Court rules in favor of Sunrise Hospital

By Cy Ryan

Friday, Sept. 12, 2008 | 10:05 a.m.

CARSON CITY – Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center will collect $50,000 to cover part of its legal costs in defending a medical malpractice suit filed by a Las Vegas man and his wife.

The Nevada Supreme Court upheld the decision of District Judge Douglas W. Herndon, who ruled that John F. Garry must pay the hospital. The hospital had sought $151,000 in attorney fees and other legal costs but the judge reduced it to $50,000.

Garry’s wife, Freda, underwent surgery at Sunrise in 1997 and other problems developed while she was in the hospital. Doctors eventually had to amputate her leg.

The couple filed a medical malpractice suit against four doctors and the hospital. A district court jury unanimously ruled in favor of the doctors and the hospital. The doctors and the couple later reached an undisclosed settlement.

John Garry — his wife had died — filed an appeal to the Supreme Court involving the hospital only.

The court rejected claims that errors were made at trial. On the issue of legal fees, it noted the hospital made a $25,000 offer to settle the case before the trial. Garry argued the proposed settlement was not reasonable because a settlement judge had determined a fair amount would be $750,000 against each the hospital and the doctors.

The Supreme Court said that while the $25,000 was “significantly lower than the settlement value” determined by the settlement judge, “the staff of Sunrise Hospital arguably had a stronger defense to liability than many of the doctors involved in the case.”