United States Seventh Circuit

In a medical malpractice wrongful death suit against a civilian doctor and a military doctor, judgment for plaintiff is affirmed in part where the examining resident and her supervisor were jointly and severally liable for failing to discover plaintiff's infection, but vacated in part and remanded where the judge was required to explain the grounds of his decision on loss of consortium damages through consideration of other awards in similar cases, and the Illinois bar on comparison evidence in damages cases does not bind the federal courts even in cases where the rule of decision is given by Illinois law.

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/26/2007
• Decided 04/08/2008
• Published 04/08/2008

Judges

• POSNER, Circuit Judge., Before POSNER, FLAUM, and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Thomas Q. Keefe, Jr., (argued), Belleville, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellee., James M. Hipkiss, Office of the United States Attorney, Fairview Heights, IL, William G. Cole (argued), Department of Justice Civil Division, Appellate Staff, Washington, DC, Timothy S. Richards, Matthew C. Zittel (argued), Neville, Richards, DeFranco & Wuller, Belleville, IL, for Defendants-Appellants.