About Ernie Teitell
Ernie Teitell's career is defined not just by verdicts and settlements, but by the lasting change his work has brought about. When he represented the family of a 6-year-old boy who drowned after becoming entrapped in a swimming pool drain, the family dedicated the proceeds to pool safety, leading to significant changes in state regulations for pools and equipment. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Ernie volunteered his legal services to Connecticut families of victims. And his advocacy before the Connecticut Appellate Court resulted in the creation of the Baxter Rule, a legal doctrine called upon by Connecticut lawyers in nearly every multi-defendant medical-malpractice action that goes to court. Ernie takes a humanistic approach to every case.
No one understands the devastating impact of life-altering events better than an attorney who has spent 49 years standing alongside clients. Extended experience with medical malpractice, defective products, catastrophic vehicle collisions, and sexual and spousal abuse has made him a fierce advocate for those whose lives have been irretrievably altered. In a case that drew national attention, Ernie represented a former attorney who was disabled by an attack by her husband, J. Michael Farren, a White House deputy counsel in both Bush administrations. A Connecticut jury awarded her $28.6 million in civil damages in 2013.
Proven verdicts and settlements
On July 26, 2007, a 6-year-old boy drowned in his family's backyard pool in Greenwich when his arm was sucked into a wall drain feeding a spillover spa. Connecticut had required dual drains and a vacuum-release device since 2004, a year before the pool was permitted, and the builder had installed neither. The pool company's president pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide in 2011, the first such prosecution of a pool builder in the country. By May 2013 the parents, Brian and Karen Cohn, had settled with all nine defendants for a combined $40 million, all of it directed to the water-safety foundation they created in their son's name.
A jury in the Stamford-Norwalk Judicial District awarded Mary Margaret Farren $28.6 million after finding that her former husband, David Farren, attacked her with a hammer and a knife during their divorce proceedings, leaving her with severe and permanent injuries.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
