Lawyers Face Malpractice Suit 21 Years after Death of Athlete

In 1991, Mississippi State University football player Rodney Stowers was carried off the field after fracturing his right leg in a game against the University of Florida. Five days later, Stowers was dead from an embolism, or a blood clot. 21 years after the incident, Stower’s mother files a malpractice suit, and it’s not on medical malpractice, but legal malpractice. She claims that the lawyer Robert Germany, and his law firm dragged their feet for 15 years over the original medical malpractice suit she brought in the matter. According to her, the inaction of the lawyers had caused the medical malpractice suit to  be dismissed in 2008.

In April this year, the Mississippi Supreme Court denied a request to review the decision to dismiss the medical malpractice case. Subsequently, Stower’s mother and his daughter have brought the new malpractice suit. The lawsuit mentions that four motions had been filed by the defendants in the medical malpractice suit to have it dismissed, because of inaction. Stower’s mother and daughter claim that attorney Robert Germany and his law firm, Pittman, Germany, Roberts & Welsh had failed to communicate with the clients and had also failed in other professional duties.

The law firm has already filed a motion to dismiss the new lawsuit, and Joseph Sclafani, an attorney representing the defendants said, “Defendants deny the allegations in the complaint that any duties owed to Ms Sheperd (Stowers’ mother) were breached, and defendants will vigorously defend this case.”

However, the malpractice suit claims “The responsibility for the dismissal of the litigation in the Circuit Court of Lowndes County … is directly attributed to the present defendants’ dilatory conduct according to the order of the Circuit Court of Lowndes County, Mississippi dated Dec. 19, 2008.”