Sommers Schwartz’s Appellate Attorneys Deliver Next-Level Advocacy That Secures Favorable Outcomes for Our Clients and Positive Changes in the Law for All
Our appellate team of Ramona Howard, David Parker, and John Malone has amassed an impressive record of results and established itself as the go-to attorneys in Michigan for personal injury, medical malpractice, employment law, and class action appeals. The successes of our appellate team is not only reflected in the results we get for our clients, the rulings achieved in the appellate courts often establish precedents that shape the law and profoundly impact the rights of litigants for decades to come.
Two recent Michigan Supreme Court decisions will help medical malpractice victims now and in the future will help defeat challenges to the testimony and evidence needed to pursue claims of medical negligence.
In Stokes v. Swofford, discussed in greater detail below, the Court agreed with arguments made by our attorneys that will make it far less likely that medical malpractice defendants can disqualify a plaintiff’s medical expert based on inappropriate distinctions between specialties and subspecialties.
Similarly, the Supreme Court’s decision in Danhoff v. Fahim, also discussed below, represents a victory for medical malpractice victims whose injuries and losses were caused by medical errors and conditions so rare or infrequent that no published, peer-reviewed studies yet exist. Before Danhoff, trial courts often refused to admit expert testimony unless it was supported by specific articles published in peer-reviewed journals. The Court agreed with our position that a retained medical expert’s opinion is not excludable merely because it is not supported by published, peer-reviewed medical literature.
We are immensely proud of our appellate team and congratulate them on these two important victories on behalf of medical malpractice victims in Michigan.
