Michael J. Racette

Michael is a partner in the Boston and Providence offices of Morrison Mahoney.  He has extensive litigation, trial and appellate experience in state and federal courts in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, including class action lawsuits and multi-district federal court litigation, winning numerous jury trial victories, as well as countless dismissals or other favorable resolutions in a wide variety of complex litigation. He has represented physicians, nurses, hospitals, medical practice groups, and other health care professionals and corporations in defense of medical malpractice claims, often involving claims of catastrophic injury or death.

Michael has represented manufacturers, distributors, retailers and other businesses in defense of products liability claims, including those involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, recreational products, home products and asbestos products. He has represented individuals and businesses in intellectual property, commercial, employment and other complex litigation disputes. Michael has also represented agents and brokers, engineers and architects, in defense of claims of professional negligence and has served as an expert witness in a legal malpractice action. In addition, he has represented professional licensees in proceedings before their respective professional licensure boards.

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE 

• Defense verdict after jury trial on behalf of manufacturer of electric plug strip where plaintiff homeowners claimed that their house was destroyed by fire that started from a short circuit in the strip.
• Numerous jury verdicts in favor of health care professionals and product manufacturers and distributors
• Defense verdict after jury trial on behalf of a national pharmacy chain in claim that consumer’s death was caused by the pharmacy’s negligent failure to warn her of a potential harmful interaction among several prescription medications that were prescribed by different physicians
• Obtained dismissal, on federal pre-emption grounds, of a products liability case against a distributor of a generic pharmaceutical, where consumer’s death was allegedly caused by the failure to warn about potential fatal interactions with another medication.  This is believed to be the first time—nationwide—that a court applied the Supreme Court’s 2011 Mensing decision to bar failure to warn claims arising out of the distribution of generic drugs
• Obtained dismissals of more than one hundred complaints against physicians at the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, as well as similar claims against health care professionals before the Board of Registration in Nursing, Board of Registration of Psychologists, and Board of Registration of Social Workers, and at administrative adjudicatory hearings
• Obtained jury verdict, and subsequent 93A judgment, on behalf of a start-up company for its fraud and breach of contract claims against a software developer arising out of a $260,000 contract to develop web-enabled imaging software, resulting in $1.4 million settlement payment to the start-up company
• Obtained judgments in favor of various clients in approximately one hundred lawsuits where plaintiffs asserted claims for personal injuries or wrongful death as a result of exposure to asbestos

• Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent