Trials & Litigation
Deposition Distress Suit Tossed
Posted Sep 25, 2007, 05:38 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that contends a lawyer’s questions during a deposition went “beyond any acceptable behavior of a civilized human being," causing emotional distress for parents of a baby who had died.
The suit targeted lawyer Judith Wahrenberger of Springfield, N.J., for asking a medical malpractice plaintiff whether he thought his wife had helped cause their baby’s death by handling her roughly. The wife was in the room during the deposition.
Judge Alfonse Cifelli of Essex County, N.J., ruled on Thursday that the questions were protected by the litigation privilege, the New Jersey Law Journal reports. He also said he didn’t find the questions to be “extreme or outrageous.”
Wahrenberger says she asked the questions because an expert had indicated—wrongly, it turns out—that the child may have died from shaken baby syndrome. The child died after a hospital emergency room refused to admit her for breathing problems.
Bruce Nagel of Livingston, N.J., who represents plaintiffs Andrew and Phyllis Rabinowitz, says he will probably appeal the ruling.
Wahrenberger's attorney, Elliott Abrutyn, told the legal publication his client “pursued a completely reasonable and related line of questioning” and did nothing wrong. “If this suit were allowed to proceed it would have a chilling effect on all lawyers," said Abrutyn, of Livingston, N.J.