Office Location
New York, NY 10016
T 212.286.8585
F 212.490.8966
Areas of Practice
Medical Liability Defense
Appellate Practice
Products Liability & Mass Tort
Education
Fordham University School of Law: JD: 1989
Dickinson College: BA: 1986
Bar Admissions
Connecticut
New York
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
United States District Court, Eastern District of New York
United States District Court, Southern District of New York
Badges
Daniel S. Ratner
Partner
Daniel S. Ratner is a senior partner at HPM&B and heads its Appellate Practice group.
Dan joined the firm in 1994 after serving for five years as an assistant district attorney in the Appeals Bureau of the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. He represents pharmaceutical and medical device companies, hospitals, and individuals in the defense of product liability and medical liability actions. He has briefed and argued more than 300 reported civil and criminal appeals in the United States Courts of Appeals, the New York Court of Appeals, the Connecticut Supreme Court, and the state intermediate appellate courts. He regularly appears in the Appellate Division, First and Second Departments. Dan is frequently retained to handle appeals based on his 33 years of experience in those courts and his ability to quickly analyze a matter and provide a fresh perspective to clients.
Mr. Ratner works closely with the firm’s trial attorneys in developing legal strategies focused on early dispositions. Dan also handles complex, substantive motions in the trial courts at all stages of litigation, including pre-Answer, discovery, summary judgment, trial, and post-trial motions. In the appellate courts, he has successfully challenged several multi-million-dollar jury verdicts based on legal errors, insufficient evidence, and excessive damages.
He also assists clients with risk management issues and in interpreting recent and proposed legislation and regulations that may affect their interests.
Since 2012, Dan has been annually nominated by his peers as a Best Lawyer in America®️ in the areas of Appellate Law and Product Liability Litigation and as a Super Lawyer®️ in the area of Appellate Litigation.
Mr. Ratner has authored numerous articles and treatises, and he frequently presents lectures to clients, bar groups and his colleagues at the firm regarding legal developments.
Dan served as the Firm’s Managing Partner from 2000-2022. He currently serves on the Firm’s Executive Committee and Finance Committee.
Selected for Best Lawyers 2024
Verdicts & Cases
Summary Judgment in High Exposure Medical Malpractice Case Affirmed on Appeal
The Appellate Division, First Department recently affirmed the dismissal of a multi-million-dollar claim by a plaintiff who needed a quadruple amputation after developing urosepsis. In the Supreme Court, Bronx County and on appeal, a team of HPMB...
Read MoreHPMB Obtains Summary Judgment on behalf of Hospital and Emergency Room Physician on Appeal
HPMB Obtains Summary Judgment on behalf of Hospital and Emergency Room Physician on Appeal Reversing a lower court, the Appellate Division, First Department awarded summary judgment in favor of a major NY metropolitan area hospital and an...
Read MoreChange of Venue Ordered By New York's Highest Court
HPM&B, representing a large Westchester County medical group,...
Read MoreSummary Judgment Dismissal
HPM&B successfully obtained summary judgment dismissal of all claims against a prominent Westchester County teaching hospital in a brain damaged baby case. Plaintiff claimed that the defendants failed to timely diagnose fetal distress and...
Read MoreOn Appeal From an $8.3 Million Judgment, New Trial Ordered In New York Personal Injury Action
HPM&B’s client, a public utility, was granted a new trial on damages on the ground that a Brooklyn trial court erred in instructing the jury that defendant had the burden of proving that the automobile accident in question did not cause the...
Read MoreAppellate Division Reaffirms The Limits of a Private Hospital’s Duty of Care in Non-Emergent Circumstances
The Appellate Division, First Department, overturned a lower court’s decision refusing to dismiss a medical malpractice suit claiming that HPM&B’s client, a private hospital, delayed outpatient therapy following emergency hand surgery,...
Read MoreJury Verdict Set Aside
The Appellate Division, Second Department recently set aside a $1.1 million jury verdict on the issue of liability and dismissed the complaint in favor of HPM&B’s clients, an otolaryngologist and her private medical group. This medical...
Read MoreSummary Judgment Granted On Appeal
The Appellate Division, First Department overturned the lower court’s decision denying summary judgment dismissal on behalf of a prominent hospital in Bronx County. The case involved an alleged failure to timely perform a Cesarean section,...
Read MoreAppellate Division Sets Aside Jury Verdict
The Appellate Division, First Department recently affirmed the trial court’s decision to grant the defendant utility company’s motion to set aside a jury verdict and dismiss the Complaint. Daryl Paxson, Esq. drafted the appeal papers and Daniel...
Read MoreFrye Motion Granted
Partners Adam Dlugacz and Daniel Ratner successfully argued that plaintiffs should be precluded from advancing their theory of causation that the infant-plaintiff suffered silent hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy due to prolonged exposure to...
Read MoreSummary Judgment Affirmed
The Appellate Division, Second Department recently affirmed the lower court’s decision granting summary judgment dismissal on behalf of a prominent teaching hospital in the Hudson Valley. The case involved an alleged failure to...
Read MoreSummary Judgment Affirmed
The Appellate Division First Department unanimously affirmed the lower court’s decision granting HPMB summary judgment dismissal on behalf of a General Surgeon and a major metropolitan hospital in a medical malpractice case involving a robotic...
Read MoreDaniel Ratner and Raphael Berman Prevail On Appeal In Podiatry Case
After having two toes amputated because of peripheral vascular disease, plaintiff sued HPM&B's client, a podiatrist, for malpractice on a theory that he should have diagnosed this condition or consulted with plaintiff's...
Read MoreAppellate Practice Group Obtains Reversal Based on Plaintiff's Reliance on an Unqualified Medical Expert
Dan Ratner and Daryl Paxson of HPM&B's appellate practice group recently obtained a...
Read More$14 Million Judgment Reversed on Appeal
PM&B's Appellate Practice Group achieved one of the most significant appellate victories in New York in 2007. In DeCrescenzo v. Gonzalez, __ A.D.2d __, 847 N.Y.S.2d 236 (2d Dep't 2007), a medical malpractice action...
Read MoreDefense Verdict Reinstated on Appeal; Failure to Poll Jury Deemed Harmless Error
In Duffy v. Vogel, 2007 N.Y. Slip Op. 10075 (1st Dep't 2007), Marc Hyman obtained a defense verdict in a medical malpractice case involving the alleged failure...
Read MoreState Claims Against HPM&B Client, A Maker of MRI Machines, Are Dismissed Under the Federal Preemption Doctrine
Interpreting the Supreme Court's 2008 decision in Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc., a Westchester County judge has dismissed claims sounding in negligence and product liability following plaintiffs' decedent's death from...
Read MoreBrain Injury Claim Dismissal in New York County
The Supreme Court, New York County (Schlesinger, J.) has set aside a $9.25 million verdict and dismissed a complaint against an HPM&B client, a neurosurgeon who had been found 50% liable. Plaintiff's...
Read MoreAppellate Practice Group Obtains Reversal and Dismissal Of Obstetrical Malpractice Action
In Fernandez v. Moskowitz, __ A.D.3d __, 925 N.Y.S.2d 476 (1st Dep’t 2011), the Appellate Division, First Department reversed the denial of a summary judgment motion and...
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