The family’s attorneys, a well-known local law firm, filed a civil lawsuit in which they obtained an evidentiary ruling that the defendants were precluded from contesting negligence due to the Nurse’s guilty plea. The Trial Court ruled that collateral estoppel applied, and defendants could not present direct evidence to contest these claims but were limited to cross-examining plaintiff’s experts, precluded from calling any witnesses, and barred from introducing any testimony concerning the manner in which the Nurse administered the shower bath, her training and experience, as well as any explanation of the circumstances of her guilty plea.

Several days before jury selection was scheduled, defendants’ representatives retained Andrew Garson and the firm as trial counsel. Plaintiffs’ attorneys had rejected a million dollar settlement offer, insisting on a four million dollar demand with a daily escalation of one hundred thousand dollars for each day defendants failed to settle the case. Three weeks of trial followed, with the Trial Court permitting defendants to contest causation. Despite the seemingly insurmountable evidence, and without the ability to call medical witnesses or introduce any affirmative evidence, Mr. Garson and his defense team successfully convinced jurors that plaintiffs’ four medical witnesses were unworthy of belief, and that this child had experienced a severe allergic reaction to a recently started antibiotic rather than a hot water scald burn injury. The jury returned a unanimous verdict of “no liability” within hours of commencing deliberations.