David Gould has been both the trial and appellate attorney on many precedent-setting cases including the following:
Skolnick v. Ident et al: David Gould and Steven Salzman litigated one of the first cases ever involving a mix-up at a sperm bank. A woman gave birth to a child that was not from the sperm of her husband as planned. The case, which garnered international attention, raised ethical and legal implications about the then nascent field of in vitro fertilization, and was a driving force behind new state regulations on how sperm banks are managed.
Bombing of TWA Flight 841, (1974): Regarding 9/11, then National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice stated that no one could have anticipated that a terrorist would blow himself up on a plane. In fact, 21 years earlier David Gould convinced a federal jury of TWA’s failure to institute proper security measures that led to the suicide bombing of Flight 841 on Sept 8, 1974, killing all 88 people aboard.
Skewes v. Infranca: David faced what the trial judge called the impossible task of threading a miniscule needle with a thick rope. In order to garner liability, he had to prove that the key defendant intentionally acted in concert with others in a gang to injure the plaintiff. But in order to hold in the insurance of the key defendant, he had to prove that resultant battery was not foreseeable or intended. David’s success in proving that there was an intended assault but not foreseeable battery was affirmed by the Appellate Division, as was the amount of the verdict, which the defendants claimed was excessive as a matter of law.
Simmons v. Clinton Housing Authority: David and Steve won a $3.5 million verdict for tenant of public housing shot by another tenant. In no other recorded case in New York had a landlord been held responsible for the shooting of one tenant by another.
Tehrani and Lorestani v. American Automobile Association et al: David Gould and co-counsel James Terrell obtained one of the few million dollar plus verdicts in Jacksonville, Florida in the mid 1980's. It was also the first time in Florida that AAA was held responsible for the negligence of the gas station responding to a AAA call, overcoming the independent contractor defense.
So v. Wing Tat Realty: David Gould and Steven Salzman won an appeal of their $600,000 verdict for a plaintiff who suffered an ankle fracture when the elevator she was riding fell three floors. The trial judge lowered the verdict to $400,000 but the original verdict was reinstated on appeal. The case is often cited by plaintiffs, because the appellate court took the unusual step of admonishing the trial judges to give deference to the fact finding of juries concerning the amount of damages to be awarded.
McDermott v. Torre (New York Court of Appeals): David Gould successfully argued what was to become a seminal case on the “continuous treatment” doctrine in medical malpractice cases after a mole on a woman’s ankle, misdiagnosed as benign, led to cancer in the groin.