Professional Negligence Law Reporter

Evans v. Ohio State Univ. Wexner Med. Ctr., No. 2016-00869 (Ohio St. Ct. Cl. June 13, 2018).

Jessica Evans was undergoing outpatient physical therapy through the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Physical therapist Jessica Varble and student therapist Adam Diamond were assisting Evans with walking across the room, through a doorway, and down a hallway. Evans took steps while holding on to a platform walker in front of her. When she could not walk any further and was ready to sit down, Evans told Varble and Diamond. Varble went to retrieve Evans’s motorized wheelchair. As she maneuvered the wheelchair toward Evans, she drove it into the back of Evans’s knees, causing her to fall to the ground. Evans sustained a fractured left femur, which necessitated surgery. She is now unable to care for herself or perform daily activities, including caring for her minor child.

Evans, her husband, and their child, through a guardian, sued Ohio State University, alleging negligence and negligence per se. The parties settled for $125,000. Plaintiff counsel: AAJ members Mark Kitrick, Mark Lewis, Sean Harris, and Elizabeth Mote, all of Columbus, Ohio.