California team wins jury trial in vascular surgery partnership dispute

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright secured a US$5.2m jury verdict for client Dr. Shawn Skillern in a dispute with his partners in his vascular surgery practice.

Dr. Skillern was the founder of West Coast Vascular, which was once the largest vascular surgery practice in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Over the years, Dr. Skillern brought on three other vascular surgeons as partners in the practice and expanded the practice to have multiple offices in Ventura, Oxnard and Santa Barbara.

In 2019, during negotiations over a new partnership agreement, two junior partners falsely accused Dr. Skillern of performing unindicated surgeries in order to expel Dr. Skillern from the practice and gain a larger percentage of the practice. The junior partners convinced two other employee physicians who were also in negotiations for partnership and pressured the other senior partner in the practice to expel Dr. Skillern. The senior partner later rescinded his vote after conducting his own investigation. Each of the partners then sued each other for breaches of fiduciary duty and breaches of the partnership agreement.

After a seven-week jury trial with over a dozen expert witnesses testifying, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Dr. Skillern. He was awarded US$5.2m in compensatory damages and found not liable on all cross-claims brought by the other partners. There was also a finding of punitive damages against each of the junior partners. It was reportedly one of the longest civil trials in Ventura County's history.

Norton Rose Fulbright's trial team included James Turken, Neil Paresh Thakor and Kelly Dahan (Los Angeles).