patrick.lawless@wilsonelser.com

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Patrick Lawless has extensive experience handling appeals before the New York Appellate Division. He has briefed and argued more than 100 appeals and is credited with 90 reported decisions.

Given the nature of his appellate practice, Patrick has addressed legal issues covering the full range of disciplines and substantive areas represented by the firm’s client base. He has handled many appeals in the general liability area, including those involving negligence, premises security, construction litigation and Labor Law claims. His experience also includes product liability and toxic tort, medical and legal malpractice, insurance coverage and general commercial disputes. While his practice primarily is centered in the New York appellate courts, Patrick also has assisted firm attorneys and local counsel with briefs in other jurisdictions. In addition, he prepares pre-trial and post-trial dispositive motions and consults with trial attorneys to help ensure that any potential appellate issues are properly preserved.

Through his prior position as a court attorney for the New York Appellate Division, Patrick gained an intimate understanding of Appellate Division rules and procedures and a strong familiarity with the justices. This enables him to provide clients with an honest assessment of their chances for success on appeal. Patrick began his career with the Appellate Division, drafting the confidential reports that provided justices with the facts needed to make a determination in a particular case. He was then promoted to the Motions Department, where he had direct interaction with justices regarding substantive motions before the court.

    Education

    • Fordham University School of Law (J.D., 2000)
    • St. John's University (B.A., 1988)

    Bar Admissions

    • New York

    Court Admissions

    • U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
    • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
    • U.S. District Court, Western District of New York

Patrick J. Lawless

Freeman MedMal Summary Judgment Victory Affirmed on Appeal ‒ NYC Appellate Team Leads the Charge

​Stephanie Freeman (Partner-New York, NY) secured summary judgment in the New York Supreme Court, Suffolk County, for Wilson Elser’s clients, a hospital and its ophthalmologist employee, in a medical malpractice action arising from cataract and vision correction surgeries.   The plaintiff underwent cataract and vision correction surgery that failed to improve her vision, followed by revision surgery that left her with complications.  But, as demonstrated by the submission Stephanie prepared and the accompanying expert affirmation supporting the care rendered, the clients’ care and treatment rendered fully conformed to the applicable standard of care. As the defense expert acknowledged, a corrective lens predicted to be the appropriate strength for a patient can sometimes prove to be the wrong strength despite proper care. Similarly, complications can arise during surgery in the absence of negligence ‒ and that is what occurred here.

The plaintiff’s expert nevertheless argued that the clients had erroneously selected the lens because it ultimately proved to be the wrong strength. Stephanie successfully exposed the hindsight inherent in that argument: the fact that an outcome was unsuccessful does not establish that the care was negligent. The court agreed, granting summary judgment to Wilson Elser’s physician client and hospital, and dismissing the complaint.

The plaintiff appealed both the summary judgment order and the resulting judgment. Judy Selmeci (|Partner-New York, NY) and Julia Audibert (Associate-New York, NY) prepared the appellate brief, continuing to emphasize that the plaintiff had failed to identify any departure from the standard of care. Patrick Lawless (Partner-New York, NY) handled the oral argument, where the appellate team’s arguments were well received. The Appellate Division dismissed the appeal from the summary judgment order and affirmed the judgment, leaving the victory for Wilson Elser’s clients intact.

Stephanie F. Freeman, Julia Audibert, Judy C. Selmeci and Patrick J. Lawless

Wilson Elser National Team in Hot Pursuit of Phone Records Secures an Appellate Division Affirmance

Patrick Lawless (Partner-New York, NY), Brian Del Gatto (Partner-NY/CT/AZ/WA), Douglas Connors (Partner-Stamford, CT) and Andrea Strain (Of Counsel-Stamford, CT) teamed to defeat an appeal before the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department to recover damages for personal injuries from an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County in an alleged slip-and-fall incident. The plaintiff offered contradictory statements, first in the emergency room stating that he was talking on his cell phone at the time of the accident, and later at his deposition, denying he was talking on his cell phone when the accident occurred. In defense of our major Canadian aerospace client and our nationally represented insurer, the team moved, inter alia, to compel the production of the plaintiff’s cell phone records, and the Supreme Court directed the plaintiff to produce the records within 30 days, resulting in this from the Court: “Here, the willful and contumacious character of the plaintiff’s conduct can be inferred from his repeated failure to respond to the defendants’ demands for discovery of his cell phone records, his failure to meaningfully and timely comply with the Supreme Court’s order directing such disclosure, and his failure to provide any reasonable excuse for these failures … Even after the conditional order of dismissal was issued, which again directed the plaintiff to produce his cell phone records, the plaintiff still did not comply with the court’s directive. Accordingly, the court properly, in effect, upon re-argument, adhered to its prior determination conditionally granting that branch of the defendants’ motion, which was pursuant to CPLR 3126(3) to dismiss the complaint.”

With a consistent settlement demand of $10 million or more throughout the case, the clients were delighted with the outcome.
 

Brian Del Gatto, Douglas M. Connors and Patrick J. Lawless

Farmer, Cahill and Lawless Score Home Run for Baseball Venue

Jana Farmer (Partner-White Plains, NY), Pat Lawless (Partner-New York, NY) and John Cahill (Associate-White Plains, NY) secured summary judgment in a Little League matter pending before the New York Supreme Court, Suffolk County on the eve of mediation. The plaintiff, a spectator at our client town and Little League franchise baseball game, was struck by a foul ball from another field. She alleged a concussion, TBI and other neuropsychological symptoms as a result. Throughout discovery, Jana, Pat and John established that the plaintiff was a dedicated “baseball mom” who regularly attended professional games and watched baseball on TV. She was aware of the risks of being hit by foul balls. The court noted that our clients had provided adequate protective screening and were able to demonstrate through an experienced baseball field design expert that the protections they offered exceeded industry standards. 

Jana S. Farmer, John P. Cahill and Patrick J. Lawless

Ross and Lawless Team Up to Win Appeal – Preserving Defense Verdict and Summary Judgment Victory

Mathew Ross (Partner-White Plains) and Patrick Lawless (Partner-New York) obtained an excellent unanimous decision from the Appellate Division, Second Department on a difficult construction case. Mat tried the case for a large city and its School Construction Authority in the latter part of 2019 and obtained a unanimous jury defense verdict after the plaintiff turned down a sizeable offer to settle the case while the jury was deliberating. The plaintiff appealed the final judgment, which included the earlier denial of his summary judgment motions and motion to reargue that we successfully opposed, as well as the jury verdict. Pat handled the appeal with Mat and argued the appeal. This great teamwork sets forth good case law on the industrial code sections that were identified and upholds the jury’s verdict against a well-known plaintiff’s firm.

Mathew P. Ross and Patrick J. Lawless