A Louisiana couple's quest for justice in a medical malpractice case has hit another roadblock. On May 16, 2023, the Court of Appeal of Louisiana's First Circuit upheld a trial court's decision to grant summary judgment in favor of one of the defendants, Dr. Mohammad Zohair Pirzadah, dismissing claims of fraud and conspiracy against him.
The complaint was initially filed by Douglas and Katherine Robins on September 10, 2015, in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court in East Baton Rouge Parish. The plaintiffs alleged that Dr. Mohammad Zohair Pirzadah and Dr. Charles Lane Pearson Jr. committed medical malpractice during Mr. Robins' treatment, resulting in a hypoxic brain injury that left him in a permanent vegetative state.
The case took an unexpected turn during the bench trial held in September 2018 before Judge William Morvant. Represented by Janie Coles and Jonathan Thomas, the defendant physicians faced accusations from the plaintiffs' attorneys, John Hammons and William Murray Jr., who argued that Dr. Pirzadah had intentionally avoided testifying by claiming his son was injured in a car accident.
On the first day of trial, Ms. Coles informed the court that "Dr. Pirzadah is not here today. His son was in a pretty bad car accident in St. Louis and he has multiple vertebral fractures." This statement went unchallenged until closing arguments when Mr. Hammons revealed that Dr. Pirzadah had been at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center and was available to testify but chose not to.
Despite this revelation, Judge Morvant ruled in favor of the defendant physicians, finding no breach of standard care by them as claimed by the plaintiffs and dismissed their medical malpractice suit with prejudice on November 9, 2018.
The Robins did not relent; they appealed this decision but were unsuccessful both at the appellate level and with their writ application to the Louisiana Supreme Court which was denied on April 27, 2020.
In July 2020, undeterred by previous setbacks, they filed two additional petitions: one seeking annulment of the November 9 judgment based on allegations of fraud (the nullity suit) and another seeking damages for fraud (the fraud suit). The nullity suit was dismissed with prejudice on May 5, 2022.
The current appeal stems from their fraud suit which named Dr. Pirzadah along with Ms. Coles and her employer Mang Bourgeois & Callaway LLC as defendants alleging collusion to misrepresent facts during trial for strategic advantage violating professional conduct rules.
However due to lack of evidence proving intent or collusion between Ms.Coles & Dr.Pirzadah ,the court granted summary judgment favoring Dr.Pirzadah dismissing all claims against him while ordering each party bear own costs .
Attorneys involved include John L.Hammons,Cornell R.Flournoy representing plaintiffs ; James H.Gibson ,Stacy N.Kennedy representing Janie Languirand Coles,Mang Bourgeois & Callaway LLC ; Tara S.Bourgeois ,Garrett S.Callaway representing Mohammad Zohair Pirzadah M.D .Presiding over case were Judges McClendon,Hester,Miller .Case ID being Docket No:698051