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MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

Monday, November 4, 2024

Legal malpractice trial continued

A legal malpractice trial against the Belleville law firm Gundlach, Lee, Eggmann, Boyle & Roessler, set to begin Dec. 5, has been continued.

Circuit Judge Don Weber will hear the legal firm's motion for summary judgment at 11 a.m on Jan. 5.

Rocco Marrese, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon, lawyer and expert witness, sued the defense firm Jan. 23, 2004, after a Madison County jury returned a $1.8 million verdict against him in a medical malpractice trial.

Marrese claims he must saftify $874,000 of the judgment because his insurance carrier only paid $1 million.

Marrese operated on Mike Adams three times after he was involved in a work-related accident on June 27, 1992.

The verdict was appealed, but it was affirmed by the Appellate Court for the Fifth District.

Judgment became final in June 2004 after the Illinois Supreme Court denied a motion to hear the case.

Adams filed his suit against Marrese in November 1998 alleging the treatment he received was substandard, prompting Marrese's insurance company to hire Richard Roessler to represent him.

In Marrese's suit, he claims the law firm was negligent by:

  • Permitting without objection Adams to call him to the stand and to cross-examine him as an adverse witness when he had not been designated as such by Adams;
  • Failing to raise the statute of limitations as to portions of the alleged maltreatment which would have been barred;
  • Permitting Adams in his final argument to make statements without objection which were untrue and harmful which created prejudice;
  • Failing to employ and present a rehab expert in order to accurately describe Adams' injuries and conditions so as to refute those of Adams' expert; and
  • Failing to make investigation of matter related which could have provided material to impeach and discredit Adams' testimony.

    "Gundlach Lee permitted Adams' claim to prevail, or even had it prevailed, it would have resulted in damages less than $1 million," the complaint states.

    On March 29, Marrese amended his complaint to add that he also has sustained serious restrictions upon his abilities to continue his profession as an orthopedic surgeon and consequently will continue to lose money.

    Marrese has licenses to practice law in Illinois, Missouri and Indiana, and he continues to practice medicine.

    Shortly after the case was filed, Morris Chapman, who represents Marrese, asked for a new judge because the case was assigned to Circuit Judge George Moran.

    Chapman felt he could not receive a fair trial from Moran because of comments Chapman made in several newspapers in 1994 when Moran was running for judicial retention.

    Chapman donated $25,000 to a group called Citizens for a Moral Judiciary who claimed Moran was "incompetent and has given the court a black eye."

    Moran announced he would not seek retention on Dec. 19.

    The case was then transferred to Circuit Judge Phillip Kardis, who is now retired. His replacement on the bench, Judge Weber, has been assigned to the case.

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