FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Morgan & Morgan Hit With $5M Legal Malpractice Verdict By St. Denis & Davey

“Morgan & Morgan was focused so intensely on a potential multi-million dollar contingency fee for the child’s devastating birth-related injuries, that the firm neglected to focus on injuries caused to the parents, especially the mother.”

– Donald St. Denis, St. Denis & Davey, P.A.

SARASOTA, Fla. (October 29, 2018) – A Bradenton couple was awarded $5 million this month after the Florida statewide law firm St. Denis & Davey persuaded a Sarasota County jury that the nationwide law firm that the couple initially hired, Morgan & Morgan, failed to properly represent them.

Shawna Pollock and her son, Rock Pollock Jr., suffered severe injuries during labor in November 2006.

“Morgan & Morgan failed the Pollocks miserably from the moment they took on this case,” said Donald St. Denis, a partner at St. Denis & Davey. “They ignored the big picture, focusing on a big injury verdict for their firm with Rock Jr., and turned their backs on his parents.”

Shawna Pollock was awarded $4 million in the legal malpractice case; her husband Rock Pollock Sr. was awarded $1 million. In its Oct. 17 verdict, the jury found Morgan & Morgan attorney Armando Lauritano 100% responsible for the loss of the Pollocks’ medical malpractice claim against a Sarasota obstetrics practice, nurse midwife, and hospital.

Mother’s uterus ruptures

The case dates to Nov. 2, 2006, when Shawna, who was 27, was admitted to Sarasota Memorial Hospital to give birth.

As Shawna’s labor progressed, she received increasing amounts of Pitocin, a brand-name synthetic hormone that induces labor. The unborn baby experienced “a worsening fetal heart rate pattern.” It was only after Shawna began “writhing in pain” comparable to the pain experienced from a gunshot wound that the medical providers belatedly called for an emergency C-section. By that time, Shawna’s uterus had ruptured, depriving Rock Jr. of oxygen.