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UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT 

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

West Palm Beach Division

IN RE: CASE NO.: 19-26480-MAM

Chapter 11

SPERLING RADIOLOGY P.C., P.A.

Debtor.

/

ALAN ROSENTHAL’S EMERGENCY MOTION FOR RELIEF 

FROM THE AUTOMATIC STAY

Basis for Emergency Relief

The creditor respectfully requests that this matter be heard

immediately on an emergency basis. The bankruptcy case was 

filed at the tail end of a jury trial after the Debtor had already 

been found liable and compensatory damages awarded. The sole 

matter remaining for the jury, which is impaneled only through 

December 12, 2019 is punitive damages.

COMES NOW, Creditor, Alan B. Rosenthal (hereinafter referred to as “Creditor”) by and

through undersigned counsel, and moves the Court pursuant to Federal Rules of Bankruptcy

Procedure 4001-1(C) and 9014 to lift the automatic stay imposed by 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) for cause

under 11 U.S.C. § 362(d) and in support of its motion states:

1. The Debtor filed for relief under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code on December

10, 2019.

2. The Court has jurisdiction of this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 

157(b)(2)(A), (b)(2)(G) and 1334.

3. On or about September 2015, Creditor, Alan Rosenthal, filed a Complaint in the 

Supreme Court of the State of New York County of Bronx for medical malpractice against

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Danny S. Sperling, M.D. and the Debtor under index number 22205/2016E (“NY State Court 

Action”). 

4. This is a medical malpractice action involving an unnecessary experimental focal 

laser ablation (FLA) procedure on the Creditor’s prostate gland by Debtor on September 8, 2015 

without proper informed consent when the biopsy procedure performed simultaneously came 

back negative. When the biopsy came back negative, the Debtor erased, altered or otherwise 

modified the medical records to read that the Creditor came in as a patient not for his suspected 

cancer, but instead for his BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia) which was only mild to moderate 

and required no intervention. As later shown by Debtor’s own expert’s informed consent, FLA is 

contra-indicated for treatment of BPH and can, in fact, cause further symptoms of BPH including 

further restricted urethra. In addition, the Debtor altered and modified its records after it was 

served with the summons and complaint in the instant action. 

5. On November 19, 2019, the jury returned a verdict for the sum of $2.804 million 

in compensatory damages in favor of the Creditor, finding that the Debtor deviated or departed 

from accepted medical practice on or about September 8, 2015 with respect to the following: (i) 

by performing a MRI-guided FLA procedure on the Creditor’s tumors without biopsy 

confirmation of cancer; (ii) by telling the Creditor that he had more than an 80% chance of 

cancer; (iii) by failing to ablate the entirety of the tumors during the MRI-guided FLA procedure; 

(iv) by performing a MRI-guided FLA procedure on the Creditor’s prostate for benign prostatic 

hyperplasia (BPH); and (v) by failing to obtain the Creditor’s informed consent to the MRIguided FLA procedure for the BPH treatment.

6. The trial court granted the Debtor’s request to bifurcate the trial into two phases, 

the second of which would involve the computation of the amount of punitive damages, provided 

that the jury decided to award the Creditor punitive damages in the first phase.

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7. On November 19, 2019, the jury decided not only to award the aforementioned 

compensatory damages, but also found that punitive damages are warranted here on two separate 

and distinct grounds: (i) due to the Debtor’s willfully adding, altering, overwriting, and/or 

deleting a part or parts of their medical record; and (ii) for performing an 

experimental/investigational MRI-guided FLA procedure on the Creditor without disclosing the

experimental/investigational status to Plaintiff. 

8. The evidentiary hearing before the trial court is ongoing and the continuance of 

the trial with respect to the computation of punitive damages was scheduled for December 11, 

2019.

9. On the eve of the continuation of the jury trial for punitive damages, the Debtor

file for bankruptcy in a blatant effort to stay the trial and lose the jury, despite the fact that the 

Debtor’s filing was clearly made in bad faith.

10. The jury is impaneled only through December 12, 2019 and the trial court has 

advised that the jury will be released at that time unless stay relief is granted. Therefore, 

immediate stay relief is necessary.

11. It is imperative that stay relief be granted while the jury is still impaneled so as to 

fully liquidate the claim.

12. The filing of this Motion is without prejudice to any and all additional rights of 

the Creditor, including motions to dismiss as a bad faith failing or to appoint a chapter 11 trustee.

WHEREFORE, theCreditor, Alan B. Rosenthal,respectfully request that this Court 

enter an Order granting relief from the automatic stay allowing the Creditor to proceed in the trial court 

to liquidate its damages and any further relief the Court deems just and proper.

I HEREBY CERTIFY that I am admitted to the Bar of the United States District Court for

the Southern District of Florida and I am in compliance with the additional qualifications to 

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practice in this court set forth in Local Rule 2090-1(A) and that a true and correct copy of the 

foregoing was sent by CM/ECF transmission and via U. S. Mail to the parties on the attached 

mail list this 11

th day of December 2019.

FURR AND COHEN, P.A.

Attorneys for Alan Rosenthal

2255 Glades Road, Suite 301E

Boca Raton, FL 33431

(561) 395-0500/(561)338-7532-fax

By /s/Alvin S. Goldstein

 Alvin S. Goldstein

 Florida Bar No. 993621

 E-mail: agoldstein@furrcohen.com

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