Craig D. Brown

Meyers & Flowers trial attorneys Craig D. Brown and Peter J. Flowers recently finalized a $12 million medical malpractice settlement for a 7-year-old boy after his physicians negligently failed to diagnose and stop his seizures while he was a patient at a northern Illinois hospital for 36 hours. Adam was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was 2 years old. His cerebral palsy caused many significant physical and cognitive disabilities. In the spring of 2016, Adam was a second-grader who had worked very hard to learn how to walk with a walker, read some picture books, and feed himself with his fingers. Although Adam could not speak very well, he loved going to school with his friends. He enjoyed an extremely close relationship with his parents and siblings and absolutely loved singing songs with his older sister when he got home from school. Although his disabilities required him to be dependent on adult supervision, Adam worked hard in physical therapy to develop physical and cognitive skills that maximized his level of independence and thus his ability to enjoy his life as much as possible. On May 2, 2016, at approximately 3 am, Adam’s family awoke to him having a tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizure. They administered his rescue medications, but his body did not stop violently shaking so they rushed him to the Defendant’s hospital which was only 2 minutes away. Immediately upon arrival, Adam was given an IV administration of medications that stopped his convulsive seizure right away. The seizure and the medications caused Adam to stay asleep for 3 hours while he was in the emergency room. This initial period of unresponsiveness is not unusual because his body needed time to recover from such a significant seizure. However, when Adam failed to wake up by 7 am, he was admitted to the hospital for observation. Over the next 24 hours, Adam remained unresponsive and made no progress toward returning to his baseline level of alertness. He also showed obvious signs that his brain was still seizing even though his body was not shaking, including having a high fever, muscle tightening, and an elevated heart rate. Adam’s mother, a registered nurse, repeatedly asked the doctors and nurses to order an EEG throughout the day which could determine if his brain was still seizing, but his physicians did not order the EEG until 7 pm. Although no abnormalities were noted in the initial EEG, Adam was still unresponsive so a pediatric neurologist practicing telemedicine from Florida agreed to monitor the continuous EEG that ran overnight and into the next morning. The next day, almost 36 hours after Adam arrived at the hospital, his doctors reviewed the entire EEG strip for the first time and determined that Adam’s brain had been seizing on and off the entire time he was in the hospital. After being transferred to a Wisconsin pediatric hospital via helicopter, Adam was diagnosed with a catastrophic global brain injury due to more than 36 hours of intermittent seizing. The tragic experience cost him every ounce of the autonomy he worked so hard to gain since the day he was born. Now almost six years later, Adam is confined to a wheelchair and he takes all his food through a G-tube. Meyers & Flowers trial attorney Craig Brown filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against several of Adam’s doctors and the hospital that employed them because they failed to diagnose his continued seizures in a timely manner. Over the last 4 years, the Meyers & Flowers team, led by Craig Brown and Peter Flowers, devoted their full resources to aggressively litigating Adam’s case as efficiently as possible despite potential delays that could have been caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. “The hospital staff’s failure to use reasonable care caused our client to suffer a massive brain injury that could have been prevented had they simply ordered an EEG by 9 am when it was obvious something was wrong,” said Craig Brown. “The EEG would have shown Adam was still seizing, and his doctors would have administered standard anti-seizure medication that would have effectively and permanently stopped his seizures before any brain damage occurred.” Conversely, the doctors and the hospital aggressively defended the case for 3 years and denied they deviated from the standard of care. Their team alleged it was reasonable for the physicians to expect Adam’s “sleepy” period to last for 12-24 hours because his severe seizure at home had lasted many hours. Records taken by the nursing staff indicating Adam was “sleepy but arousable” and a lack of recommendations for an EEG from a consulting pediatric neurologist from Wisconsin strengthened the Defendants' arguments. “The Defendants’ main strategy was to convince our jury that Adam’s seizure at home led to his devastating brain injury and the continued seizures he had for 36 hours at their hospital miraculously did not cause any harm because these seizures were not the type of seizures that can cause the brain injury Adam suffered,” said Mr. Brown. In order to meet their burden of proof, the Meyers & Flowers team hired twenty different expert witnesses from the best medical institutions in the United States to evaluate the complex medical issues regarding what Adam’s doctors did wrong and why Adam’s brain injury was caused by the undiagnosed seizures at the hospital, not by his seizure at home. Furthermore, Mr. Brown and Mr. Flowers had the added challenge of explaining to the jury how Adam’s life was severely and permanently impacted by this new brain injury even though his cerebral palsy caused profound physical and cognitive disabilities before his seizure events. “This is one of the most complex medical cases any trial lawyer could handle,” said Mr. Flowers. “Thus, we presented the case to several different focus groups and we conducted a mock trial so we had a very good idea how our jury was going to react to the evidence we would have presented at trial. The information we learned from our focus groups and our mock trial helped us evaluate our case and counteract all the Defendants’ arguments.” After a full day mediation, the parties agreed to a settlement of $12 million to be paid partially by the hospital and one of the Defendant’s liability carriers. “It was an honor and privilege to represent Adam and his family in this case,” said Mr. Brown. “I am so thankful we were able to obtain justice and fair compensation for Adam. We are now working with Adam’s parents to create an Irrevocable Trust that will protect and grow Adam’s settlement funds. We are so pleased to be able to help them retrofit their home with hoyer lifts, a therapy pool, and other amenities that will help Adam make the best recovery possible. Adam will now be able to receive the best medical care and rehabilitation services for the rest of his life.” “Craig did a great job of representing Adam – representing him before and after. For me, it was so important for everyone who was invo

$11 million award for severely disabled man who suffered a spinal cord injury when a shuttle bus driver failed to properly secure his wheelchair

In January of 2015, Meyers & Flowers received a phone call from Julie concerning a lawsuit she had filed against a major US corporation. Julie’s husband Joe was killed in an industrial accident inside a Chicago-area plant. When Julie spoke to attorney Craig Brown, she was frustrated by the slow progress of her case. Her attorney at the time had only completed three depositions during the 20 months the case had been pending, and the defendant had not yet made any settlement offers. Julie asked the litigation team at Meyers & Flowers to take over her case. Over the next 19 months, Meyers & Flowers’ Craig Brown and Jon Mincieli completed 53 depositions, researched, retained, and presented eight expert witnesses for deposition. The team also deposed three expert witnesses hired by the defense and conducted four mock trials. Ultimately, our attorneys negotiated a $10 million settlement with the defendant that was approved by the Court five weeks before the case was scheduled to begin. "Joe was an amazing husband and father,” said Craig Brown. “As soon as we took over the case, we knew the best way to help Julie, and her family was to develop an extremely aggressive litigation plan and move this tragic case to trial as quickly as possible. Powerful U.S. corporations, such as the one we were facing, never offer fair compensation unless they know the plaintiff has properly prepared the case for trial." "Craig and I dedicated the full resources of our firm to push this case to trial as aggressively as possible,” said Jon Mincieli. “Representing this family was one of the highlights of my career. I was honored and privileged to be in a position to help them recover not only fair compensation but also closure to litigation that was unnecessarily delayed before our involvement."

Craig Brown and Peter Flowers Obtain $7.5 Million Award For Severely Disabled Client. Second Highest Medical Malpractice Award in Kane County History. Attorneys Craig Brown and Peter Flowers recently obtained a $7.5 million settlement for their severely disabled client in a case that was pending in Kane County for less than 2 years. On January 13, 2010, John complained to a nurse at his doctor’s office that he was experiencing headaches. He was concerned because he had no history of headaches. Four days later, John suffered seizure-like symptoms which included contractions, difficulty breathing, and a loss of bladder control. John was monitored closely by his nurses and doctor for the next several days. On January 21, 2010, John still had a severe headache causing dizziness, nausea, and fatigue. During a routine examination, John’s nurse noticed John’s right pupil was nonreactive. When John’s doctor examined him the next day, John’s pupil was normal and he was feeling better, although he still had a severe headache. His doctor diagnosed him with a urinary tract infection based on some abnormal lab results and prescribed Tylenol with codeine for his headaches. On January 24, 2010, John was found unresponsive but breathing with urine incontinence and priapism. His pupils were pinpoint and non-reactive to light. By the time John arrived at a nearby emergency room, he told the ER staff he was feeling better but still had a severe headache that started eight days before. An Emergency CT scan of his brain proved John had a small amount of bleeding from a blood vessel in his brain. The emergency room staff immediately decided to transfer him to a different hospital where doctors could perform highly advanced surgery to stop his bleeding. John suffered a ruptured cerebral aneurysm on the way to the second hospital. Emergency surgery was performed and his surgeons were able to stop the bleeding. Tragically, the massive amount of bleeding in his brain from his ruptured aneurysm caused severe, irreversible brain damage. Today, John is 50 years old and is totally disabled. He lives in a nursing home because he is no longer able to use his arms and legs in any meaningful way. Attorneys Brown and Flowers filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against John’s doctors and nurses because the medical standard of care required them to understand and appreciate that John was experiencing abnormal neurological symptoms from January 17, 2010, until his aneurysm ruptured on January 24, 2010. Thus, they were required to obtain a CT scan on January 17. If the defendants ordered the CT scan earlier, they would have discovered his small brain bleed in time to successfully repair it before he suffered irreversible brain damage. John’s mother, Theresa, and his sister Julie were appointed guardians of his estate and retained Mr. Brown and Mr. Flowers in March 2010. From the beginning, both attorneys knew John would never work again, and he would never receive high-quality medical care because he would be forced to become a public aid recipient. They then developed an aggressive litigation plan designed to move his case to trial as quickly as possible, and over the next 13 months, Brown and Flowers devoted the full resources of the firm to John’s case. On November 18, 2011, shortly before John’s case was scheduled to start the trial, a $7.5 million dollar settlement agreement was reached. The settlement amount was the second highest medical malpractice award in the history of Kane County. Brown and Flowers are now helping John and his guardians build a handicap-accessible home with a voice-activated Hoyer lift that will transport him from room to room. Trust attorney Ted Meyers is also helping establish various trusts where John’s settlement proceeds will be used to obtain the best medical care and improve the quality and dignity of his life to the fullest extent possible. “I cannot explain how much Craig and Peter’s representation has meant to our family during the worst crisis of our lives,” said Julie, John’s sister, and guardian. “In addition to their skill, devotion, and integrity, our attorneys genuinely cared about this case and became our dear friends. Craig was always there when we needed his emotional support. His kindness and compassion helped us endure the painful process necessary to vindicate the lack of care and wrongdoing that was put upon my brother. My trust in his wisdom will always be one of the best decisions of my life.”

Craig D. Brown and Michael W. Lenert of Meyers & Flowers obtained a $7,000,000.00 settlement on behalf of a 6-year-old Illinois boy struck by a commercial semi-tractor trailer while he was riding a motorized scooter. On September 19, 2017, six-year-old Charlie went over to his friend Johnny’s house in rural Illinois to play after school. Johnny lived on a truck route in a residential neighborhood. Johnny’s great-grandmother was at the home to supervise the two boys. While playing in the backyard, Johnny went into the unlocked garage and started driving a 12-volt motorized scooter up and down the driveway. Although Charlie had just learned how to ride a bike two weeks prior, he wanted to take a turn riding the scooter. Tragically, Charlie, not knowing how to control the scooter, began to drive the scooter down the driveway. As Charlie sped down the driveway, he attempted to stop the scooter by dragging his feet. Unfortunately, Charlie was unable to stop and ultimately entered the roadway where he was run over by an 18-wheel semi-tractor trailer. It is a miracle Charlie survived the crash, but his injuries can only be described as permanent and catastrophic. He suffered multiple orthopedic fractures, internal bleeding, and a complete disconnection of his urethra from his bladder. Furthermore, he suffered a severe traumatic brain injury that caused permanent and substantial cognitive deficits. He underwent dozens of surgeries, but unfortunately, his injuries will leave him dependent on his loved ones for basic needs for the rest of his life. “Both my wife and I had tragedy strike when our son was hit by a semi-tanker,” said Charlie’s father. Though our son made it out alive,?we were met with a large healthcare lien from the hospital. We were referred out to Meyers & Flowers and from the beginning of our case the team was understanding with our availability and were willing to help us out in any way possible.” The Meyers & Flowers team led by Craig Brown and Michael Lenert worked on Charlie’s case for over 3 years and investigated every possible legal cause of the crash. Initially, their efforts focused on the homeowner’s insurance policies. According to Craig Brown, “Johnny’s parents and grandparents were one of the legal causes of Charlie's catastrophic injuries. Johnny’s parents were negligent because they allowed their young son to have unsupervised access to a dangerous motor scooter. That scooter should have been locked in the garage and not used without adult supervision. Moreover, Johnny’s grandmother was also a legal cause of the crash because she failed to supervise Johnny and Charlie who were only 6 years old. Fortunately, we were able to convince the homeowner’s insurance company to pay their full $1 million policy at the outset. We used this money to help Charlie obtain the best medical care possible while we continued to investigate all potential causes of action.” Mr. Brown and Mr. Lenert specifically investigated a potential case against the driver of the semi-tractor and his employer. The driver told the investigating police officer that he never saw Charlie before the impact and that after he felt a bump, he slowed down, looked in his side mirror, and saw Charlie laying in the street. The driver claimed he kept a proper lookout to his right as he was heading down the truck route, but his view of Charlie was obstructed by trees and a minivan that was parked in Johnny’s front yard. “When I initially contacted the insurance company of the driver, I was told the driver did nothing wrong, that the accident was unavoidable as the driver did not have an opportunity to see Charlie prior to the impact, and that consequently, the insurance company was never going to pay to settle the case despite the fact that there was $6 million of liability coverage. Given the carrier’s steadfast refusal to consider the merits of our claim, it was necessary for us to litigate this matter to establish the liability of its insured and convince the carrier that they had grossly misevaluated the claim,” said Craig. To prove the truck driver could have stopped his 18-wheeler before Charlie entered the roadway had the driver kept a proper lookout, Mr. Brown and Mr. Lenert hired a team of experts who utilized state-of-the-art technology to prove what really happened that tragic day. According to Mr. Brown, “We had our experts drive the same type of truck down that road on the 1-year anniversary of the crash and they videotaped the visibility from inside the cab. We also flew a drone down the street to capture exactly what the truck driver would have seen when he was driving down the road. Our accident reconstruction expert then helped us establish that the driver should have been able to see Charlie at the top of the driveway when Charlie first began to drive the scooter down the driveway. Through these efforts, we proved Charlie was visible for 7 seconds prior to the time of impact and the driver could have stopped his truck, which was traveling 30 mph, had he reacted properly when seeing Charlie at the top of the driveway.” "Through the opinions of our retained experts, we were able to create a three-dimensional computer model of the events leading up to the crash. We were able to ultimately establish that if the driver had detected the electric scooter when leaving from the garage or his friend running down the driveway and began to slow, he would have been able to stop prior to reaching the area where the incident occurred.” Mr. Brown and Mr. Lenert also presented the evidence to several focus groups and conducted a mock trial to learn how potential jurors would most likely interpret the evidence. According to Mr. Lenert, “What became apparent was that we needed to clearly show the jury that the driver of the truck, despite only having seven seconds to react, had ample time to appreciate the hazard of the children playing on the driveway and respond appropriately to avoid this tragedy.” Shortly before trial was to be scheduled, the same insurance company which initially denied the claim, agreed to pay its full $6 million liability policy. “While we cannot go back in time and prevent this crash and Charlie's catastrophic injuries, we are pleased that our thorough investigation, analysis, and prosecution of this crash, including the retention of some of the top experts in the country who utilized cutting edge technology, convinced the defense that they should tender their full policy limits as opposed to proceeding to a jury trial. This allowed us to secure a settlement that will allow Charlie's parents to give their son the best available medical care and treatment for the rest of his life,” said Mr. Lenert. Meyers & Flowers is a firm with a dream team of experts for every situation. I know the case with our son was an uphill battle with a lot of grey areas, but they were able to get the job done with experts proving the case from our standpoint. Craig has kept constant contact with me on every aspect of my son's case and thought of different approaches to evidence that I would have never dreamed of. He even&nbs

Meyers & Flowers announced today a historic $6,291,002 medical malpractice verdict for a needless above-knee amputation in Bill Hein vs. Kate Onyibor and Inpatient Consultants of Illinois, P.C. in Kane County, Illinois. This represents one of the largest verdicts for an injury of its kind in Kane County. Craig Brown and Jonathan Mincieli, Meyers & Flowers Partners, filed suit for the Heins after Bill Hein’s leg had to be amputated above the knee due to a blood clot behind the knee which was not diagnosed in a timely manner. The jury awarded the decision to the 71-year-old Hein and his wife for pain and suffering, disfigurement, loss of normal life, emotional distress, loss of consortium, and reasonable expense of necessary medical care. On July 11, 2012, Mr. Hein checked into Sherman Hospital in Elgin, Illinois, for a routine prostate cancer surgery. As he was recovering from surgery, hospitalist, Dr. Kate Onyibor, breached the standard of care when she failed to act with the appropriate level of urgency after suspecting an arterial blood clot behind the knee and failing to order an emergency consultation with a vascular surgeon. Because of a lack of arterial blood flow to the leg, Mr. Hein’s leg had to be amputated above the knee 12 days later. “The Heins never thought a standard prostate cancer procedure could go so horribly wrong,” said Craig Brown, Meyers & Flowers Partner. “Every day, they continue to grapple with Bill’s loss of independence and emotional distress. With this verdict, they will be able to help Bill with his ongoing medical needs and recover some of his independence as well as, hopefully, help other families from having to face avoidable medical tragedies like these.” The former Marine and Vietnam veteran has lived and worked in Kane County for more than 50 years. The Heins owned a local landscaping company for more than 22 years and were on the verge of retiring when they learned his leg had to be amputated. Mr. Hein has spent the last six years recovering and rebuilding his life. To this day, he continues to suffer from depression, and can only use his prosthetic leg with the assistance of a walker. “We have had the privilege of helping the Hein family take the vital steps to protect themselves as we aggressively represented their rights both today and work to assist them with their many medical needs in the future,” said Jonathan Mincieli, Meyers & Flowers Partner.

January 19, 2016, seemed like a typical day as Tracy parked his flatbed trailer in the loading zone of an industrial facility on the south side of Chicago and began preparing his flatbed to be loaded with large spools of wire. As Tracy was in the process of removing equipment from a storage unit on the rear passenger side of his trailer, a semi tractor-trailer left a nearby loading bay, made a left-hand turn around the back of Tracy’s flatbed, and exited the facility along the passenger side of Tracy’s flatbed. Approximately 15 minutes later, Tracy’s lifeless body was found next to his flatbed. There were no witnesses to the incident, and the driver of the truck denied striking Tracy. The investigating police department did not issue any citations to the truck driver. Meyers & Flowers partners Craig Brown and Michael Lenert were contacted by Tracy’s wife and five adult children. The family wanted to know if anything could be done to address their father’s senseless death. “When we initially evaluated this case shortly after Tracy was killed, we knew we had some evidentiary hurdles to clear because there were no witnesses to the occurrence and Tracy failed to wear a safety vest and take other precautionary measures for his own safety,” said Craig Brown. “Fortunately, Tracy's family hired us not long after Tracy was killed, so we were able to conduct a complete investigation before crucial evidence was tampered with or lost.” After thoroughly investigating the incident, the firm filed a wrongful death action against the driver of the truck and the industrial facility. Mr. Brown and Mr. Lenert alleged that the loading facility was negligent because it failed to control truck traffic in the loading area where Tracy was parked. They also alleged that the truck driver was negligent because he should have passed Tracy's trailer on the driver’s side, not the passenger side, and because he ran Tracy over by driving within approximately 12-24 inches of the side of Tracy's flatbed. The Defendants denied Tracy was killed by the truck and also claimed he was responsible for his own death because he was wearing dark clothing without a safety vest in a dimly lit high-traffic area and failed to keep a proper lookout for passing trucks. The attorneys rejected the defendant's initial $1.5 million settlement offer during an early settlement conference and began preparing for trial. They worked closely with an accident reconstruction expert, a trucking expert, a forensic pathologist, and a loading dock expert as they developed testimony that supported each of the allegations. The result: the defendants agreed to pay a $5 million settlement to Tracy's family shortly before the trial was scheduled to begin in Cook County, Illinois. “From the outset, this case presented many unique evidentiary and liability challenges,” said Mike Lenert. “After completing more than 35 depositions and engaging in extensive motion practice on various pleading and discovery issues, we were ultimately able to secure a fair and just settlement for a wonderful family who lost an incredible husband and father.” For three years, Mr. Lenert and Mr. Brown worked closely with Tracy’s family to be sure they understood how they were structuring the case and each step they were taking on the family’s behalf. “There was a lot of appreciation for the fact that Craig and Mike could balance my family’s many voices,” said Jordan, Tracy’s son. “And, the fact that Craig gave me his cellphone number just gave me a sense of security and sincerity, with which he operates. I tried not to use it too much, but it meant so much to me that he was willing to give us that number and to be available to us when we needed him.” With this settlement, the family has some closure and is finding ways to move forward with their lives while honoring their father. “The efforts of Meyers & Flowers have helped us out in a tremendous way,” said Jordan.

Attorneys Pete Flowers and Craig Brown negotiated a settlement in the amount of five million dollars that makes certain a severely injured child will receive lifetime medical care. Mary took her toddler, Dariusz, to a Chicago area emergency room after he suffered burns to his face and chest when he accidentally spilled a cup of hot tea. The Emergency Room doctor failed to appreciate the severity of the burns and refused to transfer Dariusz to the burn unit at Loyola Hospital for specialized care. As a result, Dariusz suffered a severe brain injury that would not have occurred if he had been transferred to the burn unit. Attorneys Peter Flowers and Craig Brown were able to negotiate a $5 million settlement one week before trial.