Court Opinion

ID: 9948358
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-06 21:01:06.478453+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:29:29.294835
License: Public Domain

USCA4 Appeal: 22-1610      Doc: 40         Filed: 03/05/2024    Pg: 1 of 3

                                            UNPUBLISHED

                               UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                   FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                              No. 22-1610

        SARAH SANDOVAL,

                            Plaintiff - Appellee,

                     v.

        THE CENTER FOR               INNOVATIVE        GYN     CARE,      PC;   NATALYA
        DANILYANTS, M.D.,

                            Defendants - Appellants.

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Greenbelt.
        Peter J. Messitte, Senior District Judge. (8:17-cv-01599-PJM)

        Submitted: January 22, 2024                                       Decided: March 5, 2024

        Before GREGORY and HEYTENS, Circuit Judges, and FLOYD, Senior Circuit Judge.

        Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

        ON BRIEF: Benjamin S. Vaughan, German A. Rodriguez, ARMSTRONG, DONOHUE,
        CEPPOS, VAUGHAN & RHOADES, CHARTERED, Rockville, Maryland, for Appellant
        Natalya Danilyants, M.D. J. Kristen Wiggins, Michael K. Wiggins, WHARTON, LEVIN,
        EHRMANTRAUT & KLEIN, P.A., Annapolis, Maryland, for Appellant The Center for
        Innovative GYN Care, P.C. George S. Tolley, III, DUGAN, BABIJ, TOLLEY &
        KOHLER, LLC, Timonium, Maryland, for Appellee.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
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        PER CURIAM:

                 Following a jury trial, the district court entered judgment for Sarah Sandoval on her

        claim against The Center for Innovative Gyn Care, PC (CIGC) and Natalya Danilyants,

        M.D., for medical malpractice. After trial, the district court denied CIGC’s and Danilyants’

        renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 50(b). CIGC and

        Danilyants appeal and argue that the district court erred in denying this motion because

        Sandoval did not present sufficient evidence from which the jury could conclude that they

        caused her injuries. We affirm.

                 When, as here, the “the loser of a jury trial challenges the verdict under [Fed. R.

        Civ. P.] 50(b), the question is whether a jury, viewing the evidence in the light most

        favorable to the winning party, could have properly reached the conclusion reached by this

        jury.”    Wiener v. AXA Equitable Life Ins. Co., 58 F.4th 774, 784 (4th Cir. 2023)

        (cleaned up). “Because [Sandoval] won at trial, all disputed facts must be construed in

        h[er] favor and [s]he must be given the benefit of all reasonable inferences.” Id. We review

        the district court’s denial of the Rule 50(b) motion challenging the sufficiency of the

        evidence de novo. Id. Having reviewed the facts adduced at trial in the light most favorable

        to Sandoval, we conclude that there was sufficient evidence for a jury to find Appellants

        caused her injuries. We reject as without merit their appellate arguments challenging this

        conclusion.

                 Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s judgment.          Sandoval v. Ctr. for

        Innovative Gyn Care, PC, No. 8:17-cv-01599-PJM (D. Md. May 10, 2022). We dispense

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        with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the

        materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

                                                                                     AFFIRMED

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