Ms. Preston is one of the founding partners of the firm. She has an extensive defense practice in the area of professional negligence. She also has significant experience in the defense of products liability claims against the manufacturers of medical devices. Her abilities have been recognized by election as a Fellow of The American College of Trial Lawyers.
Ms. Preston represents hospitals and individual health care practitioners in a wide array of medical and nursing specialties in professional malpractice claims before the Circuit Courts of Maryland, the Superior Court of Washington, D.C. and the United States District Courts for the District of Columbia and Maryland. Representative self-insured institutions and insurance companies whose insureds Ms. Preston has defended include: The University of Maryland Medical System Corporation, Mercy Medical Center, Inc., Bon Secours Health System, Inc., Anne Arundel Medical Center, Inc., Atlantic General Hospital Corp., MedStar-Georgetown Medical Center, Inc., Southern Maryland Hospital, Inc., The Doctors Company, Professional Underwriters Liability Insurance Company, St. Paul Insurance Company/American Continental Insurance Company, Medical Management Group, Arch Insurance Group, Inc., NCRIC, Inc., T.I.G. Specialty Insurance Solutions, and OHIC Insurance Company.
Ms. Preston is responsible for all aspects of case management and the trial of cases. Representative cases she has tried include: personal injury and wrongful death claims alleging failure to diagnose breast cancer; personal injury claims alleging obstetrical or pediatric malpractice resulting in brain damage to infants at or around the time of birth; dual wrongful death claims arising out of a maternal and fetal death from a mother’s ruptured spleen; a wrongful death action against a gastroenterologist in which the plaintiff alleged failure to diagnose leiomyosarcoma; a wrongful death action against a family practitioner in which the plaintiff alleged failure to diagnose melanoma; wrongful death cases against hospitals or obstetricians in which the plaintiffs alleged obstetrical malpractice resulting in stillbirth and/or death of pre-term and full-term infants; a wrongful death claim involving an alleged failure to diagnose an aneurysm resulting in rupture; a wrongful death action alleging failure to diagnose and treat squamous cell carcinoma of the scalp resulting in extension to the brain and subsequent death; as well as cases involving general surgery, nursing, radiology, infectious disease and emergency medicine.
Ms. Preston also served on the trial team representing A.H. Robins Co. in product liability suits alleging serious personal injuries arising out of the use of the Dalkon Shield intrauterine device. With two other partners at Goodell, DeVries, Ms. Preston was responsible for an active docket of 450 individual cases in the State of Maryland and Washington, D.C. She developed expert witnesses, handled all phases of pre-trial discovery, and second chaired trials of cases in Maryland and in other jurisdictions.
Ms. Preston has also represented the insureds of general liability carriers with an emphasis in products liability. She was responsible for all phases of pre-trial discovery, including the development of liability and medical expert witnesses, defending and taking depositions and pleading practice, including motions to dismiss, motions to bifurcate, motions for summary judgment and motions in limine. She second chaired jury trials alleging serious personal injury, including quadriplegia and paraplegia, in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland and in the Circuit Courts of Maryland.
After law school, Ms. Preston spent a year and a half as a law clerk to The Honorable Lawrence F. Rodowsky, of the Court of Appeals of Maryland.
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The American University (B.A., cum laude, 1973)
The University of Baltimore (J.D., magna cum laude, 1979) (Associate Editor, University of Baltimore Law Review; Heuisler Honor Society)
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- Court of Appeals of Maryland
- Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
- United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- United States District Court for the District of Maryland
- United States District Court for the District of Columbia
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- Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers (State Committee 2003-present)
- Maryland Association of Defense Trial Counsel (President, 1993-1994; Executive Committee, 1988-1993)
- Maryland Society for Health Care Risk Management (President, 2000-2001; President-Elect, 1999-2000; Chairman, Legislative Committee, 1996-1999; Member at Large, 1997-1999)
- American Board of Trial Advocates (Associate)
- Maryland State Bar Association
- Defense Research Institute
- Bar Association of Baltimore City.
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AWARDS
- Best Lawyers in America, 2007, 2008
- Selected as one of the top 10 lawyers in Maryland Super Lawyers, by Law & Politics, 2008
- Defense Research Institute, Exceptional Performance Citation, 1994
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COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
- Board of Trustees, Lovely Lane United Methodist Church
- Board of Trustees, Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service (MVLS)
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Faculty, American College of Trial Lawyers, University of Baltimore Law School - Advanced Trial Skills Course (Closing Arguments)
Faculty, Masters in Trial: A Trial Demonstration, The Foundation of The American Board of Trial Advocates and The Maryland Trial Lawyers Association
Lecturer, Medical Staff Meeting Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Inc., EMTLA and Mental Health Issues
Lecturer, Daughters of Charity National Health System, DNR Orders in Perioperative Environment, Tucson, Arizona
Invited speaker, Southern Maryland Hospital Medical Staff Office, Confidentiality of Medical Records
Invited speaker, Med-Star Health System, Selected Issues in Nursing Malpractice
Invited speaker, Mercy Medical Center, Inc., Nursing Malpractice, Don’t Be An Easy Target
Lecturer, University of Maryland Grand Rounds, Department of Anesthesia, Anesthesia Liability Trends and Issues
Lecturer, University of Maryland Grand Rounds, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Shoulder Dystocia
Lecturer, Mercy Medical Center, Inc. Grand Rounds, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Shoulder Dystocia
Lecturer, Columbia Medical Plan, Liability Issues for the Multi-Specialty Office Practice
University of Maryland Medical System Corporation Resident Education Seminar - Lecture to Entire Incoming Residency Classes at the University of Maryland Medical System Corporation, Documentation
Lecturer, Union Memorial Hospital, PACU Liability Issues
Lecturer, Medical Staff Meeting, Southern Maryland Hospital - COBRA and EMTLA
Speaker, Baltimore City Bar Association, Defense of Economic Damage Claims
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Medical Malpractice: Law Theory and Practice for Attorneys, Physicians and Risk Managers, Evaluation of a Claim, Settlement and Settlement Negotiations and Structured Settlements, American Bar Association National Institute on Medical Malpractice, Tort & Insurance Section (1987)
Selected Issues Relating to Life and Health Insurance Contracts (MICPEL) May, 1983
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Robertson v. Allied Signal, et al., 914 F.2d 360 (3rd Cir. 1990)
Palmer v. Ozbek, 144 F.R.D. 66 (D. Md. 1992)
Ramrattan v. Burger King Corp., et al., 656 F.Supp. 522 (D. Md. 1987)
D'Angelo v. St. Agnes Healthcare, Inc., 157 Md. App. 631, 853 A.2d 813 (2004)
Smith v. Pearre, et al., 96 Md. App. 376, 625 A.2d 349 (1993)
Zeller v. Greater Baltimore Medical Center, 67 Md. App. 75, 506 A.2d 646 (1986)
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