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John David Hoover

Partner

John David Hoover is a founding partner with Hoover Hull LLP. He practices in the areas of commercial litigation, professional liability (including medical and legal malpractice defense), professional peer review, officer and director defense, campaign and election law, art litigation, and counseling buyers and sellers on the purchase and sale of fine art items. John is admitted to practice before all state and federal courts in Indiana, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and before the U.S. Supreme Court.

John has the highest professional rating (AV®*) provided by Martindale Hubbell. He was named by the Indianapolis Business Journal to “Who’s Who in Law,” and was selected for inclusion in the listing of Indiana Super Lawyers®** for the years 2004 through 2012. He is a member of the International Network of Boutique Law Firms (INBLF), and the Chairman of its Indiana Chapter.

Professional Experience

  • Represents closely held companies in business disputes involving breach of contract, business torts, restrictive covenants, trade secrets, and shareholder, officer and director litigation.
  • Represents physicians and attorneys in professional negligence actions.
  • Represents individuals, galleries, and sovereign nations in disputes involving the authenticity and ownership of fine art works.
  • Represents and counsels individual candidates and political parties on issues involving Indiana constitutional and election law.
  • Represents healthcare professionals and legal professionals in credentialing, ethics, and licensing disputes.

Education and Clerkships

John earned a B.A. degree from Vanderbilt University (1973) and a J.D., cum laude, from Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis (1980). John served as Associate Editor of the Indiana Law Review. He served as law clerk to The Honorable Judge Robert Lybrook of the Indiana Court of Appeals while attending law school, and as a law clerk to The Honorable Judge Gene E. Brooks of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana (1979-81).

Publications and Speaking Engagements

John has been a frequent speaker on topics including medical malpractice law, medical peer review law, legal ethics, legal malpractice law, and the sale and purchase of fine art items. Recent speaking engagements and publications include:

  • Presenter, Advertising and Solicitation Rules in Social Media, National Business Institute (December 2011).
  • Presenter, Legal Ethics and Social Media, St. Thomas More Society (November 2011).
  • Presenter, Legal Ethics in Online Social Media and Networking (presented at the 2011 Indiana State Bar Association Annual Meeting).
  • Presenter, Social Media and Legal Ethics (presented in 2011 for the Evansville Bar Association and Monroe County Bar Association, sponsored by the Indiana State Bar Association).
  • Presenter, Malpractice and Disciplinary Matters (presented in 2010 at a seminar entitled "Applied Professionalism for Young Lawyers" sponsored by the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association). 
  • Author, The Medical Malpractice Act: Is the Cap Constitutional?, Indiana Civil Litigation Review, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2004).
  • Author, Conflicts of Interest in the Defense of Medical Malpractice Cases, Federation of Defense and Corporate Council Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 1 (1999).
  • Presenter, Protecting Clients Who Purchase Foreign Art and Artifacts (presented in 1989 at Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum, International Trade).

Professional Associations, Memberships, and Community Service

  • John is a member of the Indianapolis, Indiana State, Seventh Circuit, and American Bar Associations. 
  • John currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Happy Hollow Children's Camp (past-Chair), the Indianapolis Art Center (past-Chair), and Congregation Beth El Zedeck. He previously served on the Boards of Directors of Park Tudor School (Chair), the Park Tudor Trust, The Children's Wish Foundation, BehaviorCorp, and the Leukemia Society of Indiana.
  • John is a member of the Ethics Committee of the Indiana State Bar Association and its immediate past Chair. He is a past co-chair of The Professionals, Officers and Directors Liability Sub-Committee of the Tort and Insurance Practice Committee of the American Bar Association.
  • John is a member of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, and is an Emeritus Member of the Sagamore American Inn of Court.

Representative Cases

  • Medical Assurance Co., Inc. v. Miller, 779 F. Supp. 2d 902 (S.D. Ind. 2011) (insurance coverage litigation; granting summary judgment to medical malpractice insurer and finding that insured’s breach of cooperation clause relieved insurer of duty to defend or indemnify in underlying suit).
  • Flatow v. Ingalls, 932 N.E.2d 726 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010), trans. denied (legal malpractice; reversing and remanding trial court’s denial of summary judgment; holding that attorneys had no duty to plaintiff due to the limited nature of their representation and that plaintiff failed to create an issue of fact as to proximate cause).
  • Hubbard v. Columbia Women's Hospital of Indianapolis, 807 N.E.2d 45 (Ind. App. Ct. 2004) (medical malpractice; holding that plaintiff failed to comply with Medical Malpractice Act and that trial court thus lacked subject matter jurisdiction).
  • Marion County Democratic Party v. Marion County Election Board, Case No. IP 01-1963, 2002 WL 1354717 (S.D. Ind. May 9, 2002) (election law; granting defendant’s motions to dismiss for failure to state claims for violations of the 1st Amendment's right of association or the 14th Amendment's right of equal protection under the laws).
  • Cram v. Howell, 680 N.E.2d 1096 (Ind. 1997) (medical malpractice; in matter of first impression, holding that physician owed a duty of care to take reasonable precautions in monitoring, releasing, and warning patient for the protection of unknown third persons).
  • Hutchinson v. Spanierman, 190 F.3d 815 (7th Cir. 1999) (art law; affirming summary judgment for defendant gallery on conspiracy claims relating to purchase and provenance of paintings by nineteenth-century American Impressionist painter Theodore Robinson).
  • Goldberg & Feldman Fine Arts, Inc. v. Autocephalous Greek-Orthodox Church of Cyprus, 917 F.2d 278 (7th Cir. 1990) (art law; affirming district court’s holding that church was entitled to the return of ancient Byzantine mosaics).

The foregoing judicial opinions are provided only as exemplars of the legal experiences of Hoover Hull LLP and its attorneys, and do not represent the full range of experience of the firm. They should not be viewed or used as a substitute for specific legal advice. Each of these legal matters presented a unique set of facts, and none should be viewed as suggesting or predicting any outcome in any other legal matter, regardless of similarity.

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* AV®, BV® and CV® are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the confidential opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. AV® is the highest rating available from Martindale Hubbell Peer Review Services. Martindale-Hubbell ratings fall into two categories—legal ability and general ethical standards.

** The Super Lawyers® selection process is based on nominations by attorneys licensed in Indiana combined with third party research. Up to 5% of the total lawyers in the state are selected for inclusion in the listing of Super Lawyers®.

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