Attorney Michael James Reed's Legal Cases

Medical malpractice

Martel v AG MD

N/A

OUTCOME: Case settled pre trial. Physician owed duty of care to both the adult partient and his mother

The suit by Mom and her afflicted son alleged delayed diagnosis of his brain tumor by false attribution to smoking weed. Physician told mother that the dizziness, projectile vomiting and violent headac ... hes would all go away if he cut his hair and ceased daily tokes. Classic post hoc error. Weed did not cause the nausea and pain; it relieved it. Mom almost had a nervous breakdown from witnessing son's awful suffering and marital estrangement from siding with her son against her husband and doctor together. The men were mired in the absolute certainty possessed most by those absolutely wrong that the kid was a doper and that Mom was an enabling hysteric. Another physician gave correct diagnosis and removed a massive benign brain tumor. Defendant admitted liability and denied massive damages due to salutary outcome for son. The case settled. Mom's suit for her own distress as an innocent afflicted by-stander presented challenging legal issues about whether the scope of a physician's duty to his patient extends also to others close to him as a matter of law. Court denied defense Motion for Summary Judgment on this issue and the case settled before trial.

Litigation

In Re Cutaire

N/A

OUTCOME: Home declared held in trust by decedent for daughter despite absence of a writing

Applied resulting trust exception to the Statute of Frauds and deed merger rule to retrieve residential real estate from fathers probate estate. Father died in title to daughter's home (not owner we ar ... gued, merely title holder) Siblings fought her claim on solid legal ground since her own testimony of oral contract with her father, as a benefited person in probate proceedings is barred by "The Dead Man's Rule" and evidence affecting title to re real estate must be in writing to be applied at all. We took the case because no one else would, the justice of daughters case was clear and the case was unwinnable on conventional law. Challenge is good for the soul. We proved the case without her testimony about her agreement with her father but with the docket of her divorce case and the need to protect the home from loss to husband and creditors and the absence of any payment from father to daughter when she deeded the real estate to him.

Medical malpractice

Pitassi v Bryn Mawr Hospital

N/A

OUTCOME: Jury verdict for plaintiff

When our client helped transfer her comatose and terminal mother from the hospital transport gurney to her own bed, the stench of the bed sore (decubitis ulcer) hit her first and the site of the massiv ... e wound deep to the exposed white bone felled her. Our suit was for harms to both the patient and the patient's daughter. The defense was that the comatose patient never felt pain and that the Hospital owed no duty to a non patient. The issue was the existence and scope of duty owned to close family members. We argued more than bystander liability; we argued that there was a direct duty owed to the only person the hospital ever communicated with and that it breached that duty to her by failing proper care for her mother. We argued there was an implied contract or duty of good care made between daughter and hospital which was not derivative from the duty owed to the mother. We were right.

Criminal defense

Com v Winters

N/A

OUTCOME: Jury - Not Guilty of murder

When our client drove away from the open street, full daylight knife fight, Henry was still standing. He was watching the tail lights of the departing car when he collapsed to the ground bleeding out ... internally from a puncture wound to heart. There were 11 eyewitnesses. Local police told our client later that day that Henry was dead and he said "O my God! I did not mean to do it!" He later gave two full statements about throwing one punch and leaving. He cried as he spoke. All the eyewitnesses said the same story. The police went from house to house in that part of town and demanded that the knife be produced. The people there complied and the police left with knives. About 16 knives in total. At trial, with seven eyewitnesses, upon cross examination, there were seven different observations about who, of several people stepped in to break up the fight and who of them had "history" with Henry and who had prior violent contact . All agreed there just one punch and no one saw a weapon in our client's hands. The only weapon any witness could put into our client's hands at any time was the broken screwdriver that he used to jimmy open his car door. The forensic pathologist looked at the broken screwdriver and stated on cross that it could not have caused the wound he saw at autopsy. He looked at the array of knives collected by the police which we, not they, presented and picked out a few that he said could have caused the wound. After most of the evidence was in. the prosecution offered 3rd degree open plea and our client accepted but the court refused to accept the plea. Our client did not testify because there was plenty of other testimony from all the on lookers. The jury refused to break for dinner and for sleep. They gave us a verdict at about 2:30 am. They stayed and said they were trying to figure out who really shoved the knife in. It was a great case.

Litigation

Cutaire v Wolf Block

N/A

OUTCOME: Settled favorably to shareholders at trial

Legal malpractice against law firm for failing to avoid brother sister control group and imputed ownership rules when structuring related entities. Holding company lost all its value and shareholders s ... ued successfully.

Personal injury

Haase v Thompson Masonry Inc

N/A

OUTCOME: Verdict for Plaintiff

We sued for losses including bilateral hip displacement and fractures from improperly cemented safety harness bolt. Jury verdict was affirmed post trial

Michael James Reed's Legal Cases (16)