Denise A. Rubin - lawyer profile

Denise A. Rubin - Lawyer Profile

Denise A. Rubin

OVERVIEW

Ms. Rubin serves in dual capacity as the firm’s Appellate Counsel and General Counsel. As Appellate Counsel, Ms. Rubin is responsible for all complex litigation research, briefing and argumentation of motions including post-trial and trial motions and appeals before state and federal trial and appellate courts in New York and other states where we practice. An experienced appellate litigator, Ms. Rubin has over 115 reported decisions and has lectured on appellate practice and procedure for the New York County Lawyers Association and on diet drug litigation at the Mealy's Diet Drug Seminar. As General Counsel Ms. Rubin oversees insurance matters, ethical and human resources concerns as well as litigation involving the firm and its practice and outside counsel.

Throughout her career, Ms. Rubin has concentrated the bulk of her practice on mass tort, products liability and professional liability matters, initially on the defense side and more recently plaintiffs’-side litigation. Her experience includes the defense of a major producer of silicone gel breast implants and of other medical device manufacturers, defending asbestos litigation in New York State and Federal Courts and assisting in the oversight of the New York State Blood Products (HIV) litigation as the Principal Court Attorney to the Honorable Karla Moskowitz, Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County. Since joining the firm, Ms. Rubin has been responsible for our briefing and motion practice in diet drug litigation in New York State and in the multi-district litigation pending before the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. She has also been the attorney primarily responsible for plaintiffs’ briefing in the In re: World Trade Center Disaster Site Litigations pending before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

RECENT CASES OF NOTE

Badolato v. Rosenberg, 67 A.D.3d 937 (2d Dep’t 2009), in which the Second Department affirmed the trial court’s denial of summary judgment to chiropractor, holding that a physician retained to perform a physical examination for Workers Compensation or Disability purposes can be held liable for medical malpractice where the physician affirmatively interferes with the patient’s treatment to his detriment.

Graham v. Mitchell, 37 A.D.3d 408 (2d Dep’t 2007), reversing the trial court’s order granting summary judgment on a catastrophically brain-damaged infant claim and reinstating the plaintiffs’ complaint.

In re: World Trade Center Disaster Site Litigation, 521 F.3d 169 (2d Cir. 2008) affirming the District Court’s denial of summary judgment to municipal defendants and contractors who claimed they were immune from suit arising from injuries due to toxic exposures at the site of the World Trade Center during clean up and debris removal operations post-September 11, 2011.

Platovsky v. City of New York, 49 A.D.3d 842 (2d Dep’t 2008), affirming the trial court’s order in favor of our client, litigation financial services company finding that an arbitration clause in a litigation financing contract was effective against the contracting litigant despite collateral claims that the matter should remain in Supreme Court because the contracting litigant claimed that his trial attorney had been dismissed for cause. 

Raciti v. Sands Point Nursing Home, et al., 54 A.D.3d 1014 (2d Dept’ 2008), reversing dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint by the trial court which abused its discretion in refusing to consider plaintiffs’ opposition and cross motion, delivered late to court due to interruption of transit service in a torrential rainstorm. 

Radi v. Mbaye, 29 Misc.3d 138(A) (App. Term, 1st Dep’t 2010), reversing a trial court’s decision to dismiss our client’s claim for serious physical injuries suffered in a rear-end collision.

Selva v. Lillie, 61 A.D.3d 1432 (4th Dep’t 2009), affirming denial of summary judgment to general practitioner who claimed that her failure to refer a patient suffering neurological disorder that rendered him quadriplegic for specialist consult was not a departure from good medical practice because she did not have the neurological expertise to recognize that the patient was suffering from a systemic neurological disorder rather than a herniated lumbar disc.

Articles And Speaking Engagements

• 41^st Annual Conference on Environmental Law; American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy & Resources,  March 21-23, 2012, Salt Lake City, UT.  Panelist for “Hydraulic Fracturing on Trial: Possibilities, Pollution, and Preemption;” and for :  “Part 2: Discussion of Emerging State and Interstate Hydraulic Fracturing Controversies”.
• Gillers, Stephen, and Rubin, Denise A., An Attorney’s Ethical Obligations Relating to Disclosure of His/Her Health Issues To Clients, Colleagues and the Court, Outline and Written Materials Prepared for Continuing Legal Education Course Presented Jointly by the Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert (“JALBCA”), The Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York and The Saint Vincents Comprehensive Cancer Center (SVCCC): Managing Your Career and Cancer: Ethical, Professional and Emotional Considerations After Diagnosis. October 27, 1999.
• Panelist: “Appeals from the Inside Out: An Introduction;” Continuing Legal Education Seminar Sponsored by Appellate Courts Committee of the New York County Lawyers Association – May 19, 1997.
• Panelist: “Roadblocks To A Successful Appeal And How To Overcome Them;” Continuing Legal Education Seminar Sponsored by Appellate Courts Committee of the New York County Lawyers Association – May 2, 1995.
• Pittoni, Luke M., and Rubin, Denise A., “Does Early Breast Cancer Diagnosis Affect Cure, Survival?” Medical-Legal Aspects of Cancer Litigation, Vol. I, No. 1, p.1, Feb., 1995, Leader Pub., NY, NY.

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