Reed R. Bates

Reed is a partner at Starnes Davis Florie and has served on various firm committees. He is chair of the firm’s long term care practice group.

Reed’s practice is devoted to civil litigation with a special emphasis representing healthcare providers in litigation and regulatory matters. His litigation experience includes professional medical liability, long term care/nursing home liability, pharmaceutical and medical device liability, product liability, and general personal injury, wrongful death and insurance litigation (including defense of direct claims against insurance companies for breach of contract, bad faith, and fraud). Reed has arbitrated and tried numerous complex jury and non-jury cases to a verdict.

Professional Recognition

•Listed in Best Lawyers in America for Medical Malpractice - Defendants
•Listed in Birmingham’s B-Metro Magazine’s 2018-2021 “Top Lawyers” List
•“Litigation Star” in Benchmark Litigation
•Past Chair of Medical Defense and Health Law Committee and Past Vice-Chair of the Nursing Home/Long-Term Care Sub-Committee of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC)
•Currently serves on the Legal Committee for the American Health Care Association (AHCA)
•Member of the Alabama Nursing Home Defense Lawyers Association (President 2006-2009)
•Member of the Medical Liability and Health Care Law Section of DRI
•Member of the American Health Lawyers Association
•Member of the Alabama Defense Lawyers Association
•Member of the Alabama State Bar Leadership Forum
•Reed has also served as a member of Alabama State Bar's Judicial Liaison Committee

Highlights

•Successfully defended an appeal, where the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed without opinion the trial court’s order compelling arbitration of the plaintiff’s wrongful death and medical malpractice claims against a long-term health facility, rejecting arguments that the arbitration agreement was unenforceable due to lack of mutuality of obligation and other grounds.
•Secured a defense verdict in nursing home wrongful death medical malpractice case alleging the defendant failed to properly diagnose and treat a resident for Clostridium Difficile Colitis.
•Obtained a favorable ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court holding an arbitration agreement enforceable in a senior living case based upon the principles of apparent authority.
•Obtained a defense award, after a three-day Arbitration, on behalf of a nursing home in a personal injury and wrongful death case arising from resident falling from a wheelchair.
•Obtained a defense award for a nursing home and rehabilitation center in a wrongful death, medical malpractice action in a case involving allegations that the resident suffered numerous falls, the last of which resulted in a subdural hematoma that caused the resident’s death.
•Secured a dismissal of claims of medical malpractice and wrongful death against a local home health and hospice agency. Citing provisions of the Alabama Medical Liability Act regarding the necessity of expert testimony on the issues of standard of care and causation, Reed obtained summary judgment in favor of his client.
•Secured a summary judgment in Arbitration for a nursing home client in a wrongful death medical malpractice case.
•Secured a dismissal of breach of contract and declaratory judgment coverage claims against homeowner’s insurance company in United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
•Obtained a defense verdict in favor of an oral and maxillofacial surgeon in a case involving a bilateral total joint replacement of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ).
•Obtained a defense verdict in favor of a nursing home in a wrongful death case arising from allegations that a patient died from gastrointestinal bleeding, infection, and hemorrhage at a dialysis access site.
•Obtained a defense verdict in favor of an assisted living facility and the facility’s executive director in a six-day arbitration hearing involving a resident’s allegations of sexual assault.
•Obtained defense verdict for nursing home in four day arbitration involving claims by plaintiff for personal injury and wrongful death.
•Secured reversal by Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals of Order dismissing 9 U.S.C.4 Complaint to Compel Arbitration for lack of subject matter jurisdiction in nursing home case.
•Successfully compelled malpractice claims against nursing home in Arkansas into arbitration.
•Obtained defense verdict on behalf of emergency department physician in seven-day wrongful death trial.
•Obtained dismissal of cardiologist in wrongful death case.
•Obtained jury verdict for emergency department physician in ten-day wrongful death case.
•Currently representing numerous nursing homes and long term care facilities throughout the State of Alabama in personal injury and wrongful death cases.
•Obtained dismissal of class action against nursing home operator and insurance company arising from alleged violations of Medicare Secondary Payor Act.

Presentations and Publications

•Thinking Outside the Box, Act II: Global Perspective to Risk Management, Etc, Alabama Nursing Home Association Mid-Year Conference, Orange Beach, AL, April 27, 2022.
•Arbitration: Trends, Issues & Hot Topics, Alabama Nursing Home Defense Lawyers Association Annual Meeting, Orange Beach, AL, April 26, 2022.
•Risk Management - Resident Care & Employment Issues, Health Care Leadership Conference, Orange Beach, AL, October 18, 2018.
•Sexual Assault in Long-Term Care: Evaluating and Defending these Claims, Alabama Nursing Home Defense Lawyers Association, Orange Beach, AL, April 24, 2018.
•Mega Rule Staffing Requirements a ’ Are you Ready,? Alabama Nursing Home Association, Birmingham, AL, October 23, 2017.
•Arbitration Best Practices, Alabama Nursing Home Defense Lawyers Meeting, Orange Beach, AL, April 26, 2014.
•Criminal Acts by Employees, Alabama Nursing Home Defense Lawyers Meeting, Orange Beach, AL, April 26, 2014.
•Trends in Nursing Home Litigation - Avoiding the Multi-Million Dollar Mistake, Senior Care Pharmacy Conference, Birmingham, AL, April 10, 2014.
•Is This Just Another One of Those Nursing Homes?, Alabama Nursing Home Association Meeting, Birmingham, AL, February 3, 2014.
•“Whoa to the Company that Fails to Include a Class Wide Arbitration Waiver,” IADC Medical Defense and Health Law Committee Newsletter, January 31, 2014.
•Open Floor Discussion: Are You Producing More Than Your Peers? Pushing Back On A Request for Production, American Conference Institute’s Seminar on “Preventing and Defending Long Term Care Litigation,” Miami, FL, January 28, 2014.
•“Are You As Guilty As The Criminal? Liability For Criminal Acts Of Third Parties And Employees,” Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel Quarterly Publication, FDCC Quarterly (Fall 2013).
•Preparing and Developing Testimony from Frontline Caregivers, DRI Nursing Home / ALF Litigation Seminar, Las Vegas, NV, September 2012
•Risk Management: Resident Care Litigation and Labor & Employment Perspectives, Alabama Assisted Living Association, September 2012
•Trial and Error: Lessons Learned from Recent Multi-Million Dollar Verdicts in Medical Malpractice Cases, IADC Annual Meeting, Asheville, NC, July 2012
•Risk Management: Patient Care Litigation, Regulatory Compliance, and Labor & Employment Perspectives, Alabama Nursing Home Association, May 2012
•Class Actions and Arbitration Update in Nursing Home Cases, Alabama Nursing Home Defense Lawyers Association, April 2011
•Mission Impossible: Resolution of a Case with a Medicare Claimant, Alabama Nursing Home Association Owners Meeting, Highlands, NC, July 2010
•Arbitration Update, Alabama Nursing Home Defense Lawyers Association, May 2010
•Reed R. Bates and Stephen W. Still, Jr., “Arbitration in Nursing Home Cases: Trends, Issues and a Glance into the Future”, IADC Defense Counsel Journal, Vol. 76, No. 3, Pages 282-299 (July 2009) * Please Note: this article was reprinted with the permission of the IADC Defense Counsel Journal.
•Arbitration in Nursing Home/Health Care Cases: National Trends, Hot Topics and a Glance into the Future, 2009 IADC Mid-Year Conference, Carlsbad, CA, February 2009
•Arbitration in Nursing Home Cases, Alabama Nursing Home Association Owners Meeting, Highlands, NC, July 2008
•Nursing Home Litigation, Alabama Bar Institute for CLE, October 2007
•Nursing Home Malpractice: Evaluating and Addressing Accountability, National Business Institute, September 2007
•Effectively Using Medical Evidence in Court, National Business Institute, May 2007
•Medical Practice Litigation Tips, Barristers Educational Services, December 2006
•Measures to Prevent Litigation and Successfully Defend Medical Malpractice cases, Turenne Pharmedco University, August 2006
•Enforcement of Arbitration Provisions in Long Term Care Litigation, Alabama Nursing Home Defense Lawyers Conference, May 2006
•Arbitrating Nursing Home Cases, Alabama Nursing Home Defense Lawyers Association, November 2005
•Recent Developments in Nursing Home Litigation, Lorman Education, February 2005

News & Insights

•Starnes Davis Florie Obtains Multiple Appellate Victories
•Benchmark Litigation 2026 Ranks Starnes Davis Florie as a Highly Recommended Litigation Firm
•35 Starnes Attorneys Listed in Best Lawyers in America 2026
•Starnes Davis Florie Ranked as a Highly Recommended Litigation Firm in the 2025 Edition of Benchmark Litigation
•33 Starnes Attorneys Listed in Best Lawyers in America 2025
•Bates & Still Secure Defense Verdict in Nursing Home Arbitration
•Starnes Davis Florie Ranked as a “Highly Recommended Litigation Firm” in the 2024 Edition of Benchmark Litigation
•30 Starnes Attorneys Listed in Best Lawyers in America 2024
•News Alert: OSHA’s focus on workplace violence in healthcare continues
•SDF’s Davis, Bates & Newton Obtain Favorable Ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court
•Bates, Still & Claud Obtain Defense Award for a Nursing Home in Arbitration
•Reed Bates & Will Davis Obtain Defense Award for a Nursing Home in Arbitration
•Starnes Davis Florie Highly Ranked in Benchmark Litigation 2023
•30 SDF ATTORNEYS LISTED IN BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA 2023
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