Mark has over 32 years of extensive trial and litigation experience in state and federal courts. Mark defends physicians, nurses, hospitals, nursing home/long-term care facilities, physical therapists, dentists, and all other varieties of health care providers against medical malpractice wrongful death and personal injury claims. Mark serves as regional counsel for long-term nursing care companies in Virginia. Mark represents and defends health care providers in proceedings before the state professional licensing and disciplinary boards. Mark also defends health care providers in discrimination/labor/employment cases and general personal injury cases. In addition to his defense of health care providers, Mark also defends attorneys against legal malpractice claims and defends sureties in bond litigation cases.
In addition to medical malpractice defense litigation, Mark also represents a major transportation system in defense of liability claims and subrogation matters.
Mark is admitted to practice in all federal and state courts of Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. Mark is a member of the law firm’s Executive Board, the governing body of Vandeventer Black, and the Department Manager of the firm’s Richmond office. He is also a member of the City of Richmond Bar Association, the Virginia Association of Defense Lawyers, the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, North Carolina Bar Association, West Virginia Bar Association, the Defense Research Institute, the American Trial Lawyers Association, and the Virginia Bar Association.
Mark is also active in numerous civic, business and professional organizations, including the Virginia Health Care Association, the Health Planning Committee, and the Quality of Care Committee, the Professional Liability Underwriters Society, John Marshall Inn of Court, and Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. In 2015 Mark became a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America. He is regularly selected as one of Virginia Business’ “Virginia Legal Elite” in the field of Health Law (2005 -17).
Mark received a B.A. from the University of Delaware and a J.D. from the University of Richmond, where he was an associate editor of The Law Review. He served as law clerk to the Honorable David G. Lowe, United States Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and as an officer for eight years in the U.S. Army Reserves Judge Advocate General’s Corps, Headquarters, and XVIII Airborne Corps in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Representative Matters:
- Defense of a cardiologist and his professional practice group against a suit for $2,000,000 alleging puncture of a blood vessel during performance of a cardiac catheterization and subsequent failure to control bleeding/hematoma, resulting in surgical repair of a pseudoaneurysm and permanent disabilities. The suit was dismissed with prejudice on the eve of trial.
- Defense of three nurses, urologist, and a physician’s practice corporation against allegations and claims for damages of $20,350,000 that a patient died as a result of improper administration (overdose/toxicity) of medications, failure to monitor, and improper use of restraints to subdue the hallucinating and violent patient. Defendants were dismissed with prejudice from the case.
- Defense of physical therapist and physical therapy practice corporation against allegations of a young patient that defendants improperly removed her leg/hip brace after hip replacement surgery, failed to perform an adequate assessment, and failed to timely transport her to a hospital emergency room, resulting in a dozen or more subsequent dislocations and several major hip surgery revisions and replacements.
- Suit requested $2,000,000 in damages and was resolved at mediation for nuisance value after two of plaintiff’s medical experts capitulated at discovery depositions.
- Defense of long-term care facility against wrongful death suit for $2,000,000 alleging death of resident as a result of infections/sepsis caused by alleged failure to properly care for skin/decubitus ulcers. The suit was dismissed, first by a circuit court, then in an arbitration forum.
- Defense verdict on behalf of a long-term nursing care provider against claims of sexual assault and failure to prevent falls resulting in a broken hip.
- Defense verdict for health care provider against claims of whistleblower retaliation.