Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley cannot collect a $2.5 million contingency fee award in a medical malpractice lawsuit litigated since 1999, a state appeals court has decided.

The West Palm Beach personal injury firm secured a $28.3 million jury award for Aaron Edwards, who suffered a catastrophic brain injury when he was born in 1997, and $2.3 million for his parents.