Brinker & Doyen, L.L.P. began as an insurance defense firm nearly 45 years ago. Today we provide a full range of litigation and risk management services to insurers, insureds, and third party administrators, as well as self-insured organizations and their personnel. We currently have a staff of 27 employees--15 attorneys and 12 support staff. We are a second generation law firm, and bring the benefits of being a family business to our clients. As a medium sized firm equipped with the latest technology, our clients have found that we can handle any type of matter in the bi-state area while providing personalized attention to each of them.

The firms partners in the West Court Room of the Historic Old Courthouse - Saint Louis, Missouri.

For most of our partners and associates, Brinker & Doyen, L.L.P. is the only firm they have been associated with while in private practice. This loyalty and dedication to our firm is unprecedented in today's legal environment, and ensures the continuity and excellence of our work product. We are fiercely proud of our accomplishments and the rapport we have developed with our clients.

Our nine partners have a combined 150 years of litigation experience. Our attorneys have received honors from such legal societies as The American College of Trial Lawyers and the Missouri Bar Association. Many of our attorneys are also educators serving as professors at local universities, faculty members in trial advocacy programs, and committee members of various legal organizations. Before obtaining their law degrees some of our attorneys worked in other industries such as health care, insurance and television, and their specialized backgrounds assist them in their particular areas of practice. Our managing partner was a staff attorney at the National Labor Relations Board.

Our areas of practice include traditional property and casualty areas such as motor vehicle liability, premises liability, and workers' compensation, along with more complex areas such as products liability, surety and construction litigation, medical malpractice, E&O liability, and professional liability. We are often retained for insurance coverage opinions and to file declaratory actions. We also handle all aspects of property and liability claims arising out of suspected fraud. Specialized areas of our practice include the following:

PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY

Health Care Liability

We have defended hundreds of medical malpractice lawsuits including cases involving catastrophic injuries such as birth defects, paralysis, and persistent vegetative states. We first started defending claims and lawsuits against health care providers over 25 years ago for Aetna Casualty & Surety Company and United States Fidelity & Guarantee Company. Today, representing health care providers, pharmaceutical companies, and suppliers of medical devices continues to be a major part of our law practice.

Our representative clients include self-insured health care systems and hospitals, liability insurers for health care providers, and companies which provide medical personnel for institutions such as hospitals and correctional facilities. Two of the firm's Top 20 Defendants' Verdicts as recognized by Missouri Lawyers Weekly were obtained in medical malpractice cases. One case involved the death of a 5-year-old girl brought to the emergency room of a children's hospital with flu-like symptoms. The other lawsuit was a telemedicine case relating to recommendations made by a physician over the phone to a patient who eventually was diagnosed with a myocardial infarction.

Missouri is one of only two states in which managed care organizations can be sued directly for medical malpractice. The Missouri Legislature enacted a comprehensive managed care regulatory law in 1997 which included a provision repealing an exemption for HMO's from medical malpractice liability. The Plaintiffs bar is gearing up for a wave of new litigation against MCO's based on vicarious liability, improper credentialing, negligent supervision of health care providers as well as errors and omissions liability relating to the management of health care costs. Our attorneys are well versed in the liability issues associated with the new Missouri statute. In addition, our experience handling medical malpractice cases, interpreting insurance policies, and assisting with claims handling procedures will further assist us in defending managed care claims.

Nursing home claims in the bi-state area, like the rest of the country, have exploded. As the population ages, and life spans increase the number of residents in nursing home facilities will increase dramatically. These demographics combined with the public's general negative perception about nursing homes suggest that nursing home litigation will be prevalent for years to come. Our experience handling such cases has been primarily for skilled nursing facilities which are judged by the highest standard of care because their residents/patients require around-the-clock care. Cases we have handled include typical nursing home claims including falls, medication errors, and decubitus ulcers.

We have defended pharmaceutical companies, and manufacturers and suppliers of medical devices in product liability cases. We have handled cases involving DES, Toxic Shock and Fen-Phen, and medical devices such as pedicle screws and TMJ implants. Some of this litigation has been mass tort, multi-district litigation pending in federal court.

Legal Malpractice

Until relatively recently, legal malpractice claims were taboo, as lawyers traditionally felt uneasy suing other lawyers. Beginning sometime around the late 1980's we began to see more and more legal malpractice claims being filed. That trend has continued as the number of practicing attorneys has increased, and the plaintiff's bar has been more willing to prosecute such cases. In fact, plaintiff's attorneys now advertise that they handle legal malpractice cases.

The first legal malpractice case in which we were involved arose over 15 years ago when a defense firm inadvertently missed an answer deadline and a seven figure default judgment was taken. The case led the Missouri Supreme Court to enact new Rules of Civil Procedure making it considerably more difficult to take a default judgment in Missouri.

Our firm has been retained to defend both general practitioners and attorneys who concentrate their practice in one area. So far our experience has been consistent with ABA statistics that the two areas of law most likely to draw claims are personal injury/plaintiff and real estate. We have found that our experience in defending other professionals has translated well to defending attorneys who have been sued. Our clients include The Bar Plan Mutual Insurance Company which was formed in the 1980's by the Missouri Bar to provide professional liability insurance for Missouri attorneys.

Directors and Officers Liability

Directors and Officers Liability Coverage ("D&O") generally provides indemnity for a "loss" arising out of "wrongful acts." Lawsuits involving D&O coverage have increased in the past decade. Throughout the 1990's, courts dramatically enlarged the scope of D&O coverage with broader interpretations of what constituted a loss, wrongful acts, and business decisions. There was significant case law involving allocation. In addition, the industry started to offer entity coverage. We have been engaged in several matters involving D&O coverage in diverse factual situations. Examples include a public entity being sued for employment discrimination, and claims against employee benefit plans and their officers for breach of fiduciary duty.