Woe to any hostile witness who faced cross-examination by John Edward “Jed” Hurley ’59.
The former trial lawyer and partner in the San Francisco law firm McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen LLP was known for ferreting out all traces of prejudiced thinking, erroneous conclusions and unsubstantiated facts. He questioned everything. “Error gains validity through repetition,” he often warned. “I won’t stand for that.”
Before joining McCutchen in 1964, Hurley served in U.S. Army Intelligence and worked with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. He was tenacious, industrious and alert to possibilities both in and out of the courtroom.
For instance, he recognized a need for more medical malpractice insurance during a shortage in the 1970s and was key in the creation of NorCal Mutual Insurance Co. and the Southern California Physician’s Insurance Exchange. He also helped found the Dentist’s Insurance Co., a malpractice carrier for dentists, and MPC Insurance Ltd., a company that provided professional liability insurance to many of San Francisco’s largest law firms.
In 1996, Hurley received WSU’s highest honor, the President’s Medal. During a campus interview on that occasion, he reported with a twinkle in his eye and not a hint of morbidity, “At my funeral, I’m going to have them play Beethoven’s 'Ode to Joy' and Tom Jones singing 'I Did It My Way.' ”
Jed Hurley died July 4 in San Francisco.
