Lawyers sued for negligence in Nunez-Tesheira’s $18M judgment

The medical centre has named attorney Khemraj Harrikissoon, his wife Hynia, and their law firm Harrikissoon and Company, as defendants in the lawsuit filed in the San Fernando High court. They are seeking a claim for monetary compensation for alleged breach of contract and professional negligence. Tesheira’s husband, Russell, 54, who was an insurance executive, died at the Gulf View Medical Centre in 2004 while undergoing a prostate operation and she sued the nursing home, urologist Dr Lester Goetz and anaesthetist Dr Crisen Jendra Roopchand.

In March 2015, Justice Vasheist Kokaram found that there was medical negligence and the million dollar award was made.

However, his ruling has since been appealed and is currently engaging the attention of Appellate judges Allan Mendonca, Prakash Moosai and Judith Jones.

In the lawsuit filed by attorney Alvin Pariagsing against the Harrikissoons, Gulf View Medical Centre’s director Dr David Ali swore to an affidavit in which he outlined a number of grounds for pleading professional negligence, one of which stated that the defendants consented, contrary to the nursing home’s interests and without instructions to do so, to setting aside the High Court ruling of July 2012 in favour of the nursing home striking out the claim from the estate of the deceased Tesheira.

It alleged that the effect of that was that the claim was restored against the nursing home to its detriment. Therefore, new life was given to Nunez-Tesheira’s claim which exposed the nursing home to a trial which resulted in Kokaram’s judgment of $18,034,722.33. plus interest and cost.

Junior advocate attorney in the action against the attorneys and their law firm is British-base attorney Anand Beharrylal and senior advocate is British Queens Counsel Mary O’Rouke.