The New York Law Journal recently highlighted Harris Beach Murtha Appellate Practice Group Leader Brian D. Ginsberg’s leading role in the successful reversal of two jury verdicts against the city of Mount Vernon.

Noting it is rare for an appellate lawyer to win a reversal of a jury verdict, the article highlighted Brian’s reversal of an $11.7 million verdict against Mount Vernon for allegedly interfering with the contractual rights of a local tennis facility, and his reversal of a $2.4 million decision against Mount Vernon for allegedly interfering with the constitutional rights of a local beverage bottle-redemption center.

Both reversals came before the Appellate Division, Second Department. In the case involving the tennis facility, the court cited procedural missteps at the trial level, ordering a new trial that will be limited to the amount of damages, if any, to be awarded. In the case of the beverage bottle-redemption center, the court dismissed for evidentiary deficiencies.

“I never knew fully how rare these back-to-back-ish results were until people started coming up to me and saying, ‘This doesn’t happen a lot,’ ” said Ginsberg, in the Law.com article.

Mark Drummond, executive director and judicial director of the Civil Jury Project at New York University School of Law, agreed, saying appellate courts are reluctant to put their imprint on jury verdicts.

“I was a trial court judge for 20 years, and I never had a civil jury verdict reversed by an appellate court,” Drummond said. “It’s a good thing, that appellate courts generally don’t substitute their own judgment for the original jury. Twelve people are smarter than one person or a three-judge panel.”

Brian went on to discuss the appellate process in more detail, including the unusual posture of being engaged to present oral argument despite not having handled the preparation of the written briefs. Read the lengthy article to learn more.