April 14, 2022, Low back injury, microdiscectomy at L4-5

Style: Omar Sanchez v. Mark R. Gerstle

Venue: Circuit Court, Pinellas County, Florida

On June 19, 2018, Plaintiff, Omar Sanchez, had been a driver of a vehicle stopped at a red light in heavy traffic on Court Street in Clearwater, FL. Defendant, Mark Gerstle, had failed to stop prior to coming into contact with the rear of Plaintiff’s vehicle resulting in minor/minimal property damage.

Plaintiff alleged he sustained a severe and permanent injury to his lumbar spine and underwent multiple series of epidural steroid injections and ultimately a lumbar microdiscectomy at L4-5 on January 16, 2020. Total medical expenses allegedly related to the accident were over $141,000. Plaintiff sought damages for past and future pain in suffering in excess of $2,000,000.

Experts/physicians testifying for Plaintiff included: Ravi Yarlagadda, MD, and Chris Tomares, MD.

Experts testifying for Defendant included: Michael Foley, MD, and David McKalip, MD.

Defendant argued that Plaintiff’s treatment was not related to the subject accident and was related to chronic, degenerative conditions of the lumbar spine. Plaintiff’s credibility was significantly at issue due to prior inconsistent testimony and failure to disclose prior and subsequent accidents and injuries.

After securing a directed verdict on part of Plaintiff’s complaint, the jury returned a verdict for the defense awarding zero (0) damages.