|
Throughout his career, Mr. Baker has taken great pride in fighting for those individuals whose lives have
been affected by hardship and tragedy, whether as the result of a catastrophic personal injury, a wrongful
termination, a deceptive consumer transaction, a nasty divorce or custody fight, or through a baseless suit
which threatens the client's own business. Mr. Baker zealously represents his clients in an effort to ensure
that the justice system works for the benefit of the client, and to ensure that the client receives the
relief which they deserve. Examples of clients which Mr. Baker has assisted over the years, include the following:
Hospital Antitrust. Mr. Baker represented a group of certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs)
who were to be excluded from their practice at a hospital due to an exclusive provider contract ("the
contract"). During a hearing on his client's request for a temporary injunction, Mr. Baker established
that the hospital had acted in an anti-competitive manner in granting the contract, and that the
anesthesiologists to whom the contract had been awarded were lacking in experience and had caused
patient injuries and possible deaths. The trial judge found that the hospital had violated the antitrust
statute and granted a temporary injunction finding that the implementation of the contract posed a
risk to the safety of the public. This case was resolved through an agreed settlement. Settlement
amount: Confidential.
Physician and Hospital Negligence. Mr. Baker represented the spouse of a patient who passed away
following a routine surgical procedure at a hospital. During discovery, Mr. Baker established that
the anesthesiologist assigned to care for the patient disregarded the readings on the machine designed
to monitor the patient's oxygen saturations. These readings became dangerously low during the
procedure. The anesthesiologist assumed that the low readings were incorrect, and sent a nurse to
obtain another machine. The new machine confirmed the original readings were correct and shortly
thereafter the patient "coded." The patient was revived but passed away several days later. Mr. Baker
also established that the hospital was negligent in contracting with the anesthesiologist. This case
was resolved through an agreed settlement. Settlement amount: Confidential.
Physician and Hospital Negligence. Mr. Baker represented the estate of a young woman who passed
away after a laceration to an artery during a routine surgical procedure at an Ambulatory Surgery
Center ("ASC"). During discovery, Mr. Baker established that the hospital failed to have blood for
transfusions available within a reasonable time (the blood supply was located at the main hospital
15 miles away), and that the hospital's administrator had over ridden a recommendation by the
hospital's physicians that the blood supply be located on site at the ASC. The administrator's
decision was based upon the financial cost of maintaining a blood supply on site at the ASC. The
evidence also established that the physician performing the procedure was negligent. This case was
resolved through an agreed settlement. Settlement amount: Confidential.
Industrial Accident. Mr. Baker represented an individual who received disabling injuries to both feet
and ankles as a result of a fall from an elevated height. The client was responsible for climbing onto
a ladder so that he could clean the walls of a pit at a local industrial plant. The pit was approximately
30 feet deep. The plant's employees were responsible for ensuring that the client was placed into
a safety harness and secured to a safety line. When the ladder slid out from under the client, the client
fell approximately 15 feet because the safety line had not been tied off. Mr. Baker established that
the fall was due to the plant's employee's negligence. This case was resolved through an agreed
settlement. Settlement amount: $1,545,000.00. (client portion of recovery after deductions for fees and
expenses $881,404.50)
Wrongful Termination. Mr. Baker represented a nurse who had been terminated following her
reporting an improper alteration to a patient's chart. During discovery, it was established that his
client had reported that another nurse, at the direction of nursing supervisors, had altered a
patient's chart to omit certain events occurring in the patient's care. The client reported this to
hospital administration and the client was subsequently terminated. Mr. Baker established that
following the reporting of this legal violation, the hospital had subjected the client to numerous and
progressively more difficult testing, which the client was required to pass in order to maintain the
client's job. The client passed each test and eventually the hospital claimed the client had
failed a test (when in fact the test was passed). As a last resort, the hospital required the client to
pass an additional clinical test in order to keep the client's job. The hospital also claimed the
client failed this test. However, in discovery, Mr. Baker established that the "final test" was
supposedly "lost" by the hospital's employees. This case was resolved through an agreed settlement.
Settlement amount: Confidential.
Nursing Negligence. Mr. Baker represented the family of an individual who passed away following
a hospital admission for treatment of a broken hip. During discovery, the evidence established that
the hospital's nursing staff repeatedly administered, relatively large dosages of narcotics to the
patient. With each dosage, the patient became more lethargic and non-responsive. Eventually, the
patient became completely obtunded and comatose. Despite this development, the patient was taken
to surgery for a hip repair operation. Following surgery, the patient remained comatose and the
hospital claimed the patient had suffered a stroke. Through expert testimony, Mr. Baker established
that no stroke had occurred, and that in all probability the patient had been over medicated with
narcotics, thereby causing the patient's death. This case was resolved through an agreed settlement.
Settlement amount: Confidential.
Physician Negligence. Mr. Baker represented an individual who suffered severe complications
following a surgeon's failure to diagnose an intra-abdominal abscess. During discovery, Mr. Baker
established that after an initial exploratory surgery, the client had been released to recuperate at
home, but returned to the hospital several days later with numerous complaints. Despite the fact that
the client's complaints were "text book" examples of symptoms indicating the client had developed
an intra-abdominal abscess, the surgeon again released the client to return to the client's home.
Several days later, the client returned to the hospital and was determined at that time to be suffering
from severe complications from the undiagnosed intra-abdominal abscess. After a six week hospital
stay, the client was released. This case was resolved through an agreed settlement. Settlement
amount: Confidential.
Wrongful Termination. Mr. Baker represented an individual who was wrongfully terminated from
her employment of over 20 years. During discovery, it was established that the client's supervisor
had monitored the client's daily activities and time reporting for several months. The supervisor
eventually claimed that the client's daily activities during this time frame had been improper, and
the information which was accumulated during this period of monitoring was the basis for the
client's termination. Mr. Baker established that the supervisor had violated numerous company
policies in failing to immediately correct or reprimand the client for this behavior, and that other
employees had engaged in similar conduct but had not been reprimanded or terminated. This case
was resolved through an agreed settlement. Settlement amount: Confidential.
Deceptive Trade Practices. Mr. Baker represented an individual and his family in connection with
a deceptive trade practice claim against a national tour operator. The client had purchased a trip for
he and his family to Mexico through the tour operator, with accommodations to be provided at a five
star hotel. Upon arrival, the client was advised that the designated hotel had no rooms available, and
that the client would be moved to a different, but comparable, hotel. After the transfer, the client
found that the second hotel was sub-standard, maintained third world living conditions, and was
located on a nude beach. This case was resolved through an agreed settlement. Settlement amount:
Confidential.
Contested Custody. Mr. Baker represented an individual in a contested custody case, in which the
trial judge had awarded primary custody of the child to the other party following an initial temporary
orders hearing. Mr. Baker did not represent the client at the initial temporary orders hearing. During trial,
Mr. Baker exposed a number of significant inconsistencies in the other party's testimony and claims,
and obtained through cross examination, a concession from the opposing party's testifying
psychologist that the other party was probably not a suitable candidate for primary conservator of
the child. The trial judge awarded custody of the child to Mr. Baker's client.
Contested Custody. Mr. Baker assumed representation of an individual in a contested
custody case, in which the trial judge had indicated that he was going to award primary custody of the
child to the parties' adult child. Mr. Baker substituted for the prior attorney, and made numerous procedural
and substantive objections, and the judge reconsidered his earlier inclination to place the child with the
parties' adult child. Following a number of hearings before the Court, Mr. Baker's client received custody
of the child.
Contested Custody. Mr. Baker represented an individual whose children were divided into a split
custody arrangement following an earlier court proceeding. Mr. Baker did not represent the
individual in the earlier court proceeding. In the subsequent case, the social study investigator
recommended that the children be allowed to live with the opposing party. During trial, Mr. Baker
demonstrated that the other parent utilized poor parenting techniques with the children and raised
numerous other issues establishing that the best interests of the children were served by placing the
children with his client. Mr. Baker also demonstrated that the social study investigator had deviated from
the standards applicable to social study investigations and therefore, her recommendations were unreliable.
Following the trial, the trial judge awarded custody of the children to Mr. Baker's client.
Contested Property Division. Mr. Baker represented an individual in a contested property division
case, which resulted in a favorable property division for Mr. Baker's client. During trial, Mr. Baker
established that the opposing party had utilized a separate corporation to defraud the community
estate of its fair share of community assets. Mr. Baker also established that the opposing party's
claims of separate property were invalid due to the opposing party's failure to overcome the
community property presumption, by properly tracing and proving the separate property nature of
the contested items of property. The trial court's division of assets was upheld by the Dallas Court
of Appeals on appeal. |
