In the more than 40 years that Ed Ryan has appeared before local juries, he has tried a number of different types of cases to verdict ranging from auto collisions to product liability. He has appeared in court primarily in upstate New York, but he attained a sizable verdict in a fraudulent estate case in Surrogate’s Court, New York County (Manhattan) and has successfully appeared in court in Los Angeles, California, Oakland County, Michigan and Palm Beach County, Florida.
Recently, Ed has obtained settlements totaling several millions of dollars including a jury verdict in Supreme Court (Saratoga County) in the amount of $1,703,000 for injuries suffered by a flagman struck in a construction zone and a jury in Albany County awarded $1,040,000 for another case involving roadwork site injuries.
Ed obtained a verdict including post-appeal interest against Wal-Mart, Inc. for in excess of $700,000.00 on behalf of a shopper who was injured by falling merchandise and in a highway design case involving a brain-injured client, the recovery from the insurance carriers and the State of New York totaled $936,000.00 on what had initially been a case with a minimum policy of $25,000.00. Another brain injury case, for example, involved a $5.2 million dollar structured settlement for an infant who fell from a defectively built stairway.
In recent years, Ed and Christopher Meyer have attained millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements on behalf of injured workers including construction site Labor Law cases and recently a settlement of $1,750,000.00 for injuries arising as a result of a high-speed police chase. (See Appellate Division decision that sets forth the underlying facts of the case Hilton v. Jones, 114 AD 3d 1113 (3rd Dept. 2014).
Often it is necessary to use experts in such fields as tire safety and OSHA regulations, vocational evaluators, economists and specialists in various medical fields, particularly neurosurgery and orthopedics.
Ed is a Diplomate of the The American Association for Justice, a distinction awarded to fewer than 1 % of all trial lawyers.
Ed is a 1969 graduate of Siena College and a 1977 graduate of Fordham University School of Law. He served as a U.S. Army officer and attended law school on the G.I. Bill and a New York State Regents scholarship as a Vietnam-era veteran. Between active duty and reserve obligations, he fulfilled a nine-year military commitment (1969-1978).
Ed is married to Diane Deveines Ryan, M.D. and they have two children, a son who is also a graduate of Fordham Law School and practices downstate in the areas of patent and trademark litigation and a daughter who is a physician in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Ed served from 2018 to 2020 as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of La Salle Institute in Troy, NY, a Christian Brothers college preparatory high school. He previously served a seven-year term as a member of the Board of Trustees and also previously served as chair of the school’s scholarship fund appeal. He is the Class of 1965 representative, a position that he has held for more than 20 years and now serves as an Adjunct Member of the Board of Trustees.
