Robert B. Sickels

Senior Shareholder
rsickels@sommerspc.com
toll free: 1-800-967-1234
phone: (248) 746-4588
fax: (248) 936-2165

For more than 25 years, Mr. Sickels has been tremendously successful in handling complex personal injury matters, primarily in the areas of medical negligence and products liability. He has developed particular expertise in cases involving injuries to baby and mother during birth, brain damage during medical procedures, death or catastrophic injury due to other forms of medical negligence, defective products and defective premises. Due to superb pre-trial preparation, Mr. Sickels had engineered numerous settlements and jury verdicts that have provided many millions of dollars in compensation for his clients. He is currently a senior shareholder at Sommers Schwartz, P.C. and the Chairperson of the Personal Injury Department. In addition, he is a member of the Executive Board of Directors of the Michigan Association for Justice.

Client Testimonial:
- A former client has this to say about Robert Sickels after he obtained a 1.1 million dollar verdict in a very difficult bariatric surgery that resulted in the death of her husband.

Education:
- Wayne State University Law School, JD
- Michigan State University, BA

Areas of Practice:
- Medical Malpractice
- Personal Injury
- Product Liability

Litigation Percentage:
100% of Practice Devoted to Litigation

Bar Admissions:
- State of Michigan
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan
- U.S. District Court Western District of Michigan
- State of Pennsylvania
- 6th Circuit Court of Appeals
- United States Court of Claims

Appointments:
- 2011: Appointed to the Exectutive Committee of the Michigan Association for Justice

Honors and Awards:
- Listed in Best Lawyers 2010, 2011, 2012
- Designated as "Super Lawyer"© 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011

Accomplishments:
- A $5.3 million settlement for a 3 year old boy who became brain damaged during a medical procedure to repair a bleeding blood vessel in his throat following a simple tonsillectomy. The defendants were 3 ENT surgeons who failed to repair the vessel despite three visits to an emergency room with complaints of coughing up blood and an anesthesiologist who failed Accomplishments to timely intubate the boy during the final attempt to repair the vessel and the hospital where all the doctor defendants were on staff.
- A 1.9 million dollar settlement for a man who became paralyzed from the waist down when a resident at a hospital attempted to fix a broken neck with a Halo device and traction. During the procedure, the resident applied more and more traction until the Halo device ripped off the man's head, causing a whiplash type injury to his spinal cord. The case was settled pre-suit.
- A $1.1 million jury verdict in a Northern Michigan county that had not had a medical malpractice verdict in favor of the plaintiff in recent memory (at least 12 years). The case was for wrongful death of an obese man who had undergone a second weight loss surgery. After the surgery, a leak developed in a portion of the esophagus that the surgeon had sewn to the newly down-sized stomach. The leak had caused wide-spread infection. The defendants were the surgeon and an emergency department physician who failed to recognize and promptly treat the infection.
- A $2.9 million settlement for the family of a young woman who died due to the failure of a hospital's nursing staff and a staff neurologist to timely detect and treat an evolving stroke that caused fatal brain damage.
- A $2.5 million settlement for a brain injured child in Pennsylvania whose doctors should have induced labor and accomplished delivery at least one week before the delivery finally occurred.
- A $2.1 million settlement in a case against a small Cleveland engineering firm in which a large steel structure collapsed, killing 2 workers at a steel manufacturing facility in Detroit. The settlement involved payment of the firm's entire insurance coverage for the accident and an additional $100,000 of its own funds.
- A $2.5 million settlement for a 20 year-old man who presented to the emergency department of a large hospital with signs and symptoms consistent with bacterial meningitis. However, the emergency department physician misdiagnosed the condition as being a simple ear infection and released the man with a prescription for oral antibiotics. He returned 24 hours later, disoriented and unable to walk. After over 2 months in a coma, he regained most neurological functions. However, he left the hospital 8 months after his arrival with a complete loss of functional vision.
- A $1.2 million judgment against a surgeon whose post-operative orders caused his patient to suffer a moderately severe stroke, depriving the patient the enjoyment of his retirement years.
- A $1.3 million settlement for a client whose breast cancer was not timely diagnosed due to the failure of her surgeon to biopsy a palpable lump that a radiologist had called "benign" appearing in a mammogram report.

Speaking Engagements
- May 2011: Michigan Association for Justice Rapid Fire Seminar. Topic: Medical Device Litigation In Michigan
- November 2010: Michigan Assocation for Justice. Topic: Updates Regarding Daubert and Edry
- Lecturer, Radiology Malpractice
- Lecturer, Proving Damages in Malpractice Cases, Michigan Associiton for Justice, 2008
- Lecturer, Michigan Trial Lawyers Annual Conference, 1985

Robert B. Sickels
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