Amber L. Pearce is a partner and leads the firm’s Appellate Practice Group. Her practice focuses on state and federal appeals primarily involving the defense of medical negligence claims against health care providers. Her appellate practice also concentrates on complex tort- and contract-based civil appeals.
Recent appellate highlights include Volkert v. Elizabeth Ziegler, Ph.D. et al., 8 Wn. App. 2d 399 (2019) (holding that the Uniform Health Care Information Act, 70.02 et seq. applies to the disclosure of past expert IME medical reports); Reagan v. Dr. Newton, 7 Wn. App. 2d 781 (2019) (affirming dismissal of medical negligence claims against an IME physician for failure to produce expert testimony, and holding that IME doctors are subject to RCW 7.70 et seq., not common law negligence); Yankee v. Group Health et al., 2019 Wash. App. Lexis 590 (2019) (affirming denial of CR 60(b) motion to vacate order of judgment for medical malpractice defense verdict); Moyer v. PeaceHealth et al., 2018 Wash. App. Lexis 818 (2018), review denied, 191 Wn.2d 1006 (2018) (affirming judgment on jury medical malpractice defense verdict); Barton v. Dr. Sandifer et al., 2017 Wash. App. Lexis 1743 (2017) (affirming trial court dismissal of medical malpractice and informed consent claims because plaintiff failed to provide supportive expert testimony); Brownfield v. Valley General Hospital, 2017 Wash. App. Lexis 2278 (2017) (same); Dunakin v. Dr. Anous, 2015 Wash. App. Lexis 2766 (2015) (affirming medical malpractice defense verdict and denial of a new trial); Haskins v. MultiCare Health Sys., 186 Wn. App. 11 (2014), review denied, 183 Wn.2d 1020 (2015) (reversing the trial court in a medical malpractice case, and holding that the collateral source rule, RCW 7.70.080, is constitutional, and that a defendant may designate an employee who is also a fact witness to be its ER 615 in-court representative).
Amber has briefed and/or argued appeals in state and federal courts throughout her career including N.K. v. BSA and Pacific Harbors Council, 175 Wn. App. 517, 107 P.3d 730, review denied, 179 Wn.2d 1005 (2013) (affirming dismissal and limiting duties that scouting organizations owe to alleged victims of sexual abuse); and Wilcox v. Bartlett Services, et al., 187 Wn.2d 772 (2017) (affirming directed verdict to one defendant and defense verdict to second defendant with respect to the borrowed servant defense).
Amber graduated from New England Law Boston, where she served as Editor in Chief, New England Law Review, 1996-97. She was awarded the Dean’s Award of Excellence and Achievement, 1997; Dean’s List, 1996-97; and the CALI Award in Trial Practice, 1997. Her law review article, Faulkner v. Jones: The Constitutionality of The Citadel’s Single-Gender Admissions Policy, was published at 31 New Eng. L. Rev. 523 (1997). During Amber’s undergraduate studies at Middle Tennessee State University, where she earned a B.A. in English, she drafted a bill enacted into law by the Tennessee State Legislature to provide funding for state domestic violence shelters by raising the marriage license fee.
Amber enjoys gardening, family time, and traveling in developing countries.