Results

By Order dated April 5, 2023, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania refused to review the Superior Court’s affirmance of a 2021 nonsuit obtained by Jack Delany in hotly contested litigation stemming from the death of a construction worker. John Hare and Shane Haselbarth handled the appeal along with Jack.

After the plaintiff was struck as a pedestrian by a motor vehicle, she recovered the bodily injury limits from the driver’s policy and her personal UIM policy. The plaintiff then submitted UIM claims under her daughter’s and granddaughter’s UIM policies. Both insurers denied the claims, citing to the “other insurance” clause in the policies, and claiming the plaintiff was not entitled to stacked coverage under her relatives’ policies as she and her relatives waived stacking under each of their respective policies.

We were successful in obtaining a dismissal of our client, a state interscholastic athletic association, by way of a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. The plaintiff was a high school wrestler who was not permitted to wrestle due to an alleged violation of the rules concerning hair style and covering requirements. The wrestler had his hair cut by the athletic trainer in order to wrestle. This incident was recorded by a local reporter and went viral.

The plaintiff filed a medical malpractice case, claiming the emergency room physician failed to appropriately treat her elevated blood sugar and groin abscess, leading to necrotizing fasciitis. The evidence presented to the jury supported the argument that the emergency room physician appropriately treated the small spontaneously draining groin abscess as presented, there were no signs of systemic infection, and the physician gave appropriate instructions for the plaintiff to return to the hospital if her symptoms changed or worsened.

We presented medical evidence, including a record review of all diagnostic study films and medical records from a Board-certified physiatrist, to establish that the claimant’s physiological complaints were unrelated to a work injury. The judge accepted our evidence as fully competent, persuasive and credible, and, as a result, terminated the claimant's benefits.

We successfully prosecuted a termination petition, securing a full recovery opinion from the court with reference to a Medicare eligible claimant who worked for a local Philadelphia financial institution. The claimant suffered a knee injury during the course and scope of employment. She ultimately required knee surgery for a torn meniscus. We presented evidence from the claimant’s treating surgeon, coupled with an independent expert, to produce an evidence record that demonstrated by preponderance of the evidence that the knee injury had fully resolved.

We represented a national internet retailer in the successful denial of a proposed lumbar fusion surgery and indemnity benefits. The claimant was awarded the injury and conservative medical treatment, however, the lumbar spine fusion surgery was denied, as were total and partial disability benefits. The client avoided a complex multi-level lumbar spine fusion surgery (L3-S1), total and partial disability benefits, and the post-surgical care. Because the surgery will not occur, the client is also relieved of a large post-operative permanent impairment award and surgical disfigurement.

We obtained summary judgment on a construction defect claim in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. The court dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims against the defendant, a homebuilder, in their entirety for the plaintiffs’ failure to adequately prove breach of contract, breach of express and implied warranties, fraud in the inducement, wrongful conversion and various alleged violations of the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices Act.

A unanimous panel of the the Third Circuit affirmed an order of the U.S.E.D. Pa., which had granted a Rule 12 motion to dismiss in favor of a former Assistant District Attorney. The plaintiff had plead guilty to murder and other offenses in 1990 after shooting a man in the back four times. In 1993, the plaintiff filed a petition under Pennsylvania’s Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), claiming ineffective assistance of counsel. The crux of his argument being his counsel failed to object when the court incorrectly stated the meaning of life imprisonment.

We obtained summary judgment on behalf of an orthopedic surgeon based on the statute of limitations despite the plaintiff’s claimed application of the discovery rule. After conducting written discovery and deposing the plaintiff to solidify that the medical professional liability action was untimely commenced, we early on filed a motion for summary judgment in an effort to avoid the incurrence of significant additional expense in defending the case through the remainder of the discovery process.