A Union County jury awarded $4.5 million on April 6 in a medical malpractice suit, Ayala v. Friedlander, M.D., over errors in a man’s spinal surgery.

But the plaintiff, Carlos Ayala, will recover $2.25 million because of a high-low agreement that the lawyers entered after closing arguments. The high was $2.25 million, and the low was $525,000.