Philip Catapano
Civil Trial Defense Law - Garden City, NY

Perhaps the most challenging thing we must overcome in the malpractice cases is that often both parties are innocent. That's what makes it so difficult for everyone involved. We handled a case in the late '90's - a family brought a suit against a hospital in which their teenage son died of complications from AIDS, transmitted from a blood transfusion the week he was born in 1980 before AIDS had been identified and screened in blood donors. The jury included sophisticated people: a rabbi, a lawyer and a producer for The Today Show - it was a very emotional trial, plenty of tears. In the end, the jury decided that the hospital could not be held responsible for something society and the scientific world still knew nothing about. It was a tragic situation...an innocent plaintiff but an innocent defendant as well. As I said, such cases are difficult for everyone but still I think that the system works fairly well. Hospitals and doctors are dedicated to helping people. Usually, they do the best job they can-unfortunately, sometimes that is not enough. At its best, the malpractice system protects patients from wrongdoing but does not penalize doctors for outcomes that are out of their control. You have to have a competitive spirit for what we do. When you get into the courtroom all you want to do is to protect your client. Many of us have been doing this for 20 years or more- sometimes other attorneys tell me they're getting tired but they don't ever say it's boring. You can't make up the things that happen in real life, even in the most mundane cases. Several years ago, I defended Amy Fisher in a civil suit. The whole experience reinforced my belief that the rules of law generally don't apply in cases with a huge media spotlight. When the courtroom goes on stage, it's a different process. I don't believe that televised trials help the judicial process; they change a serious, sensitive situation into a media event. I love what I do and I've been very fortunate in my career. I know our system and its advocates have come under a great deal of criticism recently, both publicly and privately. But our method of resolving disputes, which allows everyone to be heard and where our juries are our peers, is one that deserves our respect and needs our protection. It remains one of the cornerstones of our great democracy.

Philip Catapano
"You have to have a competitive spirit for what we do. When you get into the courtroom all you want to do is to protect your client. Many of us have been doing this for 20 years or more- sometimes other attorneys tell me they're getting tired but they don't ever say it's boring."
Phone: (516) 747-4082
Fax: (516) 746-0748
 
 
Education
Union College, B.A., 1966
St. John's University Law School, J.D., 1971

COMPILED FALL 2004
 
2008-05-07 13:30:57