Jury verdict would have been highest ever

A plaintiff’s attorney has divulged the amount of an Oconee jury’s verdict that never made it to the official record because a settlement was reached only moments before. Gary Poliakoff, an attorney for Russell Reynolds III of Walhalla, said Judge Cordell Maddox showed the lawyers the jury form, signed by the jury foreman, showing $4 million in actual damages and $25 million in punitive damages. According to Poliakoff, the $29 million total would have been the highest in Oconee County history. But the settlement reached to end the case was confidential, and attorneys say they can’t disclose the amount Reynolds is to be paid to compensate him for the loss of his mother, Dorothy Reynolds. The plaintiffs sued Seneca Health and Rehabilitation and two companies associated with it, alleging that Mrs. Reynolds suffered severe neglect resulting in a pressure sore that became necrotic, infected and causing sepsis. She died five weeks after being sent to the Oconee Medical Center, having never regained consciousness after leaving the nursing home. The defense alleged the pressure sores and problems were due to cancer and end-stage dementia.