CHICAGO, June 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A Cook County jury has returned a verdict totaling $9,102,029 in favor of Plaintiffs Frederick Pleasant and Staci Walker in the medical malpractice case of Pleasant v. Sowade, Case No. 2024 L 007781 (Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois).
Plaintiffs alleged that a 24-hour delay in diagnosing a rare intramedullary spinal cord lesion at the T9 level of Mr. Pleasant’s spine resulted in a missed opportunity for timely treatment. Although surgical decompression was ultimately performed after the diagnosis was made, Plaintiffs contended that the prolonged ischemia associated with the delay caused a permanent spinal cord injury, leaving Mr. Pleasant paraplegic.
The defense maintained that Mr. Pleasant’s primary care physician did not cause any delay in diagnosis. The defense further argued that even if an earlier diagnosis had occurred, the lesion was not operable in a manner that would have altered the outcome. Mr. Pleasant’s treating neurosurgeon testified that the likelihood of an earlier diagnosis changing the result was less than five percent.
The two-week trial was presided over by the Hon. Eileen O’Connor and the verdict was obtained by trial attorneys Jay Paul Deratany and Thomas P. Routh. This verdict marks the first of many trial collaborations between The Deratany Law Firm and Nolan Law Group, two highly respected plaintiff trial firms with longstanding professional ties.
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SOURCE Nolan Law Group
