In a decision handed down on January 4, 2021, Justice Thomas Christie found a Saint John area dentist and his employee, a dental assistant, negligent in the care of Brian Murphy Law's client. Brian and his team were satisfied with the outcome and no appeal was launched even though aother dentist named in the suit was found not negligent.

 

The client in question had run out of options.  Many lawyers will not take professional negligence cases and previous lawyers had expended enormous amounts in legal fees only to recommend settlement.  The client wanted her day in court and Forte provided 9 days of exhausting and technical work over the months of June and August, 2020 at the Saint John courthouse.

 

At the heart of the claim was the client’s pain and discomfort over implants and dentures improperly placed and , more to the legal point, not fully and in an informed manner consented to.  As well, the large, now impersonal clinic delegated dentistry functions to an assistant who had no training in such matters.  The defence was built on the idea that the assistant had seen and been involved in many more implant procedures than the dentist and therefore was best suited to deal with the client.  Mr. Murphy, in summation, stated: “My butcher may be the best I have ever seen with a knife, but I don’t want him to be my surgeon”.

 

In the end, the client was in pain and was awarded damages for the pain and some of her costs.