The State : Belli Firm Loses Own Suit

Melvin Belli’s law firm was found guilty of malpractice and was ordered to pay $5.8 million to a quadriplegic whose personal injury case it handled. A San Francisco jury concluded that the firm botched the case of San Diego resident Ted Giesick, who was paralyzed after an auto accident in 1972. His family retained Belli’s firm in 1974 and the suit against the driver was settled for $250,000. But the attorneys failed to realize that doctors and nurses who treated Giesick might have been guilty of malpractice, the jury found. The four-year statute of limitations on malpractice cases had expired by the time a Belli associate discovered that the medical practitioners might have mistreated Giesick. Belli said he had “nothing to do with the case.” “The two men who handled the case are no longer in my office, thank God,” he said. “I fired them about a year ago. I have a good office now.” The Belli firm’s insurance carrier probably will cover the loss.