Leahy Ex Rel. Heft v. Kenosha Memorial Hospital

Kenosha Memorial Hospital and its insurer, St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, appeal from a judgment entered against them in the total amount of $1,260,021.98 resulting from a jury verdict assessing seventy percent of the causal negligence against the hospital. We conclude that, over a proper objection, the trial court erroneously gave a negligence per se instruction, which was prejudicial. We, therefore, reverse and remand for a new trial.

The factual question the jury was asked to decide in this case was whether Edward P. Leahy suffered brain damage shortly after his birth because…