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Oral Argument Before the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals–CAAP-14-0000818

CAAP-14-0000818 Wednesday, August 23, 2017, 1:30 p.m.

ROBERT PERALES, Plaintiff-Appellant, vs. GARY BLUM, M.D., ROBERT ATKINSON, M.D. and ORTHOPEDIC ASSOCIATES OF HAWAII, LLP, Defendants-Appellees, and DOES 1-100, Defendants.

The above-captioned case has been set for argument on the merits at:

Supreme Court Courtroom
Ali iolani Hale, 2nd Floor
417 South King Street
Honolulu, HI 96813

Attorney for Plaintiff-Appellant:

Charles H. Brower

Attorneys for Defendants-Appellees:

Arthur F. Roeca, April Luria, and Jodie D. Roeca of Roeca Luria Hiraoka LLP

COURT: Leonard, Reifurth, and Ginoza, JJ.

[ Listen to the entire audio recording in mp3 format ]

Brief Description:

Plaintiff-Appellant Robert Perales (Perales) brings this action against Defendants-Appellees Gary Blum, M.D. (Blum), Robert Atkinson, M.D. (Atkinson), and Orthopedic Associates of Hawaii, LLP (collectively Defendants). Perales injured his thumb in a workplace incident and underwent two surgeries, one by Dr. Blum and one by Dr. Atkinson. The Circuit Court of the First Circuit (circuit court) granted summary judgment in favor of the Defendants as to Perales’s claims for negligent breach of standard of care, and the case proceeded to a jury trial on Perales’s claim for failure to obtain informed consent.

At trial, Perales asserted that Dr. Blum and Dr. Atkinson did not properly inform him about the risk of failure for each surgery, and Perales further argued he would not have consented to the surgeries had he not been given a guarantee that he would be able to return to work as a welder.  At the end of Perales’s case, the circuit court granted the Defendants’ motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law, concluding that Perales did not prove his claim of failure to obtain informed consent.

On appeal, Perales contends the circuit court erred in granting Judgment as a Matter of Law for the Defendants.