The $39 Million Small Smiles Dental Settlement Open to All Former Patients? Looks that way.

Looks like the $39 million dollar settlement will also be open to most any patient who received treatment at a Small Smiles Dental Center during its operating years by reading the story below.  Personally if my child had stepped foot inside the door of this place I would be contacting Dan Lain, ASAP to find out how to apply for my child’s compensation and certainly get my child on the list! (his contact info is at the bottom)


 
 
Insurers for troubled dental chain Small Smiles' to pay out $39 million in tentative settlement
May 7, 2015, 1:23pm CDT Updated May 7, 2015, 2:14pm CDT
Eleanor Kennedy
Nashville Business Journal

“…Former patients of a beleaguered Nashville-based dental company may soon receive their share of a nearly $40 million settlement.
… National Union Insurance Company, the insurer of Small Smiles Dental…reached a tentative agreement with the company…to pay out $39 million…
In a statement, James Moriarty, chairman of the trustee advisory committee for the Small Smiles…trust…said the settlement "…provide compensation for the children in the ongoing litigation and other victims who have not filed suit or hired an attorney."
“… The tentative settlement raises awareness of the need for all dentists who treat our most vulnerable children to allow parents to accompany their children, to avoid the routine use of physical restraint devices, to not over-treat children for profit, and to place the children’s best interests above their own financial interests. We must guard against dentists that mislead parents, intentionally over-treat under the guise of ‘protecting’ children, pull baby teeth that would otherwise soon fall out, intentionally place stainless steel caps on toddlers and perform unnecessary baby root canals."
Read the piece in its entirety at Nashville Business Journal

Dan LainLiquidating Trustee
CS DIP Liquidating TrustLain, Faulkner & Co.
400 N. St. Paul, Suite 600
Dallas, Texas 75201
(214) 720-7214
dlain@lainfaulkner.com

$39 Million Available to Small Smiles Dental Center Patients — Providing Approval by Court

It appears there has been an agreement reached between Small Smiles dental centers and the thousands of children injured due to malpractice, overtreatment, and down right abuse inflicted at those clinics.

In court documents filed this afternoon it states in the Settlement and Release Agreement (page 8, section xx) $39 million dollars will be “paid by or on behalf of the Insurers to the Liquidating Trust”. $39 million is an odd number…why not an even $40 million? 

There is a lot to digest but from what I can gather, so far, just about any child who ever received treatment at a Small Smiles dental center could be eligible for payment once approved by the bankruptcy court in Nashville, Tennessee.

I would assume for those who are represented by an attorney, that attorney should be contacted at once.  If a former patient is not currently represented I assume Dan B. Lain would be the go to guy. 

Dan B. Lain, Liquidating Trustee
CS DIP Liquidating Trust
Lain, Faulkner & Co.
400 N. St. Paul, Suite 600
Dallas, Texas 75201
(214) 720-7214
dlain@lainfaulkner.com

Doc 811-1 Small Smiles Dental Centers Settlement and Release Agreement - File May 6, 2015

 

Documents filed May 6, 2015:

— Motion for Order to Approve Small Smiles Dental Centers Settlement - Filed May 6, 2015

— Small Smiles Dental Centers Settlement and Release Agreement - File May 6, 2015 (same as document above)

— Small Smiles Claims Distribution Procedures - Filed May 6, 2015

— Small Smiles Dental Centers Settlement Declaration of Dan B. Lain in Support of Settlement - Filed May 6, 2015

— Proposed Order Approving Small Smiles Dental Centers Settlement - Filed May 6, 2015

WARNING to all crooked dentists - 29 patients receive $35 million dollar award for unnecessary root canals–Read it and weep!

 

$35 million awarded to 29 Seattle-area patients for root canals

SEATTLE — More than two dozen patients of a former Seattle-area dentist accused of performing hundreds of unnecessary root canals have been awarded $35 million in an arbitration proceeding.
Former King County Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas issued that award Wednesday.

The judge found that Henri Duyzend was negligent, failed to obtain informed consent from patients, committed fraud and violated the Washington Consumer Protection Act, The Seattle Times reported.
A sworn affidavit from Dr. David To said Duyzend performed nearly 2,200 root canals on about 500 patients in the five years before he retired in 2007. To purchased Duyzend’s practice and says a typical patient has fewer than two root canals.

State Health Department spokesman Donn Moyer said his agency has received 76 complaints about the man.

Duyzend started practicing dentistry in Shoreline, north of Seattle, in 1977, the Health Department said.

Moyer said the man surrendered his license in 2010 after negotiations, agreeing to never practice dentistry in the state again.

Both The Times and KING-TV said calls for comment to Duyzend and his lawyer were not returned. An Associated Press call to his home was not returned Wednesday night. Court documents show that in 2012 he denied any wrongdoing.

KING reports that more than 200 patients filed malpractice claims against the dentist but the arbitration award benefits a smaller group of 29 who declined to settle their claims.
Construction worker Dan O’Neal had 20 root canals; he was awarded more than $2 million, KING reported.

Laurel Stuart told The Times she was Duyzend’s patient from the early days of his practice.
“We thought he was fabulous,” she said Wednesday, adding he made patients feel comfortable.
She said she started questioning his work about 15 years ago because “of all the root canals.” She had four, plus “lots of crowns” and said she had to go to a specialist to have implants when she lost four teeth.

Seattle dentist Dr. Fred Quarnstrom looked at records of Duyzend’s former patients and sat in on testimony earlier this month.

He told The Times that root canals are not uncommon, but a patient with four root canals is unusual.
--The Associated Press