Shariff Floyd to sue...

This is unfortunate for Floyd, but I don't think he's got much of a chance in this lawsuit. 

He will probably get a settlement.

Sorry, didn't see this one

@"Vikergirl" said: He will probably get a settlement.

Yup.  Probably in the range of $50-90 million.

It would be interesting to see the arguments on both sides, but we probably won't - I think VG is right, they will settle out of court and Floyd will get some kind of going-away-present. He's asking for $180M based on expected career earnings. Julius Peppers allegedly made the most over his career of any defensive lineman, $165M...so...good luck Sharrif.

I'm not so sure if there will be a settlement because of the proof needed to prove there was some degree of negligence.  Who did or are Floyds lawyers going to find that will dispute the most highly regarded orthopedic in the country if not the world ?  

@"Purple Haze" said: I'm not so sure if there will be a settlement because of the proof needed to prove there was some degree of negligence.  Who did or are Floyds lawyers going to find that will dispute the most highly regarded orthopedic in the country if not the world ?  

Agreed. And there certainly wouldn't be a settlement of $50+ million as that is no settlement at all. Floyd is way overshooting by asking for $180 million and he knows it. Dr. Andrews has been the most renown orthopedic surgeon, possibly in the world even though he works out of Alabama. Ain't his first rodeo. I'm sure he has malpractice insurance but this might about principle/reputation also. I'd guess that Floyd gets something when its all said and done, but what that is is very up in the air. 

@"StickyBun" said:

@"Purple Haze" said: I'm not so sure if there will be a settlement because of the proof needed to prove there was some degree of negligence.  Who did or are Floyds lawyers going to find that will dispute the most highly regarded orthopedic in the country if not the world ?  

Agreed. And there certainly wouldn't be a settlement of $50+ million as that is no settlement at all. Floyd is way overshooting by asking for $180 million and he knows it. Dr. Andrews has been the most renown orthopedic surgeon, possibly in the world even though he works out of Alabama. Ain't his first rodeo. I'm sure he has malpractice insurance but this might about principle/reputation also. I'd guess that Floyd gets something when its all said and done, but what that is is very up in the air. 

Floyd will get equally qualified orthopedic surgeons and other doctors to act as his expert witnesses and opine on what the defendant doctors did wrong.  They will say that the procedure was not a difficult one; that they never warned Floyd that there was a real chance that he would suffer a major injury that would end his career; that they have performed similar procedures hundreds or thousands of times without any problems; they will depose everyone who was in the operating room; they may try to make one doctor the principal tortfeasor and hope that he points the finger elsewhere and they start pointing fingers at each other, etc. Depending on how things are going in the litigation, and assuming that some, if not all, of the doctors are insured (not all orthos are), the insurer(s) may offer policy limits and Floyd can elect to settle with one doctor and agree not to pursue him/her beyond the insurance limits in exchange for his testimony against the others ...
The $180M figure is mostly for publicity and to send a message that this is a very high dollar case.  He could have sued for the jurisdictional minimum necessary to get into that court (probably $15,000), and still ask for $100M at trial. Floyd will also have economics experts to support the damages claim.
A lot of it is going to be quite speculative. But he was a first round pick.  Let's say that $50M in damages is reasonable, with an outside shot at $100M.  And say the defense lawyer believes Floyd has a 40%-50% chance to win annd they have $50M in coverage.  The defendants may put a lot of pressure on their insurers to settle and avoid a bad faith claim in the event of a judgment that exceeds the coverage.
It is way too early to predict how this will go. 

What bearing will the informed consent paper he signed, explaining the risks and benefits of the procedure, have on the case? He apparently had paroneal nerve damage, which isn't common, but is a risk with this procedure.

without seeing what it says or what he was told contemporaneously that might contradict the document, they will likely  argue that the document only means that even if all of the doctors perform their jobs correctly, there is still a small chance that Floyd would suffer some injury. That document is irrelevant because we are going to show that one (or more?) of the doctors involved in treating Floyd acted negligently, that their performance failed to meet the standard of care required in such cases. This in not a case where the surgeons did everything they could and a permanent, life-altering injury was simply unavoidable. ...

Thank you for explaining. I'm just trying to understand it lay terms.
So though the patient assumes the risk of disabling physical injury, the malpractice carriers assume the financial risk. 

@"greediron" said:

@"StickyBun" said:

@"Purple Haze" said: I'm not so sure if there will be a settlement because of the proof needed to prove there was some degree of negligence.  Who did or are Floyds lawyers going to find that will dispute the most highly regarded orthopedic in the country if not the world ?  

Agreed. And there certainly wouldn't be a settlement of $50+ million as that is no settlement at all. Floyd is way overshooting by asking for $180 million and he knows it. Dr. Andrews has been the most renown orthopedic surgeon, possibly in the world even though he works out of Alabama. Ain't his first rodeo. I'm sure he has malpractice insurance but this might about principle/reputation also. I'd guess that Floyd gets something when its all said and done, but what that is is very up in the air. 

He is certainly renowned, but that isn't to say he didn't make a mistake.  Something happened with Floyds knee that wasn't normal.

@"jargomcfargo" said: Thank you for explaining. I'm just trying to understand it lay terms. So though the patient assumes the risk of disabling physical injury, the malpractice carriers assume the financial risk. 

Well, without getting too far into it, the insurer has a duty to defend and a duty to indemnify.  The duty to defend kicks in when the insured (the doctor) is sued over something that is covered in the insurance policy. In this case, that would be the allegation of medical negligence. So the insurer will bear the cost of the doctor's defense.  (We are presuming the doctor(s) sued has (have) insurance.)
The duty to indemnify only kicks in if the insured (the doctor) suffers a judgment against him/her. The judgment presupposes that the plaintiff (Floyd) proves an injury caused by negligence that led to damages (lost money). Proving injury is not enough.  For liability to attach, the injury must have been caused by the medical negligence. Of course, the plaintiff must also prove that the negligently-caused injury caused the plaintiff to lose money. And then plaintiff must also prove the amount of money that he would have made but did not make due to the injury.

@"Jor-El" said: It would be interesting to see the arguments on both sides, but we probably won't - I think VG is right, they will settle out of court and Floyd will get some kind of going-away-present. He's asking for $180M based on expected career earnings. Julius Peppers allegedly made the most over his career of any defensive lineman, $165M...so...good luck Sharrif.

and that was how many years ago?  with salaries rising rapidly and the cap expanding annually,  its not completely out of the question to say that todays top tier DLinemen will out earn those from the previous generation.  I am sure there is some pain and suffering and mental anguish on top of the actual lost earnings tacked on as a negotiating point.

I doubt we ever hear how this actually turns out.   the settlement will  come with a confidentiality clause and that will be the end of it.