Walter W Bates

Practice Areas

Billy Bates has been a partner at Starnes Davis Florie for over 35 years and served as the firm’s Managing Partner from 2006 – 2016. His practice has been devoted to civil litigation to include professional medical liability, healthcare litigation, pharmaceutical liability and medical device litigation. He has tried in excess of 135 complex civil cases to a jury verdict, including cases in defense of product manufacturers, physicians, hospitals and corporations.

Career

Billy Bates has been a partner at Starnes Davis Florie for over 35 years and served as the firm’s Managing Partner from 2006 – 2016. His practice has been devoted to civil litigation to include professional medical liability, healthcare litigation, pharmaceutical liability and medical device litigation. He has tried in excess of 135 complex civil cases to a jury verdict, including cases in defense of product manufacturers, physicians, hospitals and corporations.

Professional Memberships

Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and is a past Chairman of the Outreach Committee; Diplomate of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and is a past President of the Alabama Chapter of ABOTA; Super Lawyer in Alabama by Mid-South Super Lawyers® magazine; Best Lawyers in America's “Birmingham Best Lawyers Medical Malpractice Defense Lawyer of the Year” for 2015 and 2020.

Work Highlights

After a nine day trial, obtained a Judgment as a Matter of Law on behalf of a board certified general surgeon in a wrongful death case alleging the surgeon failed to recognize signs of an abdominal complication after colon surgery.

Obtained a jury verdict in favor of a general surgeon charged with medical negligence and wrongful death in the performance of a colonoscopy.

Obtained a defense verdict for a family practice physician in a case involving paralysis and wrongful death.

Obtained a defense verdict in favor of an urologist in a suit alleging negligence in the performance of an adult circumcision.

Obtained a jury verdict in favor of a general surgeon charged with medical negligence in the performance of a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (minimally invasive surgery to remove the gallbladder).

Obtained a defense verdict for a general surgeon and surgical group in a wrongful death case involving an intra-abdominal abscess resulting in septic shock.

Obtained a defense verdict for two general surgeons after a six day trial in a wrongful death case involving the readmission of a patient to the hospital following recent hernia repair surgery.

Expert in these Jurisdictions

U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit

U.S. District Court, Middle District of AL

U.S. District Court, Northern District of AL

U.S. District Court, Southern District of AL

U.S. Supreme Court

Licensed in Alabama and Tennessee

Education