Update 1/25/16:

Atlanta—Jurors Monday morning cleared a pair of anesthesiologists of malpractice claims stemming from a surgical procedure that left an Alpharetta woman with life-long brain damage.  Palacios v. Kaufman, 13EVO17275.  

Richard Diaz says a decades-long tobacco industry conspiracy led to James "J.R." Ewing's nicotine addiction and respiratory disease. Ewing died in 2009, and his wife, Doris Ewing, is suing cigarette makers R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris. 

Pensacola, FL—Attorneys drew battle lines over the reasons behind a long-time smoker’s respiratory disease as trial opened last week in a suit by his widow against the makers of the cigarettes her husband smoked.  Ewing v. R.J. Reynolds, 2009-CA-002791.

Experts are often the most crucial witnesses in a trial: their testimony, and how they present it to a jury, can turn a verdict. In this series, CVN analyzes the nation’s most important experts, their testimony, and their impact on a trial’s verdict. Today we look at one of the nation's leading thoracic surgeons. 

Jonathan Marigliano tells jurors medical negligence led to the life-long brain damage Esmeralda Palacios suffered during a 2012 lung biopsy procedure. Palacios' husband, Raul, represented by Marigliano, claims Drs. Laura Kaufman and Donald Silverman were negligent in their treatment of his wife during the procedure. 

Atlanta—Whether the catastrophic brain damage an Alpharetta woman suffered during a lung procedure was reasonably preventable became the key question presented to jurors as trial began against the anesthesiologists involved in the surgery. Palacios v. Kaufman, 13EVO17275.

Cory Hohnbaum tells jurors Mary Howles smoked despite knowing the dangers of cigarettes. Howles is suing Philip Morris and Hohnbaum's client, R.J. Reynolds, claiming the tobacco companies are responsible for her cancer and respiratory disease. 

Fort Lauderdale, FL—Attorneys debated what drove a Florida nurse to smoke up to three packs of cigarettes a day for more than 30 years, before she developed lung cancer and respiratory disease, as trial opened this week in her suit against the nation’s two largest tobacco companies. Howles v. Philip Morris, et al., CACE07-34919.