Legal malpractice case filed against Rex Carr

Injury lawyer Rex Carr lost a medical malpractice trial he should have won, former client Lisa Comacho alleges in St. Clair County circuit court.

Comacho sued Carr and his firm on July 14, claiming he deviated from the standard of care in pursuing her claim against Belleville neurologist Stephen Burger.

Jurors ruled for Burger after a nine day trial before circuit judge Vincent Lopinot last year.

According to Comacho’s lawyer, Michael Kaczmarek of Chicago, Carr failed to object to a defense position that her failure to make or keep appointments caused her injuries.

Kaczmarek wrote that Carr also failed to present evidence that:

- She sought no further treatment from Burger because he told her nothing was wrong with her;
- Her failure to return for an appointment was inconsequential;
- Burger did not follow his procedure for notifying patients of conditions requiring return appointments; and
- Burger’s staff didn’t call her after obtaining results of blood work.

Kaczmarek also wrote that Carr failed to object to new defenses Burger filed after the close of evidence.

The verdict, he wrote, “would have been in plaintiff’s favor but for the aforesaid one or more deviations from the standard of care by the defendants herein.”

Comacho, as Lisa Quick, sued Burger in 2011.

Carr wrote that she came under Burger’s care for vision problems.

The suit alleged that Burger failed to appreciate the significance of a lesion and failed to inform her or her ophthalmologist about it.

Carr wrote that Burger failed to refer Quick to a neurosurgeon in a timely manner.

He wrote that Quick suffered permanent disabling injuries to her brain and brain stem.
Carr later added Burger’s practice, Welch Neurology Consultant and Associates, as defendant.

The trial started June 3, 2013, after Quick had changed her name to Comacho.

She testified on June 4, and Carr examined Burger as adverse witness on June 5.
Comacho offered expert witnesses and depositions on June 6 and 7, and rested after offering a final expert on June 10.

Burger called three witnesses on June 10 and 11, and testified in his own behalf on June 11.
Carr cross examined Burger on June 12, and presented Comacho for rebuttal testimony.

On June 13, after jurors heard closing arguments and instructions, they reached a verdict for Burger and Welch Neurology in two hours and seven minutes.

Ted Dennis and Ransom Wuller represented Burger.