Trying Birth Injury Cases with Briggs Bedigian and Jon Stefanuca
Manage episode 380607370 series 3503340
During a recent two-month period, Maryland and Pennsylvania-based trial lawyers Briggs Bedigian and Jon Stefanuca obtained verdicts of $34 million and $187 million in back-to-back trials in complex birth injury cases. Join Ben and Rahul for their discussion with Briggs and Jon about their path to handling these challenging, highly leveraged, and risky cases, and the strategies they have developed for sustained and repeated success. Whether you handle birth injury cases or not, this episode contains important lessons that will benefit anyone who tries cases for a living.
About Briggs Bedigian
H. Briggs Bedigian (“Briggs”) is a trial lawyer dedicated to representing victims of medical malpractice and catastrophic personal injuries nationwide. Briggs and his partner, Charles Gilman, co-founded Gilman & Bedigian, LLC with one guiding principle – to provide the absolute best legal representation to those most in need.
Briggs’ particular set of trial skills sets him apart from his peers when he steps into the courtroom. His familiarity with the trial process and his humility and comfort trying cases in front of juries has proven both persuasive and productive. Briggs has tried more than 70 cases to verdict, including winning the largest medical malpractice verdict in Pennsylvania history, $182 million on behalf of a catastrophically injured child. His record of success also includes winning the second largest medical malpractice verdict in Maryland history of $55 million.
While Briggs prepares every case for trial, he routinely achieves multimillion-dollar pre-trial settlements, many in excess of eight-figures. Experience has proven that the hard work of trial preparation and his assertive strategy has been crucial to his success.
Briggs has earned a reputation in the legal community as the “go-to attorney” for catastrophic medical malpractice and personal injury cases. When judges, defense lawyers, doctors, and prominent lawyers refer Briggs their serious personal injury cases, you know he is providing top notch legal representation – and getting top results.
Bar Admissions:
- Maryland
- Pennsylvania
- District of Columbia
- United States District Court of Maryland
- United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Special Admissions by way of Pro Hac Vice:
- Virginia
- Texas
- Alabama
- New Jersey
- Georgia
- Delaware
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Nevada
Education:
- University of Baltimore School of Law, J.D.
- Honors: Top 10% of class
- Ithaca College, New York, B.A.
- All American football player
- Captain of College football team – elected by teammates.
Professional Associations and Memberships:
- The Inner Circle of Advocates (Inducted 2015)
- Maryland Association for Justice (Elected to Board of Governors)
- Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association (Elected to Board of Governors)
- Pennsylvania Association for Justice
- The American Association for Justice
- Maryland State Bar Association
- Baltimore City Bar Association
Honors and Awards:
- 2013 Trial Lawyer of the Year – Maryland Trial Lawyers Association
- 2016 Named as one of Maryland’s Top 100 Lawyers – Super Lawyers Magazine
- Named as “Super Lawyer” in the field of medical malpractice by Maryland Super Lawyers Magazine
- Named as a ‘Rising Star” in the field of medical malpractice and personal injury by Baltimore Magazine’s Maryland Super Lawyers
- The Heuisler Honor Society
- Named in The National Trial Lawyers Top 40 under 40
About Jon Stefanuca
As a trial attorney at Gilman & Bedigian, LLC, Jon handles a variety of medical malpractice and personal injury cases. Jon has extensive experience with cases involving catastrophic injuries, including, but not limited to:
- Cerebral Palsy
- Pediatric brain injury
- Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy
- Developmental delays
- Brain bleeds/ strokes
- Neurologic injuries
- Musculoskeletal injuries
- Infections/ sepsis/ meningitis
- Surgical injuries
- Anesthesia injuries
- Paraplegia/ quadriplegia
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
- Spinal cord injuries
Jon dedicates most of his time to helping children injured by medical negligence, including children diagnosed with cerebral palsy, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, and developmental delays.
Beyond medical negligence, Jon has extensive experience with toxic exposure cases, including carbon monoxide poisoning and lead paint poisoning.
He has handled hundreds of birth injury cases around Maryland and across the country. Some of his recent jury verdicts speak for themselves:
- $182,000,000, Birth Injury: Hagans v. Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
- $34,000,000, Birth Injury: Anderson v. University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center
- $20,000,000, Intellectual property dispute: Adcor Industries, Inc. v. Beretta USA Corp.
- $13,300.000, Birth Injury: Lewis v. Upper Chesapeake Medical Center
In addition to medical malpractice litigation, Jon has extensive experience with toxic exposure cases, including carbon monoxide and lead paint cases. His experience includes class actions, mass actions, business disputes, contract disputes, intellectual property disputes, and non-disclosure agreement .
litigation.
- Verdicts and settlements in excess of $350,000,000.00.
- America’s Top 100 Medical Malpractice Litigators by America’s Top 100.
- “Nation’s Top One Percent” of attorneys by National Association of Distinguished Counsel.
- Power List for medical malpractice and personal injury by The Daily Record.
- Board Member, Maryland Association for Justice, the largest trial lawyers’ association in the State of Maryland.
- Member, American Association for Justice.
- Maryland Super Lawyer in the field of medical malpractice by Super Lawyers Magazine since 2020.
- Rising Star in medical malpractice by Maryland Super Lawyers Magazine since 2011.
- Maryland Top 10 under 40 for medical malpractice in 2015.
Prior to joining Gilman & Bedigian, LLC, Jon was a trial attorney with Murphy Falcon & Murphy, a nationally recognized group of elite trial lawyers. Jon represented the injured in a variety of cases involving medical malpractice, catastrophic personal injuries, product defects, brain injuries, lead poisoning, and carbon monoxide poisoning, among other cases. He was a member of the litigation team in the class action filed against St. Joseph Medical Center and Dr. Mark Midei, which culminated in a $37,000,000.00 settlement. Jon was also a member of the litigation team in the class action filed against Kennedy Krieger Institute, involving allegations of unethical and unlawful experimentation on children. Jon also developed a reputation for representing professional athletes and their families in personal injury cases.
Unlike most other attorneys, Jon has experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants. Jon was a litigation associate with Nash & Associates, LLC, where he represented MedStar Health, a $4 billion health care system in the Baltimore area with a network of nine hospitals and twenty other health-related businesses across Maryland and the Washington, D.C. region. As a result of this experience, Jon has a unique understanding of medical malpractice defense mentality and strategy.
Jon served a judicial clerkship for the Honorable W. Michel Pierson, Circuit Court Judge of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, prior to entering private practice.
EDUCATION
Jon graduated with honors from the University of Maryland School of Law. He served as the Articles Editor on the Board of the Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender, and Class. He was also admitted as a member of the school’s Moot Court Board. As a student attorney, he represented a number of community organizations in the Economic Housing and Community Development Law Clinic for which he received a Special Achievement Award.
LANGUAGES
In addition to English, Jon speaks Russian, French and Romanian.
PUBLICATIONS
- Jon Simon Stefanuca, The Fall of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971: A Public Choice Explanation, 19 U. Fla. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 237 (2008).
- Jon Simon Stefanuca, Crawford v. Washington: The Admissibility of Statements to Physicians and the Use of Closed-Circuit Television in Cases of Child Sexual Abuse, 5 U. Md. L. J. Race, Rel. Gender & Class 411 (2005).
- Jon Simon Stefanuca, The PRI and Its Demise as Mexico’s Single Ruling Party, 38 Towson U. J. Int’l Aff. 32 (2002).
- Jon Simon Stefanuca, The ICC and the United States: Arguments in Favor of Ratification of the Rome Treaty, 37 Towson U. J. of Int’l Aff. (2001).
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