Settlements & Verdicts
Shuster v. Ponzio
1/5/2004—A Camden County Superior Court jury in August 1998 awarded $12.1 million to William Schuster, a truck driver whose spine was severely damaged by infection.
The Plaintiff’s attorney, Joseph L. Messa, explained that his client was originally injured in May 1993, when he suffered a fall during a delivery. Mr. Schuster was in and out of the hospital five times during the course of the summer, seeking treatment for an infection caused by pedicle screws that had been inserted into his back. Over the next three years, Mr. Schuster was subjected to 12 surgical procedures, including a failed spinal fusion, causing bone infection and scarring around the nerve roots, leaving him in constant pain and unable to return to work.
The jury found several doctors responsible for the damages, including the Plaintiff’s primary treating physician, an infection control specialist, and two other treating doctors on staff at Kennedy Hospital.
