Joseph L. Reese, Jr.

Joseph joined Starnes Davis Florie upon graduating law school in 1997 and became a partner in 2004. His practice is devoted to civil litigation, with an emphasis on professional liability matters in which he represents physicians, hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other healthcare providers. Joseph has tried 50 complex civil cases to a jury verdict, has arbitrated 10 healthcare provider liability cases to a final binding decision following an evidentiary hearing, and has represented facilities in administrative proceedings. He is licensed in both Alabama and Tennessee.

Professional Recognition

•American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA): National Board Representative (2024); President (AL Chapter), 2022-2023; Vice-President (AL Chapter), 2020-2021; Treasurer (AL Chapter), 2017-2020
•Listed in Best Lawyers in America for Medical Malpractice Law
•Named a Alabama Super Lawyer by Mid-South Super Lawyers

Highlights

• Obtained a defense award on behalf of an independent living facility in a negligence and premises liability case arising from a resident’s fall at the facility.
•Obtained a defense verdict for a gastroenterologist following a 6 day jury trial, involving allegations of a perforated esophagus during the performance of an esophageal dilation procedure.
•Obtained a defense award in a wrongful death case brought against a skilled nursing facility following an arbitration hearing involving allegations of negligence.
•Obtained a defense award in a personal injury case brought against a skilled nursing facility and the Director of Nursing, involving a left distal femur fracture of unknown etiology.
•Obtained a defense award in an arbitration in favor of a nursing home in a wrongful death case arising from allegations involving a fall sustained by a resident.
•Obtained a jury verdict for a general surgeon accused of negligently performing a gallbladder removal surgery, causing a bile duct injury.
•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 following a 3 day arbitration in a case alleging the defendant nursing home’s unsanitary environment and its failure to properly clean, treat, and monitor a surgical incision site caused the resident to develop an infection that necessitated amputation of the resident’s leg.
•Obtained a defense judgment following a nursing home malpractice case involving the death of a resident alleged to have resulted from a medication error and the failure to appropriately treat the resident’s condition and monitor the resident’s hydration status.
•Obtained a defense judgment following an arbitration of a nursing home malpractice case involving claims of personal injury and wrongful death arising out of a fall and the subsequent development of a bedsore.
•Obtained a defense judgment following a four day arbitration of a nursing home malpractice case involving claims of personal injury and wrongful death.
•Obtained defense verdict on behalf of a surgeon in a wrongful death case in which the patient died at home of a perforated colon only hours after being evaluated by the surgeon in his office.
•Obtained judgment as a matter of law during jury trial for general surgeon accused of negligently failing to prescribe anticoagulants following an intra-operative surgical complication.
•Obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a nursing home following a five day jury trial in a case involving a rehabilitation resident who was assessed on admission as a high fall risk and who later fell, sustaining a depressed skull fracture with resulting brain injury.
•Obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a gastroenterologist following a seven day jury trial in a case involving a patient who suffered a cardio-pulmonary arrest during an endoscopic procedure performed under conscious sedation.

Presentations and Publications

•Getting it Right the First Time: Learning from Today’s Top Verdicts and Settlements, American Conference Institute 7th Annual Forum on Long Term Care Litigation, Miami, FL (January 19, 2017)
•Is this Just Another One of Those Nursing Homes? Alabama Nursing Home Association Meeting, Birmingham, AL (February 3, 2014)
•Medical Malpractice: Expert Witness Issues - Case Law, Depositions, and Impeachment, NBI Webinar (August 8, 2013)
•Lessons Learned from Recent Arbitrations, Alabama Nursing Home Defense Lawyers Association, Perdido Beach, AL (April 28, 2012)

News & Insights

•35 Starnes Attorneys Listed in Best Lawyers in America 2026
•SDF’s Brittney Claud & Joseph Reese Obtain Defense Award for Independent Living Facility
•Starnes Attorneys Joe Miller & Joseph Reese Prevail in a 6-Day Medical Malpractice Trial
•33 Starnes Attorneys Listed in Best Lawyers in America 2025
•30 Starnes Attorneys Listed in Best Lawyers in America 2024
•SDF Attorneys Prosch & Reese Obtain Defense Verdict After a 6-Day Trial
•30 SDF ATTORNEYS LISTED IN BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA 2023
•Starnes Attorneys Reese & Prosch Win Arbitration for a Skilled Nursing Facility
•SDF Attorneys Receive Various Appointments
•Reese & Claud Obtain Defense Award in Nursing Home Case
•Starnes Attorneys Reese & Hines Secure Favorable Arbitration Ruling for a Rehab Facility
•Joseph Reese and Allison Adams Secure Favorable Ruling for a Nursing Home in Arbitration
•29 SDF ATTORNEYS LISTED IN BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA 2022
•Joseph Reese & George Newton Selected to Serve on the Executive Committee of the Alabama Chapter of ABOTA
•Twenty-Six SDF Attorneys Listed in Best Lawyers in America 2021
•SDF Attorneys Reese & Miller Win Trial for General Surgeon
•Thirty SDF Attorneys Listed in Best Lawyers 2020
•Twenty-Seven SDF Attorneys Listed in Best Lawyers in America 2019
•SDF Attorneys Joseph Reese & Billy Bates Win Trial in Professional Liability Case
•SDF Attorney Joseph Reese Obtains Defense Award in a 3-Day Arbitration of a Nursing Home Malpractice Case