Medical & Health Care Litigation

Pete Spataro started as an associate at Moser & Marsalek P.C. in 1981 and has been a principal since 1986. Since associating with the firm, he has primarily concentrated on medical malpractice defense and risk management for physicians and hospitals in Missouri and Illinois. Mr. Spataro has served as managing principal for the firm since 2007. He has defended and tried malpractice suits for over 20 years for virtually every medical specialty including obstetrics and pediatric care. He is considered lead counsel for the Washington University School of Medicine, one of the top medical schools and research centers in the United States. He is frequently asked to represent the University in its most serious cases and to defend suits brought against its department heads. He defends much of the litigation brought against the University’s Department of Neurological Surgery and assists the University in suits involving research issues with its Human Studies Committee. 

Mr. Spataro is also lead counsel in St. Louis area for Intermed Insurance Company. He has also represented physicians and allied health care providers for TIG Insurance Company, Medical Assurance, Inc., The Medical Protective Company, CNA Health Pro, AIG Insurance Company, the former Deaconess Health System, Saint Louis University, Tenet Health System, Touchette Regional Hospital (in southern Illinois) and others.

Mr. Spataro has written articles on the defense of malpractice cases and regularly lectures on risk management and the defense of medical malpractice actions to medical schools, physicians, risk managers and members of the St. Louis Bar.  He has defended physicians and dentists before the Missouri Board of Healing Arts and Missouri Dental Board. He has assisted his client physicians with complaints filed against opposing expert witness colleagues before national specialty organizations such as the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.  He is former counsel for the Missouri State Medical Association regarding its stock ownership of the former Missouri Medical Insurance Company.  He is also currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Interlex Insurance Company, a professional liability insurance company for lawyers based in Springfield, Missouri.

He was named among "The Best Lawyers in America" for 2008 (Copyright 2007 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.). Best Lawyers selection is based on an exhaustive and rigorous peer-review survey comprising more than 2 million confidential evaluations by the top attorneys in the country. Mr. Spataro in 2008, 2007 and 2005, was named as a Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyer in the area of Personal Injury Defense: Medical Malpractice.

Martindale-Hubbell Rating Info

Education

Marquette University School of Law, Juris Doctor, 1979
Marquette University, Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, 1976

Bar and Court Admissions

Missouri
Illinois
Wisconsin (inactive)
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois

SELECTED Cases

Meyer v. Washington University: In October 2005, Mr. Spataro successfully defended this medical negligence claim brought by a minor plaintiff for brain injuries sustained during treatment for a caustic ingestion. The case also involved claims against a pharmaceutical company for products liability. The trial was featured as the lead article in Missouri Lawyers Weekly.

Ferrara v. Washington University: In September 2004, Mr. Spataro successfully tried this wrongful death suit in the City of St. Louis. The case was brought by the family of a prominent St. Louisian business man who died following bariatric surgery. The trial was featured as a lead article in Missouri Lawyers Weekly, US Lawyers Weekly and local television. The case was listed under Missouri's Largest Defense Verdicts of 2004 by Missouri Lawyer's Weekly.

Joyner v. Washington University: Mr. Spataro was hired to represent the interests of Washington University in a nationally publicized wrongful death suit filed by the family of Olympic gold medalist Florence Griffith Joyner.

Ottinger v. Washington University: Mr. Spataro successfully defended a publicized wrongful death case filed against a heart surgeon and Washington University following a heart transplant with a mismatched donor organ.

Publications

"Partners in Health Care" 
St. Louis Business Journal, Vol. 27 No. 49 pg. 27 (August 3-9, 2007) by Andrea Mongler Section editor

Professional Associations
 
The Missouri Bar
Illinois State Bar Association
The Defense Research Institute
The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers