Christian Clark Mester is a partner at McCarthy, Winkelman & Mester, L.L.P. He investigates and prosecutes medical negligence (also called medical malpractice) cases. A graduate of Brown University and the University of Baltimore School of Law (with honors), he is a member of the Maryland, District of Columbia, and Minnesota bars. Prior to joining McCarthy, Winkelman & Mester, L.L.P., he was a partner with Goldberg, Finnegan & Mester, LLC (running its medical malpractice department) for almost 9 years, and before that was with Janet, Jenner & Suggs, LLC for 7 years (the last three years as partner).
Christian’s practice is geared towards medical negligence. He is a past Chair of the Medical Negligence Section of the Maryland Association for Justice and was even appointed by the Governor of Maryland to serve on the Task Force on Discipline of Health Care Providers and Improved Patient Care, which made recommendations to the Governor and the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, which were considered by the Maryland Legislature in 2009. Christian also has lectured on trial topics and is published.
Christian is a member of a number of organizations, including the Minnesota State Bar Association, the Maryland State Bar Association, the American Association of Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America), the Maryland Association for Justice (formerly the Maryland Association of Trial Lawyers), and the Washington DC Trial Lawyers Association. Christian has an “AV Peer Review Rating” from Martindale Hubbell in Medical Malpractice, which is a preeminent rating. Christian became a member of the MILLION DOLLAR ADVOCATES FORUM and the MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR ADVOCATES FORUM, where fewer than 1% of U.S. lawyers are members, and which membership requires million dollar and multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements. Christian has also been named to Super Lawyers in Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Christian was born and raised in Maryland. Christian’s mother and father reside in Columbia, Maryland. His father was a graduate of DeMatha Catholic High School, and has been a professor at Bowie State University for over forty years. Like his father, Christian attended DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, and serves as Vice-President of its alumni association. For his dedication to DeMatha, he was awarded the Lou Amico Service Award in the DeMatha Hall of Fame. Christian is married and has three children. Christian coaches, or has coached in the past, his kids in basketball, baseball, and soccer. He and his wife Tina’s nights and weekends are happily spent taking their kids to and from their various sporting events and other extra-curricular activities. Over the years Christian has served on a number of non-profit boards, including the Brigance Brigade Foundation, Sacred Heart School, and No More Stolen Childhoods.
Christian and everyone else at McCarthy, Winkelman & Mester, L.L.P. take great pride in trying to put their clients’ lives back together; to help their clients when they have suffered medical negligence/medical malpractice through no fault of their own. Over the years, Christian and his partners have obtained some fantastic verdicts and settlements on behalf of their clients.
Education:
- Brown University (B.A., Political Science)
- University of Baltimore School of Law (J.D., cum laude)
Some of those verdicts and settlements
- $5,942,542 verdict in Washington D.C.’s Superior Court, upheld by the appeal’s court, against health care providers for their failure to treat a blood clot before it permanently injured the client’s spinal cord.
- $5,175,000 settlement for a client who was not delivered in time by the midwife and doctors to prevent the baby’s irreversible brain injury from lack of oxygen.
- $5,000,000 settlement for a client injured when her mother’s labor and delivery was negligently managed.
- $4,500,000 settlement for a newborn permanently injured when the health care providers ignored warning signs that required a timely cesarean section.
- $4,150,000 settlement for a newborn permanently injured when the health care providers ignored warning signs that required a timely cesarean section.
- $4,100,000 settlement for a child injured when the health care providers did not treat her for a suspected bacterial infection and allowed that infection to become bacterial meningitis, which caused permanent and lasting brain damage.
- $4,000,000 verdict for a mother and child injured when the treating midwife did not call in the obstetrician to deliver the baby before the baby suffered permanent brain injury. The jury allocated 70% of the fault to the midwife.
- $3,750,000 verdict for the family of a man who died when his primary care physician did not diagnose his lung cancer for over 20 months. The verdict was reduced under Maryland’s arbitrary cap on non-economic damages.
- $3,500,000 settlement for a newborn permanently injured when the health care providers ignored warning signs that required a timely cesarean section.
- $3,000,000 settlement on behalf of a husband and wife for permanent injuries sustained by the husband when the health care providers delayed the surgical procedure that he needed until it was too late.
- $1,200,000 settlement on behalf of the surviving husband and children and the estate of a woman who died when the health care providers did not treat her elevated blood pressures and other prenatal concerns until she suffered a brain bleed, from which she died.
- $1,000,000 settlement on behalf of a client injured by the surgeon during a gall bladder removal surgery.
- $1,000,000 settlement on behalf of the surviving children and the estate of a woman who died during a surgical procedure, when the physician negligently punctured a vein and then did not recognize it for hours, allowing the woman to bleed to death.
- Over $700,000 on behalf of the parents of a newborn whose condition was improperly treated, resulting in the newborn’s death.
- $700,000 settlement for the parents of a 24-month-old who died when the hospital did not diagnose pneumonia that was seen on the x-ray and treat it properly.
- $700,000 settlement on behalf of the surviving children of a woman who had a blood clot but who did not receive the necessary medications to prevent the blood clot from moving to her lungs.
- $455,000 settlement for a young adult who was thrown from his wheelchair because of his care provider’s negligence, fracturing his femur and requiring surgical procedures.
