Generally-speaking, appeals of "no liability" jury verdicts rarely result in a win for the party seeking the appeal -- as jury verdicts, particularly as to factual matters, are rarely disturbed by appellate courts. However, it would seem that Mrs. Graves' lawyers intend to greatly improve their chances on their particular appeal -- by claiming that Judge Keenan made errors "on the law applicable to the case", and those by contrast, are regularly the basis of a new trial for many plaintiffs -- plaintiffs like Mrs. Graves.
Specifically, it is claimed that Judge Keenan excluded relevant expert testimony (most-commonly here, of a doctor, who would likely have testified that, in his opinion, Fosamax® was at least partially the cause of injuries that led to portions of Mrs. Graves' jaw being amputated, and replaced with metal plates). If the jury had heard that sort of opinion testimony, it might have gone the other way. Here is a bit of tonight's Wall Street Journal report -- with Chad Bray, on the keyboard:
. . . .Timothy O'Brien, a lawyer for Ms. Graves, said he was disappointed with the verdict and believed several rulings by the judge restricted the lawyers' ability to try their case, including a ruling excluding their expert witness. He said they plan to appeal.
"We'll keep fighting for Ms. Graves," Mr. O'Brien said. . . .
Stay tuned. There are about 1,400 of these pending.
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