Michael Cavaliere

Michael A. Cavaliere, a partner at Kline & Specter, joined Kline & Specter with a keen perspective on medical malpractice and other personal injury cases – from the defense side.

Cavaliere worked most of four years for a Philadelphia-based firm at which he handled complex matters defending some of the largest hospitals and health systems in the Philadelphia area. He also handled cases involving premises liability.

Most recently, with Kline & Specter, Cavaliere achieved a $5.25 million settlement for the family of a man who was stabbed and killed in his home. The assailant was a minor with severe mental health issues who had been admitted twice to a children’s psychiatric hospital with homicidal thoughts but was discharged just three days before the attack.

In March 2022, Cavaliere was lead counsel in a trial that resulted in a nearly $850,000 jury verdict on behalf of a 42-year-old Philadelphia man who died at Aria Torresdale Hospital. The patient suffered a fall and arrived at the hospital in hemorrhagic shock with bleeding into his stomach and abdomen. He was admitted, but never had surgery and died nearly two days later, suffering a cardiac arrest with an autopsy showing the cause of death as a perforated ulcer.

Cavaliere was co-counsel in litigation that produced a $3.38 million verdict in 2019 in the case of a 21-month-old girl who died due to a strangulated hernia involving her small intestine after staff at Einstein Medical Center in Elkins Park failed to properly diagnose and treat her or transfer the child to a hospital with pediatric care. The verdict concluded a two-week trial during which it was proved to the jury that in addition to medical mistakes, medical records had been altered to conceal symptoms of the child’s illness. (Read article)

Recently, Cavaliere was designated by the independent attorney group Super Lawyers* as a 2022 Rising Star in Pennsylvania, a designation reserved for the top 2.5 percent of attorneys in the state who are 40 or younger or practicing 10 years or less.

In one of his first cases at Kline & Specter, Cavaliere was co-counsel in litigation against a private prison company that produced a $7 million settlement plus significant policy changes at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Delaware County, Pa., where a mentally ill inmate committed suicide after being placed in solitary confinement for 52 straight days. (See news coverage) 

In 2018, Cavaliere was co-counsel in a case that resulted in a $4 million settlement for an autistic resident at a Philadelphia area treatment facility. A staff member there failed to report the crime for more than an hour and a half after witnessing a fellow employee rape the woman, who had the mental capacity of a five year old. The rapist was eventually arrested, convicted and sentenced to seven to 15 years in prison.

Before joining the firm, Cavaliere gained broad legal experience – both civil and criminal – with positions as a law clerk and a variety of internships. Prior to his law firm work, he was a law clerk working for New Jersey Superior Court judges in Mercer County, including Douglas H. Hurd (presiding judge of the court’s Civil Division), Darlene J. Pereksta and Anthony M. Massi. Cavaliere performed extensive legal research and writing on matters such as medical malpractice, personal injury and civil rights.

Cavaliere also held three internships while attending law school: with the law firm Spector Gadon and Rosen, PC, the Civil Rights Unit of the City of Philadelphia Law Department, and Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.

Cavaliere was a top student both as an undergraduate and in law school. He earned his law degree from the Thomas R. Kline School of Law, where he graduated summa cum laude and ranked fourth in a class of 144. He was also a member of Kline Law’s Moot Court Board, and participated in national competitions in Washington, D.C. and Boston.

Cavaliere also received graduation honors for his participation in the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project during which he volunteered to teach weekly courses on constitutional law and oral advocacy at a South Philadelphia high school. He coached one young woman into the final rounds of the program’s national moot court competition.

Cavaliere earned his undergraduate degree from Temple University, where he graduated magna cum laude.

He is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and is a member of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey bar associations.

Michael Cavaliere In The News:

$7 million settlement over Delco inmate's suicide, (watch videos) WTXF, 11/10/17; CBS 3, 11/9/17 (read articles) The Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/10/17; Lehigh Valley Live, 11/10/17; WHYY News, 11/9/17

Delco prison to pay $7M to kin of inmate who took own life, Delaware County Times, 11/9/17

Admissibility of informed consent in medical malpractice cases, The Legal Intelligencer, 4/11/17

Editorial: Public deserves answers about suicides at prison, Delaware County Times, 7/16/15