"Steven Pickens (left) and David McGee of Mahaffey Pickens Tucker, Lawrenceville, Georgia. (Courtesy photo)[/caption] A Gwinnett County jury awarded a $1.9 million medical malpractice verdict that included $400,000 for loss of consortium to the widow and estate of former race car driver Pete Hamilton, who underwent a botched shoulder surgery. Hamilton was 72 years old when he fell and broke his shoulder Christmas night in 2014, and 75 when he died last year after undergoing a second surgery. The retired NASCAR champion driver for Richard Petty's team and won the Daytona 500 and Taladega 500 in 1970.Lead plaintiffs attorney Steven Pickens said a wrongful death claim was not included and that Hamilton suffered a prior heart attack and had diabetes and kidney disease. Hamilton was “the life of the party” before the accident and boated near his home in Maine and drove to visit family in Georgia every year, Pickens said. “The testimony from his wife and daughter was that he was never the same after that second surgery. He went from being a super-outgoing guy to not even wanting his friends to come see him,” said Pickens, who handled the case with Mahaffey Pickens Tucker associate David McGee. Pickens said the defense rejected an offer to settle the case for $300,000, so he will seek attorney's fees from that point on under Georgia's offer of judgment statute."
Daily Report/ Greg Land
