Family Wins a $50,000,000 Wrongful Death Verdict

MOBILE, Ala., March 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a 13 day trial, Cunningham Bounds secured a $50,000,000 verdict on behalf of the family of a man who was sent home from the hospital following a heart catheterization and tragically passed away later that night in his sleep.

On December 24, 2020, Mr. Dan Haas returned home from a hunting trip suffering from severe pain between his shoulder blades accompanied by shortness of breath. On Christmas Day, Dan called his cardiologist, Dr. John Galla, to inform the doctor of his symptoms. Dr. Galla told Dan to take it easy and come to the office on Monday for a stress test.

On Monday, December 28, 2020, Dan went to the offices of Cardiology Associates with continued chest pain where he then received abnormal cardiac stress test results. On December 30, 2020, Dr. Galla performed a heart catheterization that clearly showed a serious and life-threatening blockage.  Instead of acting immediately to treat the blockage with blood thinners, Dr. Galla sent Dan home from the hospital, cleared him for an elective eye surgery a week later, and instructed him to begin blood thinners after his eye surgery. 

Dan died that very night in his sleep next to his wife. Top cardiology experts retained by Cunningham Bounds testified that if Dr. Galla had simply kept Dan in the hospital and given him routine blood thinners, Dan had over a 99% chance of survival.  Dr. Galla's defense required him to contradict Cardiology Associates' own medical records, including entries made by Dr. Galla himself. 

Cunningham Bounds trial team of Skip Finkbohner, Lucy Tufts, Dave Wirtes, and Carmen Chambers argued that the Cardiology Associates' doctors failed to take the necessary steps to meet the required standard of care.

Following the trial Lucy Tufts commented: "The Haas family - Barbara, Sarah, Carrie, and Daniel - have been fighting to expose the truth of what happened to them for more than five years. This verdict affirms what they've known all along - that Dan should have been admitted to the hospital. And if he had been, he'd be alive and here with them today."

Skip Finkbohner added: "On behalf of the family, we repeatedly tried to settle this case before trial.  The defense made it clear they had no interest in resolving the case and forced the family to take this case to a jury.  We relied on the contemporaneous medical records-they were accurate.  The defense and their experts took the position these records were wrong.  The jury spoke loudly about this, and the lack of care Dan received and the attempts to cover up the mistakes that were made."    

Cunningham Bounds remains focused on and committed to fighting for plaintiffs in cases involving serious personal injury, products liability, industrial accidents, and complex civil litigation.  For more information on Cunningham Bounds, visit:  www.cunninghambounds.com.

The law firm of Cunningham Bounds has offices in Mobile, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia, and has represented plaintiffs for more than 65 years.  Today, the firm continues its tradition of representing victims in cases involving catastrophic personal injury, industrial accidents, defective products, truck and automobile accidents, and medical malpractice.  The firm also has expertise in business litigation, complex litigation, and national and state class action litigation involving defective products and consumer fraud.

For more information, contact:
Kate Dorlan
[email protected]

SOURCE Cunningham Bounds, LLC