Wrongful Death

J. Erik Groves offers assistance to his clients in legal matters related to General Business Law (S-corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, joint ventures, and sole proprietorships), Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts and Probate Law, Personal Injury (auto accidents and workers compensation), Wrongful Death and some Civil Litigation. Attorney Groves serves clients throughout Union County NC, including Mineral Springs, Weddington, Wesley Chapel, Indian Trail, Marvin, Ballantyne, Stallings, Indian Land SC, and Monroe.

Viral Mehta has called Charlotte his home for over 30 years. He attended and graduated from Charlotte-Mecklenburg public schools. He then graduated from nearby Davidson College with a Bachelor of Arts in History. Mr. Mehta obtained his law degree from Wake Forest University School of Law and then returned home to Charlotte to begin his legal practice. Mr. Mehta spent the first decade of his legal career defending employers and large insurance companies in workers’ compensation claims. Mr. Mehta developed expertise in workers’ compensation law, but he felt a lack of fulfillment in representing insurance companies against injured workers. Mr. Mehta began representing injured workers when he founded the workers’ compensation practice group at a local law firm. Mr. Mehta then co-founded Mehta & McConnell PLLC. Mr. Mehta’s previous experience representing insurance companies gave him the insight necessary to effectively represent injured workers. He knows how insurance companies and adjusters handle workers’ compensation claims. Mr. Mehta is a North Carolina State Bar board-certified specialist in workers’ compensation law. He has obtained favorable decisions before all levels of the North Carolina Industrial Commission, Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court. Viral Mehta was a contributing author of the 2017 edition of the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation LexisNexis Practice Guide, and he was selected as a Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Mr. Mehta is certified by the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission as a Superior Court mediator. He enjoys mediating cases, especially workers’ compensation claims. In addition to practicing workers’ compensation law, Mr. Mehta also handles personal injury cases. Mr. Mehta is married with one son and a dog named Alfred. He enjoys spending time with friends and family, traveling, sports, and reading.

Bio As a co-founder and partner at Basch & Keegan, Maureen A. Keegan (Moe) has practiced personal injury law exclusively since 1986. Maureen’s areas of practice include all aspects of civil litigation, medical malpractice, wrongful death, automobile and trucking claims, product and premises liability. Initially, Ms. Keegan worked for a medical malpractice defense firm in New York City. Based in Kingston for the last 30 years, Moe has successfully represented clients throughout the Hudson Valley, greater New York City, and Capital District areas. Before studying law, Keegan worked as a Pharmacist and a Pharmacy Resident at Johns Hopkins and at other teaching hospitals in New York State. She has been a Super Lawyer and Top 100 Trial Lawyer of New York State. Over the years, Keegan has successfully represented thousands of injury victims and is widely known as a successful and knowledgeable attorney in the Hudson Valley. She is active in local community and bar associations. Basch & Keegan’s philanthropic support is well known in Ulster and Dutchess Counties. The firm was honored by SUNY Ulster and Legal Services of the Hudson Valley. In addition, Basch & Keegan collects for the pantry of People’s Place at Thanksgiving time. They have supported the Jewish Federation’s Fall for Art for more than 20 years and support the Ulster County Bar Association’s Adopt a Star program at Christmas. There are dozens of other excellent philanthropic groups that benefit from Basch & Keegan donations. Moe, a native Long Islander, has enjoyed making the Hudson Valley her home for the past 30+ years. She and her husband Dave have two children, Ryan and Jane, who both graduated from Kingston High School. Jane is currently teaching math at Brooklyn Tech, and Ryan was awarded an MBA from Stanford in June, 2021. Moe enjoys the outdoors and is an active sculler and member of the Rondout Row Club. She and Dave enjoy travelling and exploring the hike and bike trails in Ulster, Dutchess, Greene and Columbia County.

Howard Chetkof is partner at Levin & Chetkof, LLP. He is a seasoned attorney and a highly skilled negotiator concentrating his practice in personal injury. He has represented clients who have sustained all types of serious personal injuries as the result of automobile accidents, motorcycle accidents, trucking accidents, pedestrians struck by motor vehicles, wrongful death, construction site accidents, premises liability, trip/slip and falls, dog bites, assault and battery, nursing home negligence, and certain medical malpractice matters. Mr. Chetkof’s representation of injured individuals has extended to both the state and federal courts. In addition, Mr. Chetkof handles matters involving legal malpractice, no-fault/first-party benefit arbitrations, and real estate. Mr. Chetkof and the firm handle their cases from inception to conclusion, including the claims stage, litigation, trials, and appeals. He has also directly negotiated and handled hundreds of cases at mediations and arbitrations and has recovered millions of dollars for his clients. Not only does he represent his firm's clients, but Mr. Chetkof has also been retained as outside counsel, by other law firms, to represent their clients' interests at mediations, arbitrations, trials, and appeals. Mr. Chetkof believes that every client has the right to talk directly to their attorney, not just the office staff, and has an open-door policy for the firm’s active clients, former clients, and prospective clients.

Mr. Bottar brings more than 15 years of experience to the pursuit of medical malpractice, wrongful death, construction accident, and other complex personal injury actions throughout New York and the northeastern United States, with a focus on claims for birth injuries, neonatal/pediatric negligence, heart attack, stroke, brain damage, spine/nerve injuries, and liability under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Mr. Bottar is a graduate of Colgate University and is a summa cum laude (top 2%) graduate of Syracuse University College of Law where he is an adjunct professor of law, authors the "Civil Practice" chapter of the Syracuse Law Review’s Survey on New York law, and serves on the law school's Board of Advisors. Mr. Bottar has been selected by his colleagues for inclusion in the oldest peer-reviewed publication in the legal profession, The Best Lawyers In America®. For the areas of plaintiff's medical malpractice, product liability and personal injury, he is the youngest attorney in central New York listed in Best Lawyers®, and is the only attorney in Syracuse listed in all three fields. Mr. Bottar was honored by The Best Lawyers In America® as Syracuse's 2019 Medical Malpractice Lawyer of the Year, its 2019 Product Liability Lawyer of the Year, and its 2017 Product Liability Lawyer of the Year. Mr. Bottar is regional vice president of the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers and is a member of its judicial screening committee. He is also one of the region's best known speakers and has, on behalf of various bar associations, provided continuing legal education on nearly 50 occasions to thousands of attorneys in Syracuse, Albany, Rochester, Buffalo, New York City and throughout Long Island. In addition, Mr. Bottar has been invited to speak by the Association of Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, and was selected to serve as a faculty member for the New York State Bar Association Advanced Trial Academy. Every year since 2013, Mr. Bottar has been recognized in Upstate New York Super Lawyers®, a publication with membership limited to the top 5% of lawyers in each state, and was selected for its "Top 50" lawyers list in 2016, 2018 and 2019. He was named a 2016 New York Daily Record Attorney of the Year for his "professional accomplishments, exceptional character, integrity, ethics, and commitment to clients and community." He has achieved an AV® Preeminent™ rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the organization's highest rating for legal ability and ethical standards, and holds the title of fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society with membership limited to less than one-half of one percent of lawyers. Since 2013, Mr. Bottar has been recognized annually by The National Trial Lawyers as one of the "Top 100" trial lawyers in New York State and, having recovered nearly $75,000,000 for his clients, he has earned life membership in the Million Dollar and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forums. Mr. Bottar is a past member and executive editor of the Syracuse Law Review, which published his note titled "Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: Medicaid Liens, Supplemental Needs Trusts and Personal Injury Recoveries on Behalf of Infants In New York State Following the Gold Decision." Mr. Bottar’s article, which addressed the complexities of personal injury settlements, has been cited as an authority by the Practicing Law Institute (twice), American Jurisprudence Proof of Facts, the American Law Institute, and the American Bar Association’s Real Property Trusts and Estates Law Journal. In addition to the Syracuse Law Review, he is a past member of the Syracuse University College of Law Moot Court Honor Society, and was inducted into the Order of the Coif, the Order of Barristers, and the Justinian Honorary Law Society. Mr. Bottar began his legal career as a litigation associate with the New York City office of White & Case, LLP, one of the largest and most prestigious law firms in the world (41 offices in 28 countries), with professional highlights including representing a French bank on trial for fraud, advising Fortune 500 companies on various liability matters, and conducting Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations in Buenos Aires, Brussels, Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Immediately prior to joining Bottar Law, PLLC, Mr. Bottar was a litigation associate with Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC, then the largest law firm in Syracuse, New York. Mr. Bottar is also a founding donor in support of Syracuse University's newly-constructed law school, where the Lorraine and Anthony V. Bottar Lecture Hall is named in memory of his grandparents. He was born and raised in Syracuse, New York, and presently resides in Manlius with his wife, Tiffany, a physical therapist, and their children.

The Law Offices of David M. Doré, P.C. is a litigation firm. Mr. Dore’s experience included consultation with attorneys on procedural rules for Federal and State and City courts for all New York metropolitan area court systems as well as courts in numerous other jurisdictions and countries. Coordinate service and filing of documents in courts for matters various New York State and Federal Courts. Mr. Doré trained attorneys and paralegals on Federal and State courts electronic filing procedures and court procedural rules in Federal and State litigation. He has handled commercial litigation procedural issues for matters pending in New York, and involving parties in California, Florida, Wisconsin and Washington, DC courts. He has coordinated cases related to international service of process under the Hague Convention and Inter-American Treaties; effecting service pursuant to those provisions in China, Italy and the Caribbean. Mr. Doré advised attorneys on White Collar criminal defense Federal and State, procedural rules, working alongside former Assistant U.S. Attorneys and coordinating cases with United States Attorney’s Offices for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Coordinated investigations of entities infringing on copyright ownership and trade violations, including the dismantling of hundreds of counterfeit sellers of cigarettes. Mr. Doré also worked for the New York City Corporation Counsel conducting pretrial discovery and investigations for the Bronx Tort Division. Interview witnesses, including 50-H hearings, depositions of numerous prisoners at various New York State Correctional institutions. He has appeared and defended the City of New York in hundreds of cases at New York County Supreme Court, Bronx County Supreme Court and New York City Small Claims court. These appearances were at over 500 preliminary conferences and hundreds of depositions examining plaintiffs with actions against the City of New York. His advice was sought by Police Officers, Firefighters, Sanitation Inspectors, Public School teachers and other New York City personnel for pending litigations. In 2021 Mr. Doré was honored to be appointed to the AAJ Voter Protection Committee by President Navan Ward, Jr. President of the American Association for Justice.

Nicholas I. Timko is the managing partner of the firm of Kahn, Gordon, Timko & Rodriques, P.C. having joined the firm of Kahn & Gordon in 1998 to create the current firm. Mr. Timko has been practicing law since 1983. and is licensed to practice in New York and Pennsylvania. He is dedicated to promoting public safety through the civil justice system by holding corporations, businesses, government agencies, hospitals, doctors, manufacturers, and individuals accountable when their conduct causes harm and loss to members of the public. Mr. Timko has spent his entire career representing clients injured in all types of accidents resulting from unsafe conditions of sidewalks, roadways, subways, buildings, construction sites, defective products, vehicle accidents and those injured by medical malpractice. He has earned a reputation for fighting on behalf of his clients and always putting the clients' interests first. He is a highly skilled trial lawyer having tried many cases to verdict and resulting in multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements for his clients. He has also lead the fight to hold the City of New York accountable for unsafe sidewalks and roadways and its failure to comply with the prior written notice “pothole” law. Mr. Timko is past President of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association (NYSTLA) and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the American Association for Justice and is a Dean of the New York State Trial Lawyers Institute, which is the educational arm of NYSTLA. He has received the highest professional and ethical rating, AV, from Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings, and has been named to New York Super Lawyers®. Mr. Timko writes and lectures on various legal topics, working to educate other trial lawyers on how to better represent their clients.

Craig Post has been practicing as a personal injury litigator since 1985, having gained substantial experience in New York City law firms before moving up to Rockland County to better serve the greater metropolitan area. Mr. Post fights for victims of personal injury throughout New York and New Jersey. His 30+ years’ experience includes basic slip-and-fall and motor vehicle cases to complex highway design, construction site accidents, and wrongful death matters. In addition, Mr. Post represents numerous medical practices in New York Motor Vehicle no-fault matters. These practices include chiropractic, ambulatory surgical and radiological in both New York and New Jersey.

Eugene Litman, Esq. established Litman & Litman, P.C. in 1958. Eugene raised his four sons with aspirations that they would join him in the legal profession. He and his sons often discussed legal cases and argued their potential outcome over the dinner table. Eventually, all four of Eugene’s sons took up the legal profession by becoming lawyers. Two of Eugene’s sons, Jeffrey Litman and Kenneth Litman, joined their father’s firm. Today they have nearly 100 years of combined legal experience in personal injury law. Eugene Litman earned his degree from Brooklyn Law School while both Jeffrey Litman and Kenneth Litman earned their J.D. degrees from Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center. Jeffrey received a B.S. in Management from Boston University while Ken earned his B.S. in Management from Arizona State University. The Litman family has brought justice to thousands of clients by securing hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for them. With degrees in both law and business, they are more than qualified to defend your interests. They will accommodate your schedule with visits to your residence, hospital, or nursing home. They treat clients and their client’s circumstances with sensitivity. They understand that clients are potentially dealing with personal tragedies such as personal injury and wrongful death. The Litman team remains competitive and keeps apprised of the latest legal matters by extensive readings, attending conferences, and constant networking. They have met many leaders in American law, including United States Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Antonin Scalia.

Jeanmarie Whalen is an experienced civil trial lawyer and shareholder in the law firm of Domnick Cunningham & Whalen. She has a statewide and national practice devoted solely to representing the victims of catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death. Ms. Whalen has litigated complex cases and specializes in trucking, automobile, aviation, maritime, bicycle, as well as motorcycle and pedestrian accidents. She has obtained an excess of over 30 multi-million dollar recoveries for her clients and earned membership into the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, a nationwide forum limited to trial lawyers who have won multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements. Ms. Whalen has achieved an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating available from the nation’s oldest guide to the legal profession, for her legal ability and ethical standards. She has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America in the field of personal injury, Florida “Super Lawyers” and as a “Top Lawyer” by the South Florida Legal Guide multiple times.