Plaintiffs’ attorneys Tom Moore and Judy Livingston are accustomed to headlines and praise for their work in the courtroom. Moore has had 90 jury verdicts in excess of $1 million—a number that is reputed to be the largest in American history. Livingston has won 33 trials with verdicts over $1 million, and that number was confirmed to be the highest of any female attorney. But it has been the honors bestowed upon each of them outside the courtroom—for their efforts on behalf of the aggrieved and the needed—that has drawn additional attention this past year.
Livingston and Moore—who are married and who are the senior partners at Kramer, Dillof, Livingston & Moore in New York—were honored this past year with Fordham University’s Founder’s Award, the highest honor conferred by Fordham University. It "recognizes individuals whose personal and professional lives reflect the highest aspirations of the University’s defining traditions, as an institution dedicated to wisdom and learning in the service of others."
Livingston also received Hofstra University’s Presidential Medal, given to "distinguished persons in recognition of outstanding career achievement and professional leadership" and gave the commencement address to the law school’s graduating class. She had previously been given an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the university. Moore was similarly honored this year by Fordham University: he was given an honorary degree and gave the commencement address.
Their courtroom achievements reached new heights this past year: Moore won $172 million for a 29-year-old handicapped woman who was tragically injured after New York City EMTs responded to her home and then failed to perform even basic emergency care; $130 million for a 10-year-old girl seriously injured by a hospital during the mother’s labor and delivery; and $120 million against three New York hospitals and a doctor when a mother of two went to the hospital suffering from an allergic reaction to medication and was misdiagnosed and mistreated at each.
"Our clients have suffered irreparable tragedy," Moore says. "We restore to them a measure of hope, dignity and independence otherwise unattainable."
Similarly, Livingston achieved significant victories on behalf of clients, including an unprecedented $5.8 million verdict on behalf of the estate of a woman who committed suicide after being negligently treated at a state mental hospital; and an $18 million settlement on behalf of an infant whose neonatal necrotizing entercolitis was improperly diagnosed and treated.
"Every person in this firm—attorneys, medical experts, investigators, paralegals—is committed to obtaining justice and just compensation for people whose lives have been damaged," says Livingston.
"Tom Moore is one of the very best trial lawyers in the United States," said John Neary, the retired executive director of the law firm Weil, Gotshall & Manges. Neary noted that Moore, who was born in Ireland and came to America with his widowed mother and siblings when he was 17, first studied to be a priest. "He graduated from Catholic University and then switched to law, receiving his JD from Fordham University School of Law. Based upon his success in the legal profession," said Neary," he would probably be a Cardinal by now—it is the Church’s loss."
