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Jessica Tariq

She | Her | Hers

Counsel

"I tackle problems with perspective, understanding each client's unique needs and providing the most comprehensive picture of the issue at hand."

Overview

Biography

Jessica concentrates her practice on tort defense and insurance coverage disputes, representing individuals and businesses in pre-suit matters and litigated actions across New York State and beyond. She litigates declaratory judgment actions arising out of first-party losses and third-party claims, and she defends claims ranging from slip-and-fall incidents to more complex construction-site accidents. Jessica’s experience counseling clients from the pre-suit stage through litigation, including the appeal process, has taught her the importance of assessing how issues may evolve through each phase of a dispute.

In addition to her own practice, Jessica serves as a member of the Rochester office Opportunity, Inclusion & Belonging Leadership Team.

Bar Associations

  • Monroe County Bar Association
  • New York State Bar Association

Selected Memberships & Affiliations

  • Barclay Damon Women's Forum
Experience

Representative Experience

  • Obtained summary judgment and dismissal of inmate's 14th Amendment claims against health care providers based on inmate's failure to establish an objectively serious medical need.
  • Obtained summary judgment in a premises liability matter involving a fall down interior stairs. 
  • Successfully appealed a decision concerning the proper measure of damages in a motor vehicle accident matter. 
  • Successfully defended a personal injury action on grounds that the claim was barred by a prior release. 
  • Secured dismissal of an inmate's Fourteenth Amendment claims against health care providers based on failure to allege the requisite elements of deliberate indifference and failure to set forth a Monell claim.
  • Obtained dismissal of an inmate's Fourteenth Amendment claims against health care providers based on the inmate's failure to allege deliberate indifference against individual providers and failure to set forth a Monell claim against the health care entity.
  • Successfully obtained dismissal of the complaint and denial of a motion for leave amend in a matter against a health services provider and individual administrator concerning an alleged delay of medical treatment where the complaint asserted claims under 42 USC 1983, Article 26 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Right, and the Massachusetts Tort Claim Act.

Prior Experience

  • Rupp Baase Pfalzgraf Cunningham LLC, Associate
  • Hamberger & Weiss, Attorneys at Law, Law Clerk
  • Monroe County Family Court, Custody and Visitation Legal Intern
  • Xerox Corporation, Office of General Counsel Legal Intern

Selected Honors

  • Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America®: Insurance Law, 2024–2025; Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants, 2024–2025; Product Liability Litigation – Defendants, 2024–2025
  • Selected to Super Lawyers Upstate New York Rising Stars: Class Action, 2024
  • University at Buffalo School of Law, CALI Excellence for the Future Award: Pro Se Civil Litigation Practicum, 2015
  • University at Buffalo School of Law, CALI Excellence for the Future Award: Constitutional Law, 2014

Featured Media

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EPA Issues Memorandum Reminding States and Tribes of Their Limited Authority Under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act

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Non-Judicial Collateral Remedies, Part 2 – Sale of Collateral

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NYS Court of Appeals Applies the Assumption of Risk Doctrine to One Golf Course Injury but Not Another

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Bankruptcy Avoidance Actions, Part 2 – Fraudulent Transfers

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NYS Court of Appeals: CVA Plaintiff Must Prove Notice of Abuse Applying Then-Prevailing Standards in Decades-Old Sexual Abuse Case

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Website Accessibility Lawsuits: Several "Tester" Plaintiffs—Darnell Williams, Tanisia Bowman, Dominique Tompkins, Kimberly Miller, and Judith Adela Fernandez Martinez—Targeting Businesses in Recent Flurry of Lawsuits