Source: https://www.martindale.com/birmingham/alabama/walter-william-bates-25765-a/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 05:51:33+00:00

Document:
Billy Bates has been a partner at Starnes Davis Florie for over 30 years and served as the firm’s Managing Partner from 2006 - 2016. Billy’s practice has been devoted to civil litigation to include healthcare litigation, professional medical liability, pharmaceutical liability and medical device litigation. He has tried in excess of 135 complex civil cases to a jury verdict, including cases in defense of product manufacturers, physicians, hospitals and corporations.
•Obtained a defense verdict in favor of an urologist in a suit alleging negligence in the performance of an adult circumcision.
•Obtained a jury verdict in favor of a general surgeon charged with medical negligence in the performance of a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (minimally invasive surgery to remove the gallbladder).
•Obtained a defense verdict for a general surgeon and surgical group in a wrongful death case involving an intra-abdominal abscess resulting in septic shock.
•Obtained a defense verdict for two general surgeons after a six day trial in a wrongful death case involving the readmission of a patient to the hospital following recent hernia repair surgery.
•Obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist following a four day trial in Tennessee stemming from the ordering of post anesthesia care unit pain medication that resulted in blindness.
•Obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a radiologist in an eight day wrongful death trial arising from allegations of failure to diagnose a patient’s brain aneurysm.
•Successfully defended an obstetrician against charges of medical malpractice in cases involving the deaths of an obstetrical patient and her 34 week old fetus for wrongful death.
•Obtained a defense verdict for an obstetrician and his practice in a case alleging malpractice related to gynecological surgery.
•Obtained a defense verdict for an OB/GYN in a case alleging misrepresentation of colposcopy findings as cancer resulting in an unnecessary hysterectomy.
•Obtained a jury verdict for two surgeons arising out of allegations that a patient’s death was the result of the first surgeon failing to timely place a thoracoscopy tube in a patient with a pneumothorax and the second surgeon failing to timely perform a thoracotomy to address a hemothorax.
•Obtained a jury verdict in favor of two emergency medicine physicians in a case arising out of allegations by the plaintiff that the defendants failed to diagnose him with a myocardial infarction or impending infarction during their emergency room evaluation.
•Obtained declaratory judgment for General Motors allowing it to close car dealership under the Alabama Motor Vehicle Franchise Act and ruling that GM was not obligated to pay the dealer 1.2 million in alleged debt forgiveness and sales tax revenue relief offered by the City of Birmingham.
•Obtained a defense verdict in Federal Court in favor of a neurosurgeon in a spinal cord injury case arising from complications secondary to a foraminotomy.
•Successfully defended product liability claims against a construction hoist manufacturer.
•Obtained a jury verdict in favor of defendant in combination medical malpractice/product liability case secondary to complication from use of laser machine during plastic surgery.
•“Overcoming Tensions Between Drug/Device Defendants and Treating Physicians,” International Association of Defense Counsel 2014 Mid-Year Meeting, Carlsbad, California (February 11, 2014).
•Billy is actively involved in his church where he is Past-Chairman of the Board of Deacons.
•Billy has served as a Board Member of the Mountain Brook City Schools Foundation and as an Advisory Board Member for Cumberland School of Law.
•He has been active in both coaching youth sports and has participated in a leadership role with high school students on mission trips to South America.
Reported Cases; Bassie v. Obstetrics & Gynecology Associates of Northwest Alabama, P.C., 828 So. 2d 280 (Ala. 2002). Ex Parte Qureshi, 768 So. 2d 374 (Ala. 2000). Johnson v. Price, 743 So. 2d 436 (Ala. 1999). Ex Parte Pfizer, Inc., 746 So. 2d 960 (Ala. 1999). Bennett v. Brewer, 682 So. 2d 448 (Ala. 1996). Floyd v. Broughton, 664 So. 2d 897 (Ala. 1995). Ex Parte Main, 658 So. 2d 384 (Ala. 1995). Patterson v. Hays, 623 So. 2d 1142 (Ala. 1993). Thomas v. Baptist Medical Center-DeKalb, 614 So. 2d 997 (Ala. 1993). Smith v. Medical Center East, 585 So. 2d 1325 (Ala. 1991). Martin v. Phillips, 581 So. 2d 838 (Ala. 1991). Black v. Baptist Medical Center, 575 So. 2d 1087 (Ala. 1991). Beverly v. Chandler, 564 So. 2d 922 (Ala. 1990). Humber v. B. F. Goodrich Co., 561 So. 2d 511 (Ala. 1990). Independent Fire Ins. Co., Inc. v. Mutual Assurance, 553 So. 2d 115 (Ala. 1989). Wood v. Shell Oil Co., 495 So. 2d 1034 (Ala. 1986). Gregory v. Western World Ins. Co., Inc., 481 So. 2d 878 (Ala. 1985). Fomby v. City of Calera, 575 F. Supp. 221 (N.D. Ala. 1983).

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