Carr chose to appear pro se and denied liability in legal malpractice suit

Prior to his death on Monday, plaintiff attorney Rex Carr denied liability and chose to appear pro se in a legal malpractice lawsuit alleging he lost a medical malpractice lawsuit that he should have won for former client Lisa Comacho.

Carr died at the age of 88 from cancer.

Comacho sued Carr and his firm last year, 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 ended on June 13, 2013, in circuit judge Vincent Lopinot’s court.

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.

Comacho also accused Carr of failing to present evidence that she sought no further treatment from Burger because he told her nothing was wrong with her and that her failure to return for an appointment was inconsequential. She further claimed that Burger did not follow his procedure for notifying patients of conditions requiring return appointments and that Burger’s staff didn’t call her after obtaining results of blood work.

Comach also claims the verdict would have otherwise been in her favor.

Carr denied the allegations in his Aug. 28, 2014, answer through attorney A.J. Bronsky of Brown & James in St. Louis.

“Defendant states that plaintiff’s allegations are based on the discretion of the trial court and therefore, whether or not such motions would have been allowed are speculative in nature and therefore, there is no basis to assert that had such motions been made, they would have been allowed or that the jury’s decision would have in any way changed,” the answer states.

Carr entered his appearance pro se on Jan. 28.

Then on Feb. 9, Comacho filed a motion to compel the defendants to provide their file in regard to the underlying medical malpractice case. She is represented by Michael Kaczmarek of Benjamin and Shapiro in Chicago and David N. Damick of St. Louis.

Comacho sued Burger as Lisa Quick in May 2011, claiming he failed to recognize a growing cut on her brain. The suit specifically alleged Burger failed to appreciate the significance of a one-centimeter lesion adjacent to her right carotid siphon.

She claimed the lesion doubled in size in nearly a year’s time.

Because of the growing brain tissue, Quick alleged she developed injuries to her brain and brain stem. She claimed to have suffered double vision, headaches and memory loss.

Ted Dennis and Ransom Wuller represented Burger

St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 14-L-546