Warren's Negligence in the New York Courts

Brian J. Shoot, who specializes in appellate practice, is of counsel to the law firm of Sullivan Papain Block McGrath & Cannavo, P.C., in New York City. After having graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from Union College in 1976, Mr. Shoot obtained his Juris Doctorate degree from New York University Law School in 1979. Apart from his in-firm activities, Mr. Shoot is co-editor of the New York State Trial Lawyers Quarterly. He is also a member of the Office of Court Administration's Advisory Committee on Civil Practice, the committee that advises OCA as to the desirability of potential changes in matters of civil procedure.

A frequent lecturer on the subjects of municipal liability, premises liability, and tort damages, Mr. Shoot has spoken at the behest of such organizations as the Office of Court Administration, the Civil Court Judge's Association, the Brooklyn Barrister Association, the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, the Bar Association of the City of New York, and the New York State Bar Association. Mr. Shoot has published numerous articles in Trial Lawyers Quarterly and other professional journals. His published writings have covered such subjects as interpretation and application of CPLR Articles 50-A and 50-B, interpretation and application of Section 15-108 of the General Obligations Law, prior written notice laws, and highway liability.

James C. Moore has been a trial lawyer for more than 40 years. For several years, he was a partner in the Rochester-based firm of Harter, Secrest & Emery and is now counsel to that firm. Although he has specialized in construction and products liability litigation, he has also served as a prosecutor, has handled admiralty cases, and has appeared in church courts. Mr. Moore frequently serves as a mediator and as an arbitrator. Mr. Moore is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has served as the president of the New York State Bar Association. He is currently the president of the U.S. Delegation to the Union Internationale des Avocats and is a member of the NYSBA's House of Delegates and the ABA's House of Delegates. Mr. Moore has authored several legal writings/treatise chapters and articles and has lectured frequently at CLE programs. In addition, Mr. Moore served as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army and spent a year as an Army officer in the Republic of South Vietnam.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Henry G. Miller has been trying cases for almost 25 years in New York City and its environs. He is a member of the firm of Clark, Gagliardi & Miller, P.C. in White Plains, New York. Mr. Miller is a past President of the New York Bar Association. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and a diplomate of the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys. He is a Director of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and a Fellow of the Roscoe Pound American Trial Lawyers Foundation and the New York Bar Foundation. Mr. Miller attended law school at night at St. John's University where, as an adjunct professor, he has returned on occasion to teach a course on Law and Medicine.

Richard Godosky has practiced law for more than forty years and is senior partner at the law firm of Godosky & Gentile, P.C., in New York City. Mr. Godosky earned his B.A. from the City College of New York and his L.L.B. from Brooklyn Law School. He is a former President of the American Board of Trial Lawyers (New York City Chapter), a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. Mr. Godosky is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, every edition to date.

Robert Conason is the senior partner of the law firm of Gair, Gair, Conason, Steigman and Mackauf in New York City. He took over from founder Harry Gair in 1975. He is an active trial lawyer who has tried over 200 cases. He joined the firm upon graduation from New York University Law School in 1960. He is consistently ranked one of the top personal injury lawyers in America and has been listed in every edition of The Best Lawyers in America. He has also been named in New York Magazine's article on The Best Lawyers in New York. His extensive experience over four decades includes representing clients who have been injured in catastrophic accidents involving motor vehicles, airplanes, construction sites, elevators, explosions, medical malpractice and products liability. Mr. Conason routinely chairs local and national programs designed to educate lawyers as to the skills they need to represent their clients effectively and to try their cases successfully. He annually teaches Decisions, a lecture which advises New York lawyers about recent changes in the substantive and procedural law in the area of personal injury trial practice.

He is the author or coauthor of numerous legal writings/treatises including Damages in Tort Actions, 7 Volumes, Matthew Bender, 1982, Practical Solutions for New York Lawyers, LexisNexis, 2003, Trial of an Obstetrical Malpractice Case, Law Journal Seminars-Press, 1990 to 2001, and Failure to Diagnose Breast Cancer, Law Journal Seminars-Press, 1992 to 1999.

Mr. Conason is a member of many bar associations including: the Inner Circle of Advocates, the American Trial Lawyers Association, the American Board of Trial Advocates, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the American College of Trial Lawyers, and numerous state bar associations. He was also an adjunct Professor of Law at New York University Law School, teaching courses in his field.

Rhonda E. Kay, was a graduate of the State University of New York at Binghamton (1985) and St. John's University Law School (1990). She was a Senior Court Attorney in the Appellate Division, Second Department, before she joined the law firm of Gair, Gair, Conason, Steigman & Mackauf in New York City in 1992. A valued partner known as a "law person," she prepared and argued appeals in all four departments of the Appellate Division, as well as the state Court of Appeals. In 2005, Ms. Kay was appointed a member of the Board of Editors for Warren's Negligence in the New York Courts, 2nd Edition (LexisNexis), and in 2006 she authored this publication, LexisNexis AnswerGuide: New York Negligence.

Ms. Kay had written course materials for various bar association seminars, including the prestigious Decisions seminar, which advises attorneys throughout New York State as to recent changes and developments in the law. She also co-authored a chapter in a products liability treatise and lectured at continuing legal education programs sponsored by the New York State Bar Association and the New York State Trial Lawyers Institute. Ms. Kay's many professional affiliations included memberships in the New York State Bar Association; the New York State Trial Lawyers Institute; and the New York County Lawyers Association, where she served as an officer of the Appellate Advocacy Committee.

Since Ms. Kay’s death in 2012, this publication has been updated annually by colleagues she trusted with her work and for whom this updating is a tribute to Ms. Kay's leadership, scholarship and devotion to this prominent work that proudly continues to bear her name.