Essex County Jury Returns $20.9 Million for a Truck Driver Who Lost Both Legs After a Missed Spinal Diagnosis

Wyatt Sapp was 50 years old and driving a truck for a living when his legs gave out in July 2014. He collapsed, and an ambulance took him to Newark Beth Israel Hospital. Tests showed nothing abnormal. Staff discharged him with instructions to see his primary care physician. He never got there, because he had no transportation.

On August 4, 2014, he collapsed again and returned to the same emergency room. Emergency physician Shreni Zinzuwadia ordered x-rays of his knees. They showed arthritic degeneration. Sapp was given pain medication and sent home. Later that day he reached the office of his primary care doctor, Adeniyi Ogunkoya, who recorded that the patient was able to walk without difficulty and told him to see an orthopedist.

About a week later Sapp woke up unable to move his legs. At University Hospital in Newark, orthopedic surgeon Saad Chaudhary found spinal cord nerve root compression and operated to decompress and stabilize the spine. The surgery itself was a success. What followed was not. Sapp was immobile, which put him at high risk of blood clots. His suit alleged that Chaudhary failed to prescribe anticoagulant medication in time, and that the 19 registered nurses who cared for him over the next two weeks failed to properly apply the mechanical device meant to keep blood moving through his legs.

Clots formed in both legs and shut off circulation. The tissue died. Surgeons amputated both legs at mid-thigh. Sapp spent three years in various facilities before returning to his Newark apartment. He cannot use prosthetic legs and gets around in a motorized wheelchair.

He filed suit in 2016 against Zinzuwadia, Ogunkoya, Chaudhary, the 19 nurses, University Hospital, and Beth Israel. John B. Collins of Bongiovanni, Collins & Warden in Mendham tried the case with Trevor J. Warden of the same firm. The theory against Zinzuwadia and Ogunkoya was that proper care on August 4 would have gotten Sapp admitted, moved the decompression surgery forward, and kept him mobile enough for the physical therapy that would have lowered his clot risk.

After discovery closed in 2019, University Hospital resolved the claims against Chaudhary and the nurses. The parties first put a high-low agreement in place on confidential terms, with the low component paid immediately because Sapp needed money for living expenses. Several months later the hospital converted that into a full settlement, also confidential.

Collins then served offers of judgment on the two remaining physicians, each allowing settlement at $750,000 against $1 million in coverage. Zinzuwadia accepted. Ogunkoya did not. A later offer of judgment to Ogunkoya for $500,000 also went nowhere.

The case against Ogunkoya alone was tried for 10 days in February and March 2023 before Superior Court Judge Annette Scoca in Essex County. On March 8, 2023, the jury returned $20.9 million and apportioned liability 40 percent to Chaudhary, 30 percent to Zinzuwadia, 20 percent to Ogunkoya, and 10 percent to Sapp's preexisting condition. Because 70 percent of the fault landed on physicians who had settled before trial, and 10 percent on the preexisting condition, the net verdict came to $4.18 million.

Under New Jersey's offer of judgment rule, Ogunkoya and his insurer, ProAssurance, became liable for the fees and expenses Sapp incurred from the rejection of the offer through the verdict, subject to court approval. Collins filed a fee application for $213,000, on top of the contingent fee of 30 percent of the molded verdict.