A Florida lawyer who suffered a heart attack while playing blackjack in a Las Vegas casino remained slumped on the table while the dealer kept dishing out cards for some 20 minutes, according to a lawsuit filed by his grieving widow.
David Jagolinzer, 48, a prominent attorney at the Ferraro Law Firm in the affluent Brickell section of downtown Miami, was a guest at the Wynn Las Vegas casino and resort on April 6 of last year.
While playing blackjack with friends and business associates, Jagolinzer’s “hand began convulsing at which point, he collapsed and became slumped over on the blackjack table with his head down,” the lawsuit filed in Nevada civil court alleges.
The lawsuit alleges the dealer “continued to deal cards to another player at the table and continued to play blackjack.”
Wynn Resorts, which owns and operates the Wynn Las Vegas luxury hotel and casino, told The Post on Wednesday that the suit’s claims are false and the company will strongly defend itself.
Meanwhile, Jagolinzer “remained slumped over on the blackjack table with his arm extended onto the table for an unreasonable amount of time while no one employed by [the casino] intervened or checked to see if [he] needed medical attention,” the lawsuit alleges.
Jagolinzer was left to remain in his “unconscious state at the table for over 20 minutes” before casino staff noticed something was wrong, the court papers state.
It was during these critical moments that Jagolinzer “sustain[ed] traumatic brain injury from lack of oxygen to his brain,” the lawsuit alleges.
Instead of checking to see if Jagolinzer was okay, the house dealer “began counting out his casino gaming chips” because he was allegedly more “focused on the economic accounting of money and gaming chips and not his physical wellbeing,” court papers state.
The lawsuit then alleges the house dealer was replaced by another Wynn staffer at Jagolinzer’s gaming table some 16 minutes after the attorney “initially convulsed and slumped over on the blackjack table.”
The new dealer noticed that Jagolinzer “needed medical attention,” the court papers state.
Jagolinzer has “exhibited discoloration in his skin and appeared to not be breathing” when the new house dealer arrived at the table, the lawsuit alleges.
It took 17 minutes for Wynn security to be notified that one of the casino’s guests needed urgent medical care, according to court papers.
Three minutes later, a Wynn security guard tried to resuscitate Jagolinzer using a defibrillator but the guard and the other agents with him “were not properly trained on the use” of the device, according to the lawsuit.
A bystander at the casino who happened to be a nurse “stopped to render aid,” according to the lawsuit. The nurse tried to use the defibrillator on Jagolinzer in addition to administering CPR.
But Jagolinzer’s attorneys allege in their court filing that the defibrillator that was used on the premises “did not function as expected [and] was the improper equipment for a property of this size.”
Jagolinzer’s widow, Anna Hanks Jagolinzer, filed suit against Wynn Resorts, which “knew, or should have known, that a medical condition, such as cardiac arrest, could occur on their property,” according to the court papers.
The casino is being accused of failing to “properly train or supervise” their staffers in “how and when to use the defibrillator that [the casino] kept on their premises and used on [Jagolinzer],” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states that the delay in administering proper medical aid to David Jagolinzer caused him to suffer from anoxic encephalopathy. He eventually died from the condition on Oct. 18, 2022.
According to Jagolinzer’s attorneys, his death was preventable since “anoxic encephalopathy related to cardiac arrest…would not have occurred if [he] had obtained timely emergency medical treatment upon slumping over on the blackjack table,” the lawsuit alleges.
The Post has sought comment from Anna Hanks Jagolinzer.
Hanks Jagolinzer, 31, is a “holistic nutritionist” based in Miami, according to her website. Her specialty lies in “diet, fitness, stress management and autoimmune conditions.”
“She focuses on helping her clients achieve balance in both the mind and body by developing constructive everyday schedules and routines,” according to her site.
David Jagolinzer is survived by his two daughters — Jayden and Logan Jagolinzer — as well as his parents — Judith and Stephen Jagolinzer — and brother Michael, according to an obituary published by the Miami Herald.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
