Jack D. Lapidus

Jack D. LapidusPhone: (202) 785-0123 x19
Fax: (202) 393-3390
Email: jlapidus@macleaylynch.com

Mr. Lapidus graduated from Rutgers College at Rutgers University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History. He attended George Washington University Law School where he earned his law degree and graduated with honors in 1994.

Since graduation, Mr. Lapidus has worked for Macleay, Lynch, Gregg & Lynch P.C. He became a partner at the firm in 2000. His work is in all fields of civil litigation with significant experience and success in premises liability, motor vehicle negligence, torts, complex insurance coverage issues, consumer protection litigation and malpractice claims.

As an attorney with the firm Mr. Lapidus has served as lead counsel in a vast variety of trials and cases pending in State and Federal Court in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. He has secured decisions for his clients in a wide range of insurance coverage, premises liability, negligence, tort, consumer protection and catastrophic injury claims and litigated statutory claims brought under the Federal Truth in Lending Act, the Federal Odometer Act, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, State and Federal EEO statutes, an array of claims brought under the District of Columbia Condominium Act as well as the state consumer protection statutes in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. His experience extends from basic personal injury and contract litigation to serious cases involving multi-million dollar claims.

In addition to his experience at trial, Mr. Lapidus has successfully argued appeals before the Virginia Supreme Court and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and been involved in appeals before the D.C. Circuit, the Fourth Circuit and Maryland’s Appellate Courts. Key decisions from those arguments include: application and extension of the Professional Rescuer’s Doctrine in a case of first impression where the alleged negligent condition was not the cause of the rescuer’s presence at the scene; a finding of non-liability for a rental car company under the District of Columbia’s ownership statute where the renter loaned the vehicle to a friend; application of the statutory damages cap under the Federal Truth in Lending Act; clarification of a pet owner’s duty in the absence of an applicable leash law; and an explanation on the limits and applicability of the sudden emergency doctrine as a defense to contributory negligence in a case affirming the non-liability of a condominium association for a passenger’s fall from an elevator.

Mr. Lapidus serves as an occasional guest lecturer for the Institute for Paralegal Education. In that capacity he has given separate one-day training courses in topics on Automobile Injury Claims and Advanced Civil Discovery. He also co-authored the text used in the Automobile Injury Claims course.

PRACTICE AREAS:

  • Civil Litigation
  • EEO litigation
  • Insurance Defense
  • Insurance Coverage
  • Premises Liability
  • Personal Injury
  • Professional and Medical Malpractice
  • Torts
  • Consumer Protection Litigation
  • Construction Litigation

Education:

  • Rutgers College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey (B.A. 1991)
  • Eagleton Institute of Politics – Undergraduate Associate of Public Policy
  • George Washington University, Washington, D.C. (J.D. with Honors, 1994)

BAR MEMBERSHIP:

  • Virginia (1994)
  • Maryland (1995)
  • District of Columbia (1996)
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia (1996)
  • U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (1996)
  • U.S. Circuit Court, District of Columbia (1999)
  • U.S. District Court, Western District of Virginia (2000)
  • U.S. Circuit Court, Fourth Circuit (2001)