National stature for jury award

A jury award obtained in March by the Bridgeport-based law firm Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder is ranked the 12th largest monetary settlement nationally for 2013, American Lawyer Media announced recently. New York City-based American Lawyer Media publishes the National Law Journal.

A federal jury awarded $41.75 million in the case involving a girl who contracted a life-altering disease while on a school trip to China.

Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder represented Cara Munn of New York City, a former student of The Hotchkiss School, a private boarding school in Lakeville. In 2007, Munn joined a school-organized trip to China, where she contracted tick-borne encephalitis that ultimately left her unable to speak.

“Our top-50 ranking, called ”˜Big Money Wins,”™ catalogs the extraordinary accomplishments of plaintiffs”™ lawyers using the best measure available ”” the amount of the jury verdict award or settlement,” said Lisa Ann Roberts, spokesperson for the National Law Journal.

The full list was published by the journal Oct. 22.

“The verdict in Munn v. Hotchkiss waves a red flag in front of school officials who fail to take basic safety precautions to protect the minor children in their care,” said attorney Antonio Ponvert III, who represented Munn and tried the case. “Cara and her family are hopeful that her experience will protect other children from life-altering injury.”

The journal also said the award is the largest nonmedical malpractice award in Connecticut history to date.

In an earlier case, D”™Attilo v. Viscarello Maternal-Fetal Care, Koskoff attorneys obtained the largest medical malpractice judgment in Connecticut history. Attorneys Kathleen Nastri and James Horwitz obtained a superior court award of $58 million in 2011 for the family of Daniel Jacob D”™Attilo, who suffered severe cerebral palsy at birth as a result of critical errors on the part of his obstetrician.