Court Approves More King Settlements, But Most May Remain Confidential
A few days ago, I wrote that the Circuit Court of Putnam County had approved three settlements in cases alleging medical malpractice by discredited surgeon John King, and had rejected the parties' requests to keep those settlements confidential.
Last Thursday, the court approved and made public the terms of nine more settlements, but it appears unlikely that the terms of the settlements of the remaining 58 clients represented by Curry & Tolliver will be revealed.
Because the parties are not asking the court to make a specific finding in those cases that the settlements are good faith settlements, its approval is not necessary, and those plaintiffs will voluntarily dismiss their claims against the settling defendants. Here is the notice of presentation of stipulation for and order of dismissal presented by the Curry & Tolliver plaintiffs.
These are the details of the nine settlements approved last week, as described by Paul J. Nyden in his article in Friday’s Charleston Gazette:
- Lisa and Stephen Coiner, $1.45 million for injuries to Lisa Coiner;
- Linda and Marvin Goodpaster, $1.32 million for injuries to Marvin Goodpaster, including $46,773 set aside for each of two children;
- John and Lisa Hansroth, $1.15 million in a settlement involving injuries from King's surgery on John "Andy" Hansroth, a Charleston Gazette reporter who died in March 2005. The settlement included money for their three children;
- David and Zamba Holestin: $1.32 million for a failed spinal fusion operation to David Holestin, including $187,915 for one of the couple's two children who was alive at the time of the failed surgery;
- Matthew and April Murphy: $150,000 for injuries to one of their daughters during an operation King performed on her broken arm. Their daughter suffered no permanent injuries;
- Katherine and Barry Rutledge, $2 million for King's failed treatment of Katherine Rutledge's minor foot problem, which later caused her legs to be amputated; and
- Carrie Ann and Mark Triplett, $730,000 for a flawed 2003 operation, which included $70,463 for each of their two children.
In addition, the court approved two other settlements by King patients whose competency to enter into their settlements had been at issue. In those settlements, Regina Bird received $2 million and Steven Dingess received $750,000.
I realize that the parties may have legitimate reasons for not wanting to disclose the terms of the remaining settlements, but I think that Putnam County Circuit Court Judge Spaulding is correct that the public has a right to know whether these were legitimate cases. Under these circumstances (did King operate on any patient without committing malpractice?), the court should determine whether every settlement was made in good faith and if so, order the disclosure of its terms.
