Brett Clayton

Argued a first impression case in front of the Indiana Court of Appeals to uphold the trial court’s determination that strict liability does not apply to our client’s blasting activities, where blasting was conducted in a quarry at the direction of the quarry owner.

This matter involves a dental malpractice claim against a periodontist, in which the Plaintiff alleges that she experienced symptoms that included sleeplessness, nerve pain, mental confusion, dizziness, etc. as a result of the periodontist’s decision to prescribe Levaquin as a prophylactic antibiotic prior to the Plaintiff’s dental implant procedure. Plaintiff alleged that the Periodontist breached the standard of care by prescribing Levaquin, by failing to provide Plaintiff with informed consent as to the risks of this antibiotic, and by delaying in issuing a stop-use instruction to Plaintiff.  Following a unanimous Medical Review Panel opinion in favor of the Periodontist, the Plaintiff filed a lawsuit. We then filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, which the trial court granted on the basis that the expert witnesses designated by Plaintiff, which consisted of two physicians and a dentist, were not qualified to opine on the standard of care as required under Indiana law. Furthermore, the fact that Plaintiff admittedly read all risks regarding the antibiotic before she took the medication only further negated the informed consent claim. The Court of Appeals affirmed.

Summary judgment affirmed in favor of our periodontist client in dental malpractice claim.