, brought a wrongful death lawsuit for medical malpractice. A jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant and plaintiff appealed, arguing that the trial court erred when it allowed the defendant’s expert to testify about “possible” causes of death, when it refused to admit the decedent’s complete death certificate into evidence, and when it denied plaintiff’s motion for a directed verdict on the allegation that defendants failed to properly instruct the decedent. Plaintiff also argued that the verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence. The appellate court affirmed, finding that the trial court did not err in the admission of evidence and that the jury’s verdict was not against the manifest weight of the evidence. (VAUGHAN and WELCH, concurring)

Congratulations to Chris Biswell who won a major malpractice defense verdict in Pekin, Illinois, yesterday, following an 8-day jury trial. Chris defended a Peoria-area orthopedic surgeon who was accused of not following up on an ankle surgery he performed as the on-call trauma surgeon, to reduce a severe ankle fracture following a motor vehicle accident. The patient's left foot was ultimately amputated. The plaintiff's lawyers asked the jury to award 18.5 million dollars. After 13 hours of deliberations spanning two days the jury returned a verdict in favor of the doctor. Chris was second-chaired by Randall Mead.