[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 22, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E656]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 IN MEMORY OF MICHAEL KOSKOFF, ESQUIRE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JOE COURTNEY

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 22, 2019

  Mr. COURTNEY. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the life and deeds of 
Michael Koskoff, Esquire, a champion for civil and criminal justice who 
passed away on April 24, 2019. Michael resided in the state of 
Connecticut, where his law practice achieved the highest level of 
success for his clients in courtrooms all across America, because his 
intelligence, creativity, and high ethical and moral standards.
  Michael was a unique attorney. His family has been part of the trial 
bar over multiple generations, but also he was the scion of a family of 
stage performers. Some were actors, singers and musicians. His father, 
Theodore, was both his law partner and an accomplished cellist. ``We're 
show people,'' Michael once explained. He won record settlements in 
Connecticut negligence and malpractice cases by coupling skills he had 
acquired in training to be a Shakespearean actor with a lifelong 
antagonism toward corporate greed. He also pioneered the use of vivid 
courtroom videos delivered in a documentary format.
  For example, in 1979, Mr. Koskoff persuaded a jury in Danbury, CT, to 
award his client $1.8 million in a wrongful-death case--Connecticut's 
first verdict of more than $1 million in such a suit. In 1999, jurors 
awarded $27 million for what he had demonstrated was a bungled heart 
operation at Yale-New Haven Hospital, which left a 29-year-old man 
permanently blind and brain-damaged. At the time, it was the biggest 
personal injury verdict in the state's history. In a medical 
malpractice case that became the subject of a book, Damages: One 
Family's Legal Struggles in the World of Medicine by Barry Werth, a 
couple represented by Mr. Koskoff settled for $6.25 million in the 
early 1990s nine years after their baby, who had severe cerebral palsy 
and developmental disabilities, was born at Norwalk Hospital in 
Connecticut. (The child's twin brother had been stillborn there). In 
his book, Mr. Werth described Mr. Koskoff's courtroom techniques as 
``raw theater.'' ``Koskoff liked to depend on his own `visceral and 
instinctive reality' of what was happening in a courtroom--was a 
witness nervous? arrogant? appealing? unappealing?--to decide how best 
to keep the drama fresh,'' Mr. Werth wrote. ``He also liked to keep the 
other side's experts off balance by not letting them know what to 
expect of him. If he met them, he might like them, and that would dull 
his attack.''
  Madam Speaker, in addition to his successful practice, Michael had a 
rich family life. He married Rosalind Jacobs in 1963 and had four 
children--two daughters, Sarah Koskoff, an actress and screen writer, 
Juliet Koskoff a lawyer in New York, and two sons Jacob Koskoff a 
screenwriter who collaborated with his father on the feature film 
``Marshall,'' a rendering of a criminal trial Justice Thurgood Marshall 
handled as an attorney in 1941. His other son, Joshua, is a partner in 
Michael's firm who just last month prevailed in a groundbreaking case 
against the gun manufacturer Remington Arms--a case that was brought by 
the families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.
  Madam Speaker, Michael Koskoff brought to life the promise of 
American ideals of fairness and justice for ``the little guy.'' With 
all of his success though, he never ``put on airs'' with people he met. 
He was generous with his time and support for his colleagues in the 
legal profession, the arts, and political causes devoted to a better 
community and nation. His presence will be sorely missed by those who 
had the privilege to know him, including myself. However, it is safe to 
say his memory will never be forgotten.
  I would ask the House to please join me in extending deepest 
condolences to Michael's wife Rosalind and his family for their loss.

                          ____________________