With nearly 25 years of experience, Cullen McKinney serves as a litigation attorney at Detroit's Tanoury, Nauts, McKinney & Garbarino, PLLC, which he helped launch in 2009. A 2018 Top Lawyer selection by the American Law Society, Cullen McKinney also maintains an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell. Recognized as the gold standard in attorney rankings, the Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings highlight the work of outstanding attorneys who demonstrate a commitment to the legal profession while upholding high ethical standards of practice. Attorneys who appear in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory stand out among their peers for their legal knowledge and experience, judgment, analytical capabilities, and communication skills. The highest Martindale-Hubbell ranking is AV Preeminent, held by only 10 percent of all attorneys. Other Martindale-Hubbell rankings are Distinguished and Notable. Martindale-Hubbell also collects client reviews and awards its annual Client Champion awards to those attorneys who receive multiple reviews with an average score of 4.0 and higher.
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Litigation attorney Cullen McKinney is a founding partner of Tanoury, Nauts, McKinney, and Garbarino, PLLC, in Detroit, Michigan. In this role, he defends medical professionals and hospitals against medical malpractice claims. Cullen McKinney has also published articles on a wide range of legal topics, including the case of Commissioner v. Soliman.
Commissioner v. Soliman was a 1992 case between Soliman, the respondent in the case and a professional anesthesiologist, and the commissioner of internal revenue. As an anesthesiologist, Soliman worked at three different hospitals, but lacked an office at each facility. In 1983, Soliman had claimed a home office deduction on federal income tax forms, describing the office as a location where he spent multiple hours per day tending to various tasks relevant to his profession. He did not, however, host patients in his home office. The commissioner of internal revenue rejected this claim, stating that the office was not Soliman’s principal place of business and, therefore, not eligible for a deduction. Following arguments, the Tax Court sided with Soliman, stating that a principal place of business can be any room that is essential to the taxpayer’s professional operations. Furthermore, the term “home office” can be legally used for any space in which the taxpayer spends a significant amount of time, particularly when the individual is not provided with a traditional work space by an employer. Founding member of Tanoury Nauts McKinney and Garbarino, PLLC, in Detroit, Cullen McKinney Michigan, received his law degree from the University of Detroit Law School in 1993. Over the course of his career as a litigation attorney, Cullen McKinney has achieved a number of accolades and honors, including Super Lawyers Rising Star status in 2008. To qualify for Super Lawyers Rising Star status, individuals must meet a number of criteria. To begin, lawyers must be 40 years of age or younger, or have been in practice for 10 years or less. Eligible professionals begin the Super Lawyers process following a formal nomination from a peer or by the organization’s research staff. Individuals may also come to the organization’s attention through informal nominations, such as those made by Super Lawyers readers or satisfied clients. Accepted nominations are thoroughly vetted by the Super Lawyers research staff. Common areas of analysis include the outcome of verdicts and settlements, honors and awards received, the lawyer’s status within their firm, and total number of publications, though these areas represent just a fraction of research the Super Lawyers staff conducts. The organization subsequently takes into account peer evaluation by practice specialty, a step sometimes referred to as the blue ribbon review. The voting body for this stage is made up of attorneys with the highest scores after phases one and two. Finally, Rising Star selections are made from the highest-scoring lawyers across four firm-size categories. No more than 5 percent of a state’s lawyers can achieve Super Lawyer status, regardless of point total. Rising Star status is even more selective, with only 2.5 percent of a state’s legal professionals qualifying. Litigation attorney Cullen McKinney is a founding partner of Tanoury Nauts McKinney & Garbarino in Detroit, Michigan. Among the areas of practice that Cullen McKinney focuses on is premises liability. This concept is often involved in personal injury cases, when the aggrieved party must prove the property owner was negligent in keeping the premises safe. Simply being injured on a property does not necessarily indicate negligence, nor does the existence of an unsafe condition always constitute negligence. In order to prove negligence, a personal injury lawyer must establish that the owner knew or should have known of a hazardous condition and did not address it. In some states, however, the duty of the owner is determined by the type of person who is on the property. Visitors are individuals who have the owner’s permission to visit the premises. Invitees are persons like friends, family, or neighbors, for whom the owner is expected to provide a reasonable standard of care. Licensees are persons like sales representatives, who are visiting for their own purposes, that the owner must simply warn. Trespassers are uninvited or unauthorized persons. Owners traditionally owe them no duty unless they are children. Attorney Cullen McKinney is a founding partner at Tanoury, Nauts, McKinney & Garbarino, PLLC. Practicing in Detroit, Michigan, Cullen McKinney defends medical professionals against medical malpractice claims. There are several defenses to a medical malpractice claim. The most common is to challenge the plaintiff’s allegation of negligence. Medical malpractice is itself a form of negligence. Therefore, for a plaintiff to establish the existence of medical malpractice, he or she must successfully prove the four elements of negligence, namely: - A doctor-patient relationship that gave rise to a duty of care existed - The doctor breached that duty of care - That breach caused injury to the patient, now plaintiff - Damages are adequate to warrant financial compensation for the patient’s injuries. Proving all these elements can be a daunting task. Defense counsel can defeat a medical malpractice case by challenging any one of the four elements. For example, counsel can claim there was no doctor-patient relationship existing hence no duty of care, that the doctor did not breach the duty of care because the medical procedure undertaken was standard practice, or that the injury was caused by an act of the patient himself or herself, not the doctor’s actions. Founding partner of Tanoury, Nauts, McKinney & Garbarino, PLLC, Cullen McKinney is a professional law practitioner with over twenty-four years of experience in the industry. Focusing on civil litigation, Cullen McKinney represents various negligence and liability cases including professional, general, and automobile related cases. A member of the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association and the State Bar of Michigan Negligence Law Section, McKinney was recognized as a Rising Star in Michigan by Super Lawyers. A part of Thomas Reuters, Super Lawyers is a prestigious American attorney rating service. Every year, it evaluates attorneys across the country from more than 70 practice areas, and identifies the best of the trade using a patented multiphase selection process. Every candidate is nominated either by peers or the research team, and assessed using a comprehensive set of 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. The resulting list is published in the annual regional and state editions of Super Lawyers Magazine, as well as in other outlets such as regional newspapers. Candidates who do not make it to the list but are 40 years old or younger, or have been practicing 10 or fewer years, are sent through a next selection process, the winners of which are declared Rising Stars. Yearly, fewer than 5% of the lawyers in the U.S. are named Super Lawyers, and under 2.5% are honored as Rising Stars. Since 2009, Cullen McKinney has worked as a litigation attorney at Tanoury Nauts McKinney & Garbarino, PLLC, of which he is a founding partner. At the Detroit law firm, he represents medical professionals and hospitals in medical malpractice lawsuits. In March 2012, he successfully represented the Detroit Medical Center and was featured in the Michigan Lawyers Weekly publication. Cullen McKinney belongs to the State Bar of Michigan, which he joined in 1994.
As the governing body for lawyers, the State Bar of Michigan is dedicated to improving relations between the public and legal professionals. One event the Bar hosts is the Annual Meeting and Solo Small Firm Institute. The 2015 event is scheduled from October 7-9 at the Suburban Collection Showcase in Novi, and represents the largest annual gathering of professionals in the Michigan legal community. Attendees can network with others and visit exhibitors. The Institute in particular provides information to new lawyers and to those in small law firms or solo practices. A long-time resident of Detroit, Cullen McKinney graduated from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 1993 and went on to become a founding member and senior attorney at Tanoury, Nauts, McKinney & Garbarino, PLLC. In addition to his extensive work as a trial lawyer, Cullen McKinney remains closely involved with medical professionals, serving as a legal lecturer and trial counsel for the Detroit Medical Center.
Medical malpractice payouts have been gradually increasing over the past couple of years, approaching $4 billion by the end of 2014. A past study from Harvard University researchers showed that 99 percent of physicians will have experienced a malpractice claim by the age of 65; despite this fact, however, about 3 out of every 4 physicians are taken by surprise when a medical malpractice claim is filed. Below is a brief look at the two most common reasons for the filing of medical malpractice claims. Delayed/Missed Diagnoses In a 2013 report published in HealthDay, researchers analyzed dozens of medical malpractice claims filed over a two-year period. They found that 26 to 63 percent of the suits were related to delayed or missed diagnoses. Among the most common alleged missed diagnoses in adults were cancer, heart attack, appendicitis, ectopic pregnancy, and broken bones. In claims involving children, the most common conditions were cancer and meningitis. Drug Errors According to the same report, the second most common cause for the malpractice suits examined was medication error, accounting for 5.6 to 20 percent of claims. The claims generally cited prescription-related mistakes or adverse drug reactions, and involved drugs ranging from steroids and antipsychotics to antidepressants and antibiotics. A medical malpractice claim must meet a few basic requirements to be allowed to stand in court. They include the following:
1) Existence of a doctor-patient relationship 2) Occurrence of medical malpractice 3) Incidence of malpractice caused injury to patient 4) The injury to the patient caused damage A doctor-patient relationship occurs when a doctor agrees to treat a patient who has hired him or her. Malpractice can may take a number of forms, including but not limited to negligence, improper diagnosis and treatment, failure to provide agreed upon services, failure to deliver on promised services, and failure to warn patients of possible risks. In addition to the above, a medical malpractice case must meet other legal requirements. Cases must be brought forth within a specific time period (depending on the state in which they are filed), and may require expert testimonies and medical malpractice review panels. In some states, patients are required to give doctors notice of the claim, and there are limits to the damages that must be paid by medical professionals. Detroit attorney Cullen McKinney undertakes medical malpractice litigation as a partner at Tanoury, Nauts, McKinney and Garbarino. Cullen McKinney is known for his aggressive litigation style and has been voted a Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine. He was also featured in Michigan Lawyers Weekly for his role in the high-profile DMC trial in 2012. Mr. McKinney can be contacted at www.tnmglaw.com/contact.asp. |
AuthorA founding partner and principal of the law firm Tanoury, Nauts, McKinney & Dwaihy, PLLC, in Detroit, Michigan, attorney Cullen McKinney provides trial defense for individuals and corporations involved in civil litigation cases before the Wayne County and Oakland County Circuit Courts. Archives
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