Stephen P. Harten

Managing Partner
Location: Providence, Rhode Island

Phone: 401-331-3400

Fax: 401-331-3440

Email: sharten@rhgllp.com

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Steve Harten is a founding partner of Ratcliffe Harten Galamaga LLP. He began his career as an adjuster for Amica Mutual Insurance Company and a claims investigator for the Rhode Island Medical Malpractice Joint Underwriting Association. After graduating with honors from Suffolk University Law School in 1988, he joined Morrison Mahoney & Miller, where he spent seven years as an associate and five years as a partner. In 2000, he helped establish the firm now known as RHG LLP. 

Steve has represented litigants in all aspects of civil litigation including medical malpractice defense, personal injury, wrongful death actions, municipal liability, and healthcare licensing matters. Steve has been honored with the Martindale Hubbell AV preeminent rating by his peers and the judiciary. This is the highest possible rating for both legal ability and ethics. Steve has been successfully trying cases in the state and federal courts in Rhode Island and Massachusetts since 1989.

Areas of Practice

  • Civil Litigation
  • Medical Malpractice Defense
  • Insurance Defense
  • Healthcare Litigation
  • Personal Injury

Bar Admissions

  • Massachusetts, 1988
  • Rhode Island, 1989
  • United States District Court,
    District of Rhode Island, 1989
  • United States District Court,
    District of Massachusetts, 1990
  • United States District Court,
    1
    st Circuit, 2002

Education

  • Suffolk University Law School,
    Boston, Massachusetts
    J.D. cum laude – 1988
  • Providence College,
    Providence, Rhode Island
    B.A. cum laude – 1981

Professional Associations and Memberships

  • Massachusetts Bar Association, 1988 – Present
  • Rhode Island Bar Association, 1989 – Present
  • American Bar Association
  • Federal Bar Association 
  • Defense Research Institute
  • Defense Counsel of Rhode Island

Honors and Awards

  • Martindale Hubbell AV Rated

Past Employment Positions

  • Morrison Mahoney & Miller, Partner, 1995 – 2000
  • Morrison Mahoney & Miller, Associate, 1988 – 1995
  • Rhode Island Medical Malpractice Joint Underwriting Association, Investigator
  • Amica Mutual Insurance Company, Claims Adjuster

Representative Cases

Defense Verdicts: 

  • Represented a physician assistant and a nurse in a case alleging wrongful death resulting from negligent care in a Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit. 
  • Represented a primary care physician against a claim alleging wrongful death for Coumadin mismanagement. 
  • Represented a hospital and its staff with respect to allegations alleging a delay in the diagnosis and treatment of a spinal injury resulting in permanent disability. 
  • Represented a radiologist against allegations of a delay in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, and subsequent wrongful death.
  • Represented a hospitalist in a rehabilitation facility regarding his care of an inpatient who allegedly suffered a disabling postoperative complication resulting in irreversible injury and permanent disability to a lower extremity. 
  • Represented a nurse in a post-partum setting, regarding a patient who suffered a seizure, coma and permanent injury from an eclamptic event. 
  • Prevailed in a trial lasting two months on behalf of a hospital charged with the negligent diagnosis and treatment of a patient suffering an ischemic stroke, death resulting. 
  • Represented a primary care provider in a case alleging the failure to diagnose and treat necrotizing fasciitis.

How Can We Help You?

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Ratcliffe Harten Galamaga LLP
40 Westminster Street, 7th Floor
Suite 700
Providence, RI 02903
Local: 401-331-3400
Fax: 401-331-3440
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