A Florida appellate court has ruled in favor of the family of Ryan Costello, a young minor league baseball player who died in his sleep after a physician for the Minnesota Twins identified a serious cardiac condition during a routine evaluation—and never told him.
Ryan was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, a condition that affects the heart's electrical system and is associated with sudden cardiac arrest, by team physician Dr. David Olson during a spring training clearance evaluation. Dr. Olson neither informed Ryan of the diagnosis nor referred him for further evaluation or treatment. Eight months later, Ryan died. He was 23 years old.
STFBC attorneys Gary Fox and Michael Levine filed suit against Dr. Olson on behalf of Ryan's parents. As reported by Law.com, the Sixth District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's ruling that Florida law governs the case, the second appellate victory our firm has secured in this litigation.
Overcoming Multiple Serious Legal Obstacles
The legal path to trial has been anything but straightforward. In an earlier challenge, Dr. Olson attempted to compel the case into Major League Baseball arbitration rather than allow it to proceed in court. STFBC prevailed on that issue before the Sixth District. More recently, and shortly before trial was set to begin, Dr. Olson asked the court to apply Minnesota's workers' compensation law, which would have potentially shielded him from any liability altogether. Under Minnesota law, Dr. Olson had a viable argument for workers' compensation immunity. Florida law, by contrast, expressly exempts professional athletes from workers' compensation coverage, leaving no such immunity available to him here.
Dr. Olson argued that Minnesota law should apply because both he and Ryan worked for the Minnesota Twins. STFBC countered that Florida had the most significant relationship to the case: the alleged malpractice occurred in Florida, and the doctor-patient relationship between Olson and Ryan was established here. The trial court agreed. Dr. Olson appealed. After oral argument last month, the Sixth District affirmed: Florida law applies, and the case will proceed to trial, likely within the coming months.
This case sits at an uncommon intersection of legal disciplines. Medical malpractice litigation rarely involves major league arbitration provisions, multi-state choice of law disputes, and workers' compensation immunity arguments in the same proceeding. That STFBC has now prevailed at the appellate level twice—on two distinct legal issues—reflects the kind of thorough, sophisticated advocacy that complex cases demand.
The Costello family has waited years for the opportunity to present this case to a jury. That opportunity is now within reach.