Biography
Jeffrey L. Dunn is an equity shareholder of Sandberg Phoenix and is the Chairman of the Health Law Practice Group, the largest of the firm’s practice areas. He focuses his practice on the defense of health care providers, particularly in the long term care industry. Jeff also represents consumer products manufacturers and other companies in product liability and business disputes.
His first chair trial experience includes million dollar nursing home and product liability defense trials. He has tried numerous bench trials and has experience as the second-chair attorney in several complex jury trials. Jeff has deposed numerous individuals including liability, causation and damages experts in multimillion-dollar cases. He has represented clients in numerous mediations, arbitrations and state administrative hearings.
Jeff focuses a substantial portion of his practice on providing solutions and litigation support for the firm's nursing home clients. He has successfully defended nursing home litigation in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and New Mexico. He has represented his clients in administrative hearings before the Illinois Department of Public Health and Missouri Department of Aging. He has authored a comprehensive admission agreement for a national nursing home operator and authored an article on the Illinois Supreme Court's lifting of restrictions on the filing of the lawsuits under the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act. He has also served as National Coordinating Counsel for a multi-state Long Term Care provider.
A significant portion of Jeff's practice is dedicated to representing his corporate clients and supporting their business litigation needs. Jeff handles breach of contract, fraud and collection claims on behalf of his corporate clients.
In 2006, Jeff was named by
Missouri Lawyers Weekly as one of Missouri’s “Up and Coming Lawyers.” In 2011, Jeff was named a
Missouri and Kansas Super Lawyer Rising Star in the area of Medical Malpractice.
A sampling of Jeff's litigation experience includes:
Schwab v. Rosewood. This nursing home case was tried in Madison County, Illinois in October 2007. An 82 year-old resident fell and fractured her neck, requiring significant cervical surgery. The resident died five months later. The medical specials associated with the injury were $175,000. Plaintiff's counsel sought $1 million in closing argument. After nearly 20 hours of deliberations over the course of three days, the jury rendered a verdict for plaintiff just over $58,000.
Practice Groups
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Business Litigation
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Products Liability
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Health Law
Industries/Areas of Practice
- Nursing Homes
- General Business Litigation
- Consumer Products
- General Litigation
Civic Activities
Voices for Children – A not-for-profit providing volunteer advocates and legal services for abused and neglected children in the City of St. Louis.
2005-Present: Board of Directors
2007-2008: Board President
2008-Present: Executive Committee, General Counsel and Governance Committee Chairman
Manor Grove – A 117 bed not-for-profit, skilled nursing facility in Kirkwood, Missouri.
2006-2010: Board of Directors
2009-2010: Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee
Concordia Foundation –
2008-Present: Board of Directors
2011- Present: Board President
Professional Activities
Jeff is admitted to practice law in Missouri, Illinois and the United States District Courts for the Southern District of Illinois, the Central District of Illinois, the Eastern District of Missouri and the Western District of Missouri.
He is a member of the Missouri Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis and the Madison County Bar Association. Jeff is a member of the Defense Research Institute and the Professional Liability Defense Federation.
Jeff chaired the Sandberg Phoenix Recruiting Committee for five years. Over the years, he has served as the firm’s Mentoring Program chair and Technology Committee chair. He has also served as a member of the firm’s Diversity committee, Associate Development Board, Summer Associate Committee and numerous additional firm committees and task forces. Currently, he serves on the firm’s Practice Committee, Strategic Planning Committee and Compensation Committee.
Publications and Speaking Engagements
Jeff co-authored "The Interlocutory Appeal of Class Certification: Illinois Amends Rule 306," published in the May 2003
Illinois State Bar Association Journal. He also recently presented on the proliferation of the class action lawsuit to a metropolitan legal group.
Jeff has lectured in several states on topics facing the long term care industry including legislative changes, risk management, effective charting, event handling and HIPAA.
Jeff has volunteered his time for Law Day, a yearly event where the St. Louis legal community hosts several activities to educate local high school students on the American legal system. He also regularly serves as a judge and coaching aid for the Saint Louis University Moot Court Program. He has taken an active role in the program since graduating from law school and returns as a volunteer judge for their competitions.
Jeff has been a frequent speaker at Saint Louis University's law school. He lectures on the effective use of technology at trial and recently lectured about the practice of litigation to members of the graduating class.
Education
Jeff earned his Juris Doctor from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1999, where he was President of the Health Law Association.
In 1996, he earned his B.A. with a double major in Speech Communication and Political Science from the University of Illinois.