Patrick A. Malone
Patrick A. Malone (born 1951) is a trial lawyer and author based in Washington, D.C. Malone co-developed a trial advocacy method called "Rules of the Road".[1]
Advocacy Method
Malone co-authored Rules of the Road: A Plaintiff Lawyer's Guide to Proving Liability, with Rick Friedman, which was published by Trial Guides in 2006.[1] Since then, the techniques described in the book have been the subject of national and regional seminars for trial lawyers, sponsored by the American Association for Justice (AAJ) -- formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) -- the largest organization for plaintiffs' attorneys in the United States.[2][3] An expanded second edition of the book was published in 2010.[1] The publisher describes the book as "America's bestselling text on proving liability."[1] The phrase "Rules of the Road" has been trademarked.[4]
In their book, Friedman and Malone posit that civil defendants defeat meritorious lawsuits by three main techniques -- "complexity, confusion and ambiguity" - and that plaintiff advocates can prepare more persuasive cases by developing case-specific "rules" that clarify the core liability issues in the case.[5]
In 2012, Malone was the lead author of a follow-up book, Winning Medical Malpractice Cases With the Rules of the Road Technique.[6] In the same year, the AAJ added a special annual two-day seminar on "rules of the road" as applied to medical malpractice cases.[7]
In 2016, Malone's book The Fearless Cross-Examiner: Win the Witness, Win the Case was published. This book aimed to overturn standard advice on how trial lawyers should conduct cross-examination and instead advocated a more analytic and adaptable approach.[8]
Notable cases
In Benedi v. McNeil-P.P.C., Inc. (E.D. Va.), a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, found in 1994 that the manufacturer of Tylenol should pay Malone's client $8 million for failing to warn on its label about the drug's ability to destroy the liver in ordinary doses in alcohol drinkers. The verdict was affirmed by the Fourth Circuit[9] The Boston Globe called it one of the top ten lawsuit verdicts against pharmaceutical companies.[10]
In Semsker v. Lockshin, a state court jury in Rockville, Maryland, awarded the family of a deceased attorney $5.8 million against a dermatology practice that had failed to timely diagnose the attorney's melanoma. The trial court agreed with Malone's argument that the state's limitation on malpractice damages should not apply to this case. However, the state's highest court, the Maryland Court of Appeals, reversed and ordered the verdict reduced to account for the statutory cap after hearing from amici curiae, including the state medical society and the American Medical Association.[11]
Malone represented the plaintiff in Goldberg v. Boone, a Maryland medical malpractice in which the plaintiff suffered brain injury during a procedure to remove a cholesteatoma from the ear. Reversing the intermediate appellate court, the Maryland court of appeals agreed with Malone's position and established the right of Maryland patients to sue a surgeon for lack of informed consent in not advising that other more experienced surgeons were available for a particular procedure.[12]
Career
Before attending law school, Malone was a medical writer and investigative reporter for the Miami Herald. He was a finalist for a 1980 Pulitzer Prize for "Dangerous Doctors", a series of articles he co-authored. He earned a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1984.[13]
Malone was a law clerk to Judge Gerhard Gesell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia from 1984 to 1985.[14] Malone worked for 22 years for the law firm of Stein, Mitchell & Mezines (now Stein, Mitchell, Muse & Cipollone, LLP).[15]
Malone also wrote The Life You Save: Nine Steps to Finding the Best Medical Careโand Avoiding the Worst, which helps patients and their friends and family insure that they receive the best medical care in today's healthcare system.[16][17][18]
List of Publications
Legal Articles
- "Paying It Forward by Pressing for Safety Changes", Trial, June 2014.
- "Unethical Secret Settlements: Just Say No", (by Patrick Malone & Jon Bauer), Trial, September 2010.[22]
- "Medical Malpractice in Managing Diabetes" Trial, March 2004
- "Working with Experts in the Daubert Era," Trial, September 2003[23]
- "The Role of FDA Approval in Drug Cases," Trial, November 1998[24]
- "Medical Authority and Infanticide," Journal of Law and Health, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1985.[25]
- "Lessons for Trial Lawyers from Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address" Litigation, Volume 34, Number 4, Summer 2008
- "'You Have the Right to Remain Silent': Miranda after twenty years", American Scholar (1986), pp. 55, 367-80.
References
- Friedman, Rick; Malone, Patrick A. (2010). Rules of the Road: (Second Edition) A Plaintiff Lawyer's Guide to Proving Liability. Trial Guides, LLC. ISBN 9781934833179.
- Rules of the Road: A Plaintiff Lawyer's Guide to Proving Liability review, justice.org; accessed December 15, 2014.
- "Trial Advocacy College: "Rules of the Road"". Justice.org. Archived from the original on 2010-12-28. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
- "RULES OF THE ROAD - Reviews & Brand Information". Trademarkia.com. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
- Rules of the Road introduction Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, trialguides.com; accessed December 15, 2014.
- "Winning Medical Malpractice Cases โ Trial Guides". Trialguides.com. 2013-01-18. Archived from the original on 2016-04-01. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
- "Obeying the rules of the road in medical negligence cases". Justice.org. Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
- "Fearless Cross-Examiner". Trial Guides. Retrieved September 11, 2016.
- Benedi v. McNeil-P.P.C., Inc., 66 F.3d 1378 (4th Cir. 1995).
- "Boston Globe Archive". Secure.pqarchiver.com. 2005-08-20. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
- Lockshin v. Semske, 412 Md. 257, 987 A.2d 18 (Md. 2010), reversing Circuit Court, Montgomery County, 2009 WL 1392525.
- Goldberg v. Boone, 396 Md. 94, 912 A.2d 698 (Md. 2006), reversing 167 Md.App. 410, 893 A.2d 625 (Md. App. 2006).
- Discussions of the Committee on Daubert Standards: Summary of Meetings. Nap.edu. 2006. doi:10.17226/11696. ISBN 978-0-309-10248-3. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
- "Oral History Package of Gerhard Gesell" (PDF).
- "Attorney Briefs: July/August 2005". Dcbar.org. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
- "Read up, and 'Life You Save' may be your own". TODAY.com. 2009-10-07. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
- "Patrick Malone: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle". Retrieved 2013-02-08.
- "Washington DC Accident Lawyer: Verdicts & Settlements: Alexandria, Virginia Personal Injury Attorney". Patrickmalonelaw.com. 2008-11-17. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
- Malone, Patrick (July 7, 2009). The Life You Save: Nine Steps to Finding the Best Medical Care-and Avoiding the Worst. Da Capo Lifelong Books. ISBN 978-0738213040.
- Malone, Patrick; Rick Friedman (2009). Winning Medical Malpractice Cases With the Rules of the Road Technique. Trial Guides. ASIN B00AAGFADQ.
- Malone, Patrick (2016). The Fearless Cross-Examiner: Win the Witness, Win the Case. Trial Guides. ISBN 978-194100753-2.
- "Unethical Secret Settlements". University of Connecticut School of Law. Archived from the original on 2013-04-03. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
Professor Jon Bauer is a co-author with Patrick Malone of "Unethical Secret Settlements: Just Say No" in the September 2010 issue of Trial, the monthly magazine of the American Association for Justice.
- "Working with experts in the Daubert era.(Experts And Evidence)". Library.villanova.edu. 2003-09-01. Archived from the original on 2013-04-03. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
- HighBeam
- Patrick Malone (2013-01-30). "Medical authority and infanticide". J Law Health. 1 (1): 77โ111. PMID 11658876.