James W. Kiley

Areas of Practice:

Insurance Coverage & Risk Management
Medical Malpractice
Personal Injury Litigation
Products Liability / Mass & Complex Torts
Construction & Surety Law Litigation

Education:

Albany Law School, J.D.
Boston University, B.A.

Phone:

585-987-2806

Fax:

585-987-2906

Email:

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At a Glance:

James W. Kiley is a partner in the firm and a member of the Litigation Department. He concentrates his practice in the areas of personal injury, insurance, construction and business litigation.

Mr. Kiley began his career in the New York State Attorney General's Office where he was one of the principal trial attorneys trying over 25 cases in his first two years of practice. He has tried numerous personal injury cases in State and Federal Courts, and before arbitrators. He also counsels individuals and businesses on general legal matters.

Mr. Kiley graduated from Boston University with a B.A. in Political Science. He received his J.D. degree from Albany Law School.

Representative Matters:

On behalf of injured persons:

• Handled and tried numerous automobile cases involving permanent injuries and wrongful death actions. Recoveries have totaled millions of dollars.

• Successfully prosecuted two brain injury cases recovering nearly $2 million where persons with brain cancer were over-radiated, and ultimately died.

• Recovered multi six figures against a nursing home for failing to supervise an elderly patient resulting in the patient’s death.

• After a jury trial, recovered a substantial six figure amount against a nationally known cosmetics company for selling a defective product which resulted in burns to a woman.

• After commencing a lawsuit and conducting numerous depositions and pretrial proceedings, mediated an award of $725,000 for a woman who suffered serious injuries from the collapse of an unsafe chair.

• Argued and made law in such diverse areas as medical malpractice, products liability, underinsurance law, bad faith, and spoliation of physical evidence. 

• In 2010, his injured client, a woman, was awarded the sum of $350,000 against the State of New York after a trial in the New York State Court of Claims. The award compensated the woman for her pain and suffering resulting from injuries to her knee.   The claim was that a State Trooper failed to yield the right of way, and collided with claimant’s vehicle, causing her injuries.  The award more than tripled the State’s offer to settle her claims.

• In 2011, Mr. Kiley secured two significant awards.  The first was for a young college student who was struck by a motorist while crossing Elmwood Avenue.  After starting an action, undergoing extensive pretrial discovery including numerous depositions, the parties mediated and settled the young woman’s injury case for $900,000.  The young woman’s medical bills had already been paid through No-Fault, this amounting to over a million dollar recovery for her injuries.

• The second award involved a 52 year old machinist who severely injured both legs when a 2000 pound machine fell against him while the machine was being hoisted from a basement by a tow truck operator.  The accident occurred because the cable broke from the tow truck.  Because the tow truck was in operation, the injured man’s medical bills were paid through No-Fault and from the Additional Personal Injury Protection under defendant’s insurance policy.  Those bills exceeded $125,000.  Mr. Kiley then sued to recover damages for his client’s pain and suffering and permanent injuries.  After pre-trial discovery, the parties submitted their claims to mediation, and the case was eventually settled with the defendant paying the sum of $887,500.  The defendant also released its right to be reimbursed for the payment of additional medical benefits in the amount of $66,000, thus equating to a total settlement value of $953,500.

On behalf of businesses: 

• Successfully tried cases defending businesses against frivolous breach of contract and related claims.

• Represented businesses against their own insurance carriers who had denied insurance coverage. As a result of such efforts and/or legal actions, the carriers ended up defending and fully paying claims against the clients up to the amount of the policy limits.

• Have extensively represented small businesses and individuals against claims exceeding their insurance policy limits. Claims typically focus on insurance carrier’s bad faith in negotiating settlements, which in turn place the business or individual assets at risk.

• Obtained awards for construction contractors in unfair bidding, and breach of contract claims.

• Successfully defended businesses against discrimination claims.

• In 2011, Mr. Kiley successfully defended the owner of a Mobile Home Park against an action to recover damages.  The plaintiff's claims were based on alleged violations of Real Property 233 and various common law claims.  After extensive discovery and motions, the Supreme Court dismissed all of the plaintiff's claims.  The plaintiff appealed to the Appellate Division Fourth Department and the Appellate Division unanimously affirmed the lower Court's Order dismissing of the claims.

Community Involvement:

Mr. Kiley is a past President of the Pittsford-Perinton Kiwanis and past Director of the American Heart Association. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Future Boxing Club, a Rochester organization, which is dedicated to train and discipline underprivileged children in the skills of boxing to provide confidence to the youths, and “keep them off the streets”.

Bar Admissions:

Mr. Kiley is admitted to practice in the State of New York, the U.S. District Court of the Western District of New York and the Northern District.

Professional Affiliations:

Mr. Kiley is a member of the American Association of Justice, and also a member of the New York State and Monroe County Bar Associations.

Other:

Mr. Kiley also lectures frequently on such topics as representing persons seriously injured in automobile accidents, and the importance of obtaining substantial uninsurance and underinsurance liability coverage to protect an injured person against the uninsured or inadequately insured motorist. He also speaks on issues critical to small to mid-sized business owners such as the need for umbrella insurance coverage, proper entity formation to protect against personal liability, and avoiding pitfalls in litigation such as “spoliating” or throwing out key physical evidence which could result in an insurance carrier’s denial of coverage, or a drastic result in a litigated case.    Mr. Kiley also counsels other attorneys and clients on statutory and subrogation lien issues involving Workers’ Compensation, Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement claims.  Most recently, Mr. Kiley chaired a seminar relating to these issues which have a profound effect for those attorneys handling significant personal injury cases.