Top Rated Medical Malpractice Attorney in Minneapolis, MN

Honors/Awards:

• Selected to Minnesota Lawyer's inaugural POWER 30 honoring the state's top medical malpractice and personal injury attorneys. The POWER 30 were selected based on interviews with Minnesota attorneys, a review of significant matters, and Minnesota Lawyer's coverage of top practitioners and impactful cases.  According to Minnesota Lawyer, the POWER 30 profiles attorney's "whose mere presence on a case signifies the stakes, who have influenced the direction of the law, and whose leadership in the community is pervasive and whose respect within the bar is undeniable.", POWER 30- top Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Attorneys, Minnesota Lawyer, 2021
• Named to 2020 Women Worth Watching in Leadership list by Profiles in Diversity Journal, which recognizes women pioneers across the globe who are making a difference in their workplaces and communities., Women Worth Watching in Leadership, Profiles in Diversity Journal, 2020
• Named to Best Lawyers in America., Best Lawyers in America, Plaintiff's Medical Malpractice, Best Lawyers, 2020
• Named a "North Star Lawyer" by the Minnesota State Bar Association for providing at least 50 hours of pro bono legal services., North Star Lawyer, Minnesota State Bar , 2020
• "Elite Women of the Plaintiffs’ Bar,” National Law Journal., Elite Women of the Plaintiffs’ Bar, National Law Journal, 2019
• North Star Lawyer, Minnesota State Bar Association, 2016, North Star Lawyer, Minnesota State Bar Association, 2016
• Attorney of the Year, Minnesota Lawyer, 2014, Attorneys of the Year, Minnesota Lawyer, 2014
• Service to Minnesota Women Lawyers Award, Minnesota Women Lawyers, 2008, Service to MWL, Minnesota Women Lawyers, 2008
• Full Merit Scholarship, William Mitchell College of Law, 1997–2001, Merit Scholarship, William Mitchell College of Law, 2001
• CALI Award (Top Grade in Class), Products Liability, Trial Advocacy and Professional Responsibility, William Mitchell College of Law, CALI Excellence for the Future Awards, CALI, 2001
• First Place, Rosalie Wahl Moot Court, William Mitchell College of Law., Rosalie Wahl Moot Court, First Place, William Mitchell College of Law, 2000

Special Licenses/Certifications:

• Registered Nurse- Minnesota.

Bar/Professional Activity:

• Secretary, American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), Minnesota Chapter., 2020
• International Society of Barristers- Induction, March, 2019., 2019
• Board of Governors, Minnesota Association for Justice., 2020
• Director, First Chair, Robins Kaplan Trial Academy (Formerly Exceptional Advocates Trial Training Program (“EATP”), Robins Kaplan, LLP., 2019
• Chair, Robins Kaplan Gender Diversity Work Group., 2019
• American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), Minnesota ABOTA Chapter Executive Committee, Membership Chair., 2018
• President, Minnesota Women Foundation., 2019
• President, Minnesota Women Lawyers., 2014
• President - Elect, Minnesota Women Lawyers., 2013
• Treasurer, Minnesota Women Lawyers., 2012
• Secretary, Minnesota Women Lawyers, 2011
• Warren E. Burger Inn of Court, Master, 2020
• American Bar Foundation, Life Fellow, 2015
• Ramsey County Bar Association, Board of Directors, 2007 - 2009, 2009
• Minnesota Association for Justice, Women's Section, Co-Chair, 2007-2009, 2009
• MWL Strategic Planning Committee, 2009, 2009
• American Bar Association, Member, 1997 – Present, 2020
• Ramsey County Bar Association, 1997 – Present, 2020
• Minnesota Supreme Court, 2001
• American Association for Justice, Member, 2004– Present, 2020
• Minnesota Association for Justice, Member, 1997– Present, 2020
• Community Action Committee, Co-Chair, 2005-2008, 2008
• Minnesota Association for Justice, New Lawyers Section, Co-Chair, 2005 - 2006, 2006
• Minnesota Bar Association, Civil Litigation Section, 2001 – Present, 2020
• Minnesota State Bar Association, Member, 1997 – Present, 2020

Pro bono/Community Service:

• North Star Lawyer. More than 50 hours of pro bono representation for individual in immigration deportation proceeding., 2021
• Minnesota Women Lawyers Foundation, Director, 2014- 2020., 2020
• North Star Lawyer. More than 50 hours of pro bono service for clients in immigration matters., 2020
• North Star Lawyer, more than 50 hours of pro bono service for clients in immigration matters., 2019
• Immigration Law Center of Minnesota.  Represents clients in Naturalization, DACA, and removal proceedings., 2020
• Mounds View Basketball Association Board of Directors- Secretary, 2020
• St. Odilia Catholic Church Endowment Fund Committee 2017-Present., 2020
• Voter Protection Project, 2004, 2008, 2020
• St. Odilia School Council, 2011 - 2017, 2017
• Appointment by the Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court to an Exoneration Claim Panel #A15-0669.  Our Panel reviewed submissions by the claimant and by the State, and subsequently held a mediation.  Our panel's recommendation for compensation was submitted to and approved by the legislature., 2015
• Minnesota Women Lawyers, Board of Directors, 2008 - 2015, 2015
• Chrysalis Tubman Alliance, Volunteer Attorney, 2007- 2012, 2012
• Minnesota Women Lawyers, President, 2013, 2013
• Minnesota Women Lawyers, Secretary, 2010, 2010
• Hennepin County Bar Foundation, Board of Directors, 2002–2004, 2004
• KSTP LawLine, MSBA New Lawyers, Volunteer, 2004–2006, 2006
• Minnesota Women Lawyers, Member, 1997– Present, 2020

Scholarly Lectures/Writings:

• The Power of Relationship Currency: Navigating AAJ [and Other Organizations] to Build Your Brand and Business Speakers: Ashleigh Raso, Teresa Fariss McClain, & Rachel Gusman Moderator: Lori Andrus., Panelist, The Power of Relationship Currency: Navigating AAJ [and Other Organizations] to Build Your Brand and Business, American Association for Justice (AAJ), Legal, 2020
• CLE for lawyers, focused on presentation skills for trial lawyers., Moderator, Jurors Live- Pulling the Curtain Back, Robins Kaplan 2018 Trial Advocacy Seminar, Legal Industry, 2018
• CLE directed toward trial lawyers., Course Chair and Speaker, Trial Lawyer Medical School Boot Camp, Minnesota Association for Justice, Legal, 2018
• Empathy as a Critical Trait for Trial Lawyers, Minnesota Association for Justice, Duluth, Minnesota, February 23, 2018, Speaker, Empathy as a Critical Trait for Trial Lawyers, Minnesota Association for Justice , 2018
• The Robins Kaplan Justice Report - Vol. 12, No. 2, Spring 2018, 2018
• Panel Discussion: Ask Me Anything, Women Trial Lawyers Conference, Minnesota Association for Justice, Nisswa, Minnesota, November 3, 2017, Panelist, Women Trial Lawyers Camp- Ask Me Anything Panel, Minnesota Association for Justice , 2017
• What to do About Medicare Set-Asides, Minnesota Association for Justice, Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 20, 2017, Speaker, What to do About Medicare Set-Asides, MAJ/MDLA, 2017
• The Robins Kaplan Justice Report - Vol. 11, No. 2, Spring 2017, 2017
• Liability & No-Fault Medicare Set-Asides Seminar, Minnesota Association for Justice, Minneapolis, Minnesota, December 12, 2017, Speaker, Liability & No-Fault Medicare Set-Asides Seminar, Minnesota Association for Justice , 2017
• William Mitchell College of Law, Adjunct Professor, Adjunct Faculty, Writing and Representation, William Mitchell College of Law, 2017
• Medical Malpractice, Panel, Minnesota Association for Justice, Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 15, 2015, Panelist, Medical Malpractice Panelist, MAJ/MDLA, 2015
• Goose v. Gander: Defense Duty to Disclose Defendant's Testimony, Medical Malpractice Conference, Minnesota Association for Justice/Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association, March 6, 2014, Speaker, Goose v. Gander: Defense Duty to Disclose Defendant's Testimony, MAJ/MDLA, 2014
• Medical/Legal Implications for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, University of Minnesota, March 29, 2010, Speaker, Medical/Legal Implications for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, University of Minnesota, 2010
• Duty of Informed Consent: What Standard Applies, Minnesota Trial Lawyer, Spring 2010, Author, Duty of Informed Consent: What Standard Applies, Minnesota Trial Lawyer, 2010
• Medical/Legal Implications for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, University of Minnesota, March 29, 2008, Speaker, Medical/Legal Implications for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, University of Minnesota, 2008
• Medical/Legal Implications for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, University of Minnesota, March 3, 2008, Speaker, Medical/Legal Implications for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, University of Minnesota, 2008
• Handling Medical Negligence Claims, National Business Institute, December 6, 2007, Speaker, Handling Medical Negligence Claims, NBI, 2007
• Nursing Law in Minnesota, National Business Institute, January 28, 2005, Speaker, Nursing Law in Minnesota, NBI, 2005
• Molloy v. Meier Extends Genetic Counseling Duty of Care to Biological Parents and Establishes That Legal Damages Must Occur Before a Wrongful Conception Action Accrues for Statute of Limitations Purposes, 31 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. No. 3, 939-956 (2005), Mark Hallberg and Teresa Fariss McClain, Author, Molloy v. Meier Extends Genetic Counseling Duty of Care to Biological Parents and Establishes That Legal Damages Must Occur Before a Wrongful Conception Action Accrues for Statute of Limitations Purposes, William Mitchell Law Review, 2005
• No Harm, No Foul, No Accrual, Minnesota Trial Lawyer, Summer 2005, Author, No Harm, No Foul, No Accrual, Minnesota Trial Lawyer, 2005
• Handling Medical Negligence Claims, National Business Institute, December 6, 2007, Speaker, Handling Medical Negligence Claims, NBI, 2007
• Nursing Law in Minnesota, National Business Institute, January 28, 2005, Speaker, Nursing Law in Minnesota, NBI, 2005
• No Harm, No Foul, No Accrual? Medical Malpractice Conference, Minnesota Trial Lawyers, Minnesota Defense Lawyers, and Hennepin County Bar Association, January 6, 2004, Speaker, No Harm, No Foul, No Accrual?, MAJ/MDLA, 2004
• No Harm, No Foul, No Accrual? Medical Malpractice Conference, June 16, 2004, Speaker, No Harm, No Foul, No Accrual?, MAJ/MDLA, 2004
• The Expert Affidavit Statute, Unsheathed, Minnesota Trial Lawyer, Mark Hallberg and Teresa F. McClain, Fall 2002, Co-Author, The Expert Affidavit Statute, Unsheathed, Minnesota Trial Lawyer, 2002
• The Statute of Limitations for Wrongful Death: Four Years or Two? Medical Malpractice Conference, Minnesota Institute for Legal Education, 2002 , Speaker, The Statute of Limitations for Wrongful Death: Four Years or Two?, Minnesota Institute for Legal Education, Medical Malpractice Attorneys, 2002

Verdicts/Settlements:

• Minnesota Supreme Court Decision case of first impression interpreting Minn. Stat. 604.18, Minnesota's first party bad faith statute. The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the trial court following a bench trial holding that Western National lacked a reasonable basis in denying underinsured motorist benefits to its insured, and awarding to Ms. Peterson the full statutory tax and fees against insurer Western National Ins. Co.  Alison Joel Peterson v. Western National Mutual Ins. Co., 946 N.W.2d 903 (Minn. 2020). I represented Plaintiff in the underlying UIM trial, the motion to amend to add a claim for bad faith, the bad faith bench trial in Hennepin Cty. Dist Ct, and was co counsel for the appeals brought by Western National to the Minnesota Court of Appeals and Minnesota Supreme Court. , 2020
• $2,000,000 settlement in a Minnesota wrongful death medical malpractice case concerning a pediatric patient who died as a result of an adverse reaction to medication., 2020
• $875,000 South Dakota wrongful death medical malpractice settlement., 2020
• $1,150,000 settlement on behalf of an infant who suffered a brain bleed and permanent right sided blindness and hydrocephalus as a result of a medication error in which he was given the wrong medication at an excessive rate while he was a patient in a hospital intensive care unit. The settlement will provide needed resources for the child to obtain medical care, therapy, and adaptions to manage his disability throughout his life. , 2019
•  $1,100,000 settlement was reached with a Twin Cities Health Care provider following the wrongful death of a 77-year-old male related to a misdiagnosis of an abdominal aortic aneurysm in the Twin Cities of Minnesota., 2019
• $3.175 million verdict.  Jeanne and Wayne Shellum v Fairview Health Services. A Hennepin County jury returned a verdict finding that Fairview Southdale Hospital was negligent in the care provided to Mrs. Shellum during eye surgery performed in 2011, and that as a result of its negligence, Mrs. Shellum suffered a severe  post operative infection in her eye, resulting in loss of sight in her left eye, and eventually loss of the left eye.  The jury awarded a total of $3,174,506.91, $2, 650,000 to Mrs. Shellum for pain and suffering, and $470,000 to Mr. Shellum. , 2018
• $3 million settlement. A veteran Marine and ironworker, underwent spine surgery at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis.  The surgeon left a hemostatic product at the site of spine surgery at the completion of surgery.  The hemostatic dressing absorbed fluids and became a compressive mass against the spine, causing permanent injury. The case was administratively reviewed and when settlement negotiations failed the case was filed in the United States District Court, District of Minnesota. The case settled 2 weeks approximately one month before trial was scheduled to begin., 2018
• Verdict of $1,414,090.28 was returned on August 5, 2016 in Hennepin County District Court for a client who brought a claim against her auto insurance company for underinsured benefits. She is a 30 year old single woman who teaches science at Minnetonka High School she was sideswiped by an underinsured at-fault driver, resulting in a whiplash injury and chronic daily headaches, 2016
• $1,100,000 settlement involving negligent upstaging of endometrial uterine cancer in a 46 year old patient, from contained and curable endometrial cancer to metastatic and incurable peritoneal cancer, caused by the failure of the gynecologist to perform endometrial biopsy prior to performing a minimally invasive hysterectomy using a power morcellator. The use of the morcellator negligently spread the cancer throughout the peritoneum. Despite aggressive treatment, the patient died from widespread peritoneal cancer approximately 18 months later, 2014
• $475,000 settlement in a medical malpractice wrongful death case involving the death of a 34 year old woman from undiagnosed infectious endocarditis, which led to aortic valve damage and heart failure, causing death, 2014
• Confidential settlement of $1,500,000 in birth injury case in which child suffered hypoxic ischemic injury, resulting in cerebral palsy, 2012
• $1.725 million medical malpractice settlement in a case venued in Hennepin County in which plaintiff alleged that a medication error by a health provider led to significant injury. A confidentiality agreement prevents disclosure of any additional facts., 2012
• A $1,000,000 confidential settlement was reached in an auto case where the plaintiff suffered a whiplash injury when she was rear-ended at low speed, resulting in disabling chronic subjective dizziness, 2011
• Wrongful death medical malpractice settlement related to a delay in diagnosis of cancer, $450,000, 2011
• $175,000 settlement on behalf of client who suffered a vertebral compression fracture during a car crash.  Subsequent treatment by neurosurgeon included kyphoplasty procedure, which worsened pain.  Subsequent treating orthopedic surgeon was critical of kyphoplasty procedure, and was expected to testify that kyphoplasty procedure was contraindicated under the circumstances, and resulted in need for subsequent lumbar fusion to stabilize spine at L2-4, 2009
• $600,000 settlement on behalf of minor child who suffered a brachial plexus injury when shoulder dystocia was encountered during birth. Plaintiff alleged negligence on the part of defendant obstetricians for failing to obtain an obstetrical ultrasound to check fetal size prior to delivery, and negligence in the delivery of the child. Settlement was structured with expected lifetime benefits of $1, 275,000, 2009
• A Dakota county jury returned a $1.1 million verdict in a wrongful death case involving medical negligence by a family-practice physician employed by a large healthcare organization. Teresa Fariss McClain, representing the surviving husband and heirs of a woman who died after suffering a cardiac arrest hours after being released from a hospital, presented testimony at trial establishing that by failing to complete a thorough evaluation to rule out an acute coronary event through monitoring and diagnostic testing prior to discharging the woman, a family-practice physician failed to follow accepted standards of practice for physicians in similar circumstances. The jury found that the defendant, operating through its employee family-practice physician, was negligent in the care provided to the deceased woman, and that the physician’s negligence was a direct cause of her death, 2006

Other Outstanding Achievements:

• Women Worth Watching in Leadership, Profiles in Diversity Journal., 2020
• Minnesota Lawyer Attorneys of the Year, 2014

Newsletters:

• Authored leading article in Spring 2018 firm newsletter entitled, "Medication Errors Still a Leading Cause of Injury and Death Despite a Decade Devoted to  Reduction of Adverse Drug Events.   　MEDICATION ERRORS STILL A LEADING CAUSE OF INJURY AND DEATH, DESPITE A DECADE DEVOTED TO REDUCTION OF ADVERSE DRUG EVENTS , Robins Kaplan Justice Report, Legal Industry
• Authored article regarding the MN Court of Appeals affirmation of $3.17 million verdict for my client, Shellum v. Fairview Health Services., Robins Kaplan Justice Report, Plaintiff Personal Injury Bar

Educational Background:

• Metropolitan State University St. Paul, Minnesota, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, 1996, 1996
• Madison Area Technical College Madison, Wisconsin, 1981