Nearly two years after a DeKalb County jury awarded more than $6.4 million in a birth-injury medical malpractice case, the judge awarded the winning lawyers more than $1 million in fees and expenses because the defendants turned down a $1 million settlement offer several months before trial. 

State Court Judge Johnny Panos also ordered the defendant obstetrician-gynecologist and his practice to post a supersedeas bond of more than $9.4 million—including $1.7 million in accrued interest—pending the results of an appeal before the Georgia Court of Appeals.