During the closing arguments in a $10 million malpractice trial, attorney Robert McKenna III told jurors the claims against his client, a gastroenterologist, were baseless and equivalent to “extortion.” The patient’s family blamed the gastroenterologist for their father’s death, alleging the doctor perforated his colon during insertion of a feeding tube.
“I take pride in what I do, and I’ve got to tell you, in the 30 years I have been doing this, I have never seen a more insulting, factually devoid presentation in my entire career,” Mr. McKenna said, according to court transcripts. “On the strength of this evidence, they want you to award them $10 million. Welcome to America. Welcome to the personal injury machine, the personal injury industrial complex.”
After less than 30 minutes of deliberation, jurors returned a 12-0 verdict in favor of the physician.
However, Mr. McKenna, from Huntington Beach, Calif., described the case very differently to his staff in a celebration video, which he never expected to become public.
In the video, posted on Twitter and Instagram, Mr. McKenna bragged about how his legal team convinced jurors to doubt the patient’s official cause of death. He said the lawsuit involved a guy “that was probably negligently killed, but we kind of made it look like other people did it.”
“We actually had a death certificate that said he died the very way the plaintiff said he died, and we had to say, ‘No, you really shouldn’t believe what that death certificate says, or the coroner from the Orange County coroner’s office ... who says that it’s right,’” Mr. McKenna said in the video.
The 26-minute verdict was the fastest he’s ever received, Mr. McKenna says in the video, encouraging his partner to ring the firm’s victory bell.
“Overcoming all of those hurdles, we managed to sock three lawyers in the face,” Mr. McKenna said, referring to the plaintiffs’ lawyers.
The video of Mr. McKenna’s remarks is now in wide circulation after having been posted to online attorney forums, Instagram, where it’s been viewed more than 8,000 times, and Twitter, where views have reached over 3,000.
Jorge Ledezma, an Orange County, Calif., attorney who represented the patient’s family in the case, said the remarks make it appear as if Mr. McKenna tricked the jury.
“It was a drastic change from the comments he made to the jury during his closing arguments,” Mr. Ledezma said. “But the video is more important for what he doesn’t say. He doesn’t say his client did everything properly. He doesn’t say our case didn’t have any merit. He doesn’t say his client was a good doctor. Clearly, what he told the jury and what he believes are the exact opposite of each other.”
Mr. McKenna did not return multiple messages seeking comment for this story. In a statement to the LA Times, Mr. McKenna said his remarks were “intended purely as an internal briefing to our staff, using shorthand phrases which might understandably cause confusion for a lay audience unfamiliar with the case at hand, and the law in general.”
“I have expressed my apologies to my client, opposing counsel, and both the medical and legal communities,” Mr. McKenna said in the statement to the LA Times. “However, nothing about my remarks should call into question our very transparent trial strategy or the jury’s verdict in favor of my client.”