Unleashing the Superpower of 50a-50b: Legal Insights

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Mike Kessler is of counsel to the Albany and Troy, New York law firm of E. Stewart Jones, Hacker, Murphy, LLP. Mr. Kessler was a member of the Law Review and graduated from Albany Law School. He is one of only five attorneys in New York State and approximately 150 in the United States who is Board Certified in Medical Malpractice Law by the prestigious American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys. For many years Mr. Kessler has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® and New York Super Lawyers, including in 2018 Upstate New York Personal Injury Lawyer of the Year. He has also been listed as one of the “Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America” by the National Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. Kessler, who limits his practice to representing individuals who have suffered catastrophic injuries, has recovered in excess of $2 million in more than 30 cases, 19 in which the recovery was over $5 million, in 12 of which the amount was greater than $8.5 million, and five where his clients received more than $14 million. In Auer v. State of New York, Mr. Kessler won a $19.1 million verdict which The New York Law Journal stated was “at least $7 million” larger than any verdict ever rendered in the Court of Claims. On appeal, not only did the Appellate Division uphold the verdict, but it increased that judgment to $19.85 million. Auer was by far the largest personal injury judgment ever upheld by the Third Judicial Department, one of the largest ever upheld in New York, and one of the very few cases of this magnitude where a Court increased the amount of damages on appeal.

Kristin Kucsma, M.A., is a Principal of SobelCo. and Chief Economist of the Sobel Tinari Economics Group. Ms. Kucsma oversees the group’s award-winning economists and experienced analysts. Ms. Kucsma joined the Tinari Economics Group in January 2008 and, since then, has worked extensively on cases involving personal injury, wrongful death, employment law, wrongful incarceration, mass torts, punitive damages, and lost profits. Her ability to clearly explain complicated economic analysis makes Ms. Kucsma an effective expert witness. She works regularly with both plaintiff and defense attorneys and lectures frequently on valuing economic damages. Ms. Kucsma has testified in over 850 depositions, trials, mediations, and arbitrations, and has offered economic expert testimony in various state and federal district courts throughout the country. Prior to joining the Sobel Tinari Economics Group, Ms. Kucsma spent over 13 years teaching economics at the undergraduate and graduate level at Saint Peter’s College, Rutgers, Seton Hall, and Drew Universities. Her areas of expertise include American Economic History, Applied Micro Economic Theory, banking and financial markets, and corporate finance. Ms. Kucsma is an active member of the National Association of Forensic Economics and the Eastern Economics Association, a member of the American Economics Association, and a former member of the District Ethics Committee, Office of Attorney Ethics of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. She earned a B.A., summa cum laude, in Economics from Seton Hall University, an M.A. from Rutgers University, and is currently ABD at Rutgers University.

Morris is NY State’s leading expert in assisting attorneys at mediation and settlement conferences in achieving better offers by employing the Multiplier Effect of CPLR Art. 50-A and 50-B. He has participated in hundreds of mediations throughout New York State. In the area of Wrongful Conviction and Imprisonment, Morris has handled some of the largest and most prominent cases in the nation.