Personal Quote
"I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything she's got."
- Walter Cronkite

Biography
Mary Anne Mellow is a shareholder of Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard. She concentrates her practice in civil litigation involving products liability, medical malpractice and insurance defense. Mary Anne was named to the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers in the Medical Malpractice area and also in 2007, 2008 and 2009 to the Products Liability area. In 2005 and 2008, she was named as one of the Top 50 Missouri & Kansas Female Super Lawyers. Mary Anne is also a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel. For further information on this organization, please visit www.iadclaw.org.  

She has experience handling the defense of sophisticated medical malpractice cases and medical device litigation since 1982. Her cases include a wide variety of surgical/medical procedures including obstetrics/gynecology, thoracic surgery, radiology and emergency room care. She has handled medical device litigation for Cordis and Sims Deltec, Inc. involving catheters, syringes and chemotherapy pumps. She represents Firemen's Fund-Interstate, Darwin Professional Underwriters, The Doctors Company and Catlin Underwriting in physician, psychologist, nursing and nursing home malpractice cases and has defended cases for Illinois Provider Trust, St. Elizabeth Medical Center and St. Paul Insurance Company. She regularly consults on risk management matters with Southern Illinois Healthcare which operates four hospitals in southern Illinois and has actively defended those hospitals in malpractice litigation for over 20 years.

Mary Anne also gained a reputation in the products liability field by successfully defending product manufacturers in significant and catastrophic injury cases involving aerial devices, digger derricks, lawn mowers, forklifts, tractors, cranes, wheelchairs, helmets, tank cars, tractor trailers, autos and snow blowers. In addition, she has continued to represent Altec Industries, Inc. throughout Illinois and Missouri on their high exposure products liability cases for over 15 years.

Mary Anne's appellate practice includes successful arguments in the Missouri Court of Appeals, Illinois Court of Appeals and Eighth Circuit. Her appellate decision of Harber v. Altec Industries, Inc., established new law in Missouri for product manufacturers who sell equipment "As Is" in Missouri to shield them from strict liability actions. 812 F.Supp. 954 (W.D.Mo. 1993).

A sampling of Mary Anne Mellow's litigation experience includes:
Joseph v. Dr. Carroll. In March 2006, Mary Anne, along with Sig Adler, won a defense verdict on behalf of NCMIC Insurance Company after a 5 day jury trial. A chiropractic cervical adjustment allegedly performed on plaintiff resulted in a vertebral artery dissection, leading to several strokes 35 days later which resulted in permanent peripheral vision loss for this 56 year old truck driver. In closing argument, plaintiff’s counsel asked for an award of $1.2 million. The jury returned a defense verdict in 4 hours, rejecting plaintiff’s arguments.

Shaw v. Dr. Charles. In August 2004, Mary Anne second-chaired this complicated medical malpractice action in Macon County, Illinois. Charlie Hughes, of Hughes, Hill & Tenney, served as lead counsel. Plaintiff claimed that following two surgeries by defendant, he first developed a bowel obstruction, then an intermittently draining fistula that has required TPN care for the last six years. The jury returned a verdict in plaintiff's favor but for substantially less than the plaintiff requested. A post-trial motion is pending.

Brawley v. American Isuzu Motors. Mary Anne and Bryan Cavanaugh represented the defendant in this April 2004 trial in St. Louis County. The plaintiff claimed the defendant breached a written and implied warranty in connection with his lease of an Isuzu Rodeo. We negotiated an excellent settlement during the first day of trial.

Blatz v. American Isuzu Motors, Inc. In November, 2003, Mary Anne, with the assistance of Bryan Cavanaugh, won a directed verdict on behalf of American Isuzu Motors in a trial in St. Louis County. Plaintiff leased a 2000 Isuzu Rodeo for three years and the client issued a written warranty with it. Three days after the lease expired, plaintiff filed suit against American Isuzu. After the close of plaintiff's evidence, the court directed a verdict for American Isuzu Motors, finding that plaintiff could not prove several elements of plaintiff's case and that plaintiff failed to provide damages and that plaintiff failed to comply with plaintiff's own requirements under the Isuzu written warranty.

Hayungs v. Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. In July of 2003, she began trial in a medical malpractice case in Jackson County, Illinois, where Mary Anne represented Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. Plaintiff alleged negligence in the failure to diagnose a subarachnoid hemorrhage, resulting in the subsequent death of the plaintiff's wife. The parties entered into a favorable settlement in this case during the first week of trial.

Maurizio v. Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. In June of 2000, Mary Anne represented Memorial Hospital of Carbondale in this six week medical malpractice jury trial in Williamson County, Illinois where plaintiffs alleged physician and nursing malpractice during performance of a hysterectomy which resulted in an injured ureter and significant urological problems. Plaintiff also filed a negligent credentialing action against the hospital for the OB/GYN who performed this surgery and a failure to supervise the physician to restrict his gynecological privileges. After the underlying medical malpractice action was tried and the Court directed a verdict against the defendant OB/GYN, the parties settled during the negligent credentialing phase of the trial.

Bauer v. Gundaker Realtors v. ReMax Gateway. In September 1999, Mary Anne represented ReMax Gateway and Mary Kay Carapella in this real estate malpractice case where plaintiff claimed fraud and negligent misrepresentation for failing to disclose problems with the home's septic tank system resulting in significant repairs after closing and reduction of the home's property value. This case was tried in St. Louis County. The Court directed a verdict in favor of our client at the close of all the evidence.

Hansford v. Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. In April, 1999, Mary Anne represented Memorial Hospital of Carbondale in this premise liability case where a patient exited the Cancer Care Center and fell on a sidewalk sustaining significant hip and ankle fracture injuries. The case proceeded to trial against the hospital resulting in a defendant's verdict.

Granda v. Morgan Engineering. In 1995, Mary Anne defended this products liability action in Madison County, Illinois for her client, Morgan Engineering. Plaintiff claimed the overhead crane installed in Granite City Steel was defective in its design and lack of warning devices. A Madison County jury, after a long trial, returned a defense verdict for her client.

McCray v. Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. In July, 1995, Mary Anne represented Memorial Hospital of Carbondale and resident Dr. Clay Halberg, where plaintiff claimed the failure to diagnose and treat bacterial meningitis resulted in the death of a Southern Illinois University student. This case was tried in Jackson County, Illinois, and the jury returned a defense verdict after a long trial.

Pride Electric v. Dr. Broncato. In 1994, she represented Pride Electric, Inc. in St. Louis County, Missouri. Pride Electric filed suit based upon theories of breach of contract and quantum meruit against the defendant for failure to pay for electrical work performed to his physician office. This bench trial resulted in a plaintiff's verdict for her client.

Rohr v. Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. In 1988, she second chaired this case with Peter von Gontard in Madison County, Illinois where plaintiff claimed an alleged failure to timely diagnose and treat bacterial meningitis. The case settled during the first week of trial.

Lam v. Atlas Tool. In 1986, she served as co-counsel at trial on this product liability case. Plaintiff claimed injuries for an allegedly defective snow blower that a physician plaintiff used during a St. Louis snowstorm. During trial, this case resulted in a favorable settlement.