Irving G. Johnson
Biography
Irnie Johnson was born in Denver. With the exception of three years spent in "reform school" in Massachusetts (then more elegantly named "boarding schools"), Irnie was educated and has lived around Denver all of his life. His father was a Denver District Court judge in the post-depression era, and later went into private practice in 1942, retiring at the age of seventy-five. His mother was a school teacher for over forty-five years, who taught at Graland, Kent-Denver, and concluded her career tutoring both very special and very gifted children. The better part of Irnie's childhood he spent on a large farm raising cattle, pigs, chickens, alfalfa, wheat and rye, all of which laid the foundation for his legal career.
He has three daughters: Meg, living in Houston and married to an attorney is rearing his first grandson Rex. She was formerly employed at MD Anderson and Rice University; Emily, an attorney living in Washington, D.C. with her husband, a broadcast journalist, and their two children, completed a clerkship with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and now works for Covington & Burling; and Hannah, age nine, who is again teaching her father about pure wisdom.
When he is not working hard on behalf of his clients, Irnie enjoys anything outdoors including a rural lifestyle. He has practiced law with Bob Carney and Peter Pryor for thirty-five years, and is getting to like them somewhat. His law practice concentrates on defending health care providers and he has tried an incredible number of jury trials. He truly prefers not to settle his cases.
Verdicts
Court
Fremont County District
Client
Otolaryngologist
Issues
The Plaintiff claimed that this ear/nose/throat surgeon caused the death of her husband by failing to properly manage his anticoagulation medication before and after surgery. Plaintiff alleged that a fatal clot embolized from his artificial heart valve, killing his large and small intestines. The jury found that the physician’s care was appropriate and did not cause harm to the patient. Through the presentation of intra-operative Doppler studies, extensive literature from various specialties, experts, diagrams, medical records and pathology photographs, it was clearly established that the patient’s death was caused by low flowing blood in the bowel brought on by years of smoking, poor diet, unmedicated diabetes, uncontrolled hypertension, and countless vascular abnormalities.
Court
Larimer County District Court
Client
Obstetrician / Gynecologist
Issues
Defense verdicts are difficult to obtain in breast cancer cases due to their highly emotional and complex nature. Mr. Johnson assembled an impressive set of physicians from across the country, including one of the leading national experts on breast imaging. In addition, Pryor Johnson Carney Karr Nixon ensured that the jury heard from the nation’s leading oncologist at M.D. Anderson in Houston by prewiring the courtroom so that he could appear live, via satellite. This was the first time an expert had testified in this fashion. The jury returned a defense verdict in short order.
