$2,000,000.00 Verdict – Torn Nerve Injury During Surgery

Jeffery Zenna of Blume Forte Fried Zerres & Molinari secured a verdict for $2,000,000.00 on a case involving a man who suffered a torn nerve injury during surgery. More about the case below.

Morris County Jury Awards $2M After Errors in Surgery to Repair Tendon

Plaintiff counsel was Jeffrey J. Zenna of Blume Forte Fried Zerres & Molinar in Chatham.

April 14, 2025 at 02:20 PM

By Charles Toutant

  • Jurors awarded $2.04M to man who suffered torn nerve in surgery to repair weightlifting injury.
  • Defense asserted that torn nerve was an inherent risk of the type of procedure performed.
  • Patient had lost function in his hand following surgery.

A New Jersey jury awarded $2.04 million to a man who required additional surgery after his doctor allegedly made errors during an operation to repair a torn tendon.

Michael Arroyo saw physician Robert Petrucelli for surgery on February 18, 2018, after suffering a torn left bicep tendon while lifting weights. Petrucelli repaired the tendon, but after surgery, Arroyo had pain and reduced movement in the left hand, said his attorney, Jeffrey J. Zenna of Blume Forte Fried Zerres & Molinar in Chatham. Further examination revealed that Petrucelli struck a nerve during the operation, Zenna said.

On April 7, 2018, Arroyo had a second procedure, with a different physician, and he started physical therapy. Right after the second procedure, he had little change in the symptoms but three months in, he reported a marked improvement, according to Zenna. An expert report by a physician working for the plaintiff, Neil Roth, said Petrucelli deviated from the accepted standard of care by lacerating a nerve, causing the need for additional surgery.

Following an eight-day trial before Judge Marcy McMann in Morris County Superior Court and four hours of deliberation, the jury awarded $2,040,000 in pain, suffering, disability, impairment, and loss of enjoyment of life.

The greatest challenge of bringing the case to the jury was the need to counter a defense argument that the complication was an inherent risk of the surgery, Zenna said. There is a well-known side effect of the type of surgery Arroyo had, which is called neuropraxia, in which the patient has difficulty moving his fingers for days or weeks after the operation, but that condition improves on its own, Zenna said. It’s caused by when doctors use a retractor to move a nerve. But in the present case, Petrucelli cut the nerve in half, Zenna sad

“The nerve was cut in half, as opposed to being stretched or bruised. It wasn’t an inherent risk. It was something that he did,” Zenna said.

Zenna said he would concede that it’s not a deviation of the standard of care to stretch or bruise the nerve.

“Everyone agrees, including our experts, that’s a risk of the procedure. But here, that’s not what happened. We know what happened because subsequent doctors went in to explore the cause of my client’s problems. And the nerve had been cut in half,” Zenna said.

Michael E. McGann of Orlovsky Moody Schaaff Conlon Bedell McGann & Gabrysiak in West Long Branch, who represented Petrucelli, was on trial and did not respond to a call for comment.

  • Case Name/Number: Michael Arroyo v. Robert C. Petrucelli, M.D. MRS-L-1785-19
  • Filing Date: 8/20/19
  • Judge: Marcy McMann
  • Court and County: Superior Court, Morris County
  • Date of Verdict/Settlement: January 21, 2025
  • Description: Medical malpractice
  • Plaintiff Attorneys: Jeffrey J. Zenna, Blume Forte Fried Zerres & Molinari
  • Defendant Attorneys: Michael E. McGann, Orlovsky Moody Schaaff Conlon Bedell McGann & Gabrysiak 
  • Total Award: $2,040,000
  • Liability Apportionment: 100% to Robert C. Petrucelli, M.D.