Results

We obtained summary judgment in a putative class action lawsuit in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of a large insurer. The case dealt with a letter the insurance carrier would send to their insureds following a motor vehicle accident in which they advised their insureds that they would have a rental vehicle for five days. The named plaintiffs argued the letter misrepresented the policy language and they sued for breach of contract, bad faith, declaratory judgment and equitable relief.

Our appellate attorneys were retained shortly before trial. While driving our client’s truck, an employee struck a car from behind that had stopped in the middle of the road after its hood flew open. The collision injured three members of a family and killed a six-year-old child. The Superior Court vacated the judgment and remanded for a new trial on the basis that the trial judge had improperly granted summary judgment to several vehicle repair shops, all of whom knew of but failed to repair the condition that made the car’s hood fly open.

Marshall Dennehey's health care attorneys obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a midwife in a case involving alleged failure to properly manage and care for a patient’s labor and delivery, resulting in catastrophic injury to her child. Counsel for the minor-plaintiff argued that the pregnancy and labor were high risk. Therefore, it was below the standard of care to use intermittent auscultation (IA) during the second stage of labor.

Obtained a defense verdict after a three-day trial in Philadelphia County in favor of an automobile manufacturer. The plaintiffs claimed their new truck was purchased with a defect in the truck’s paint called “rail dust.” The plaintiff asserted claims under the Pennsylvania Lemon Law, Magnuson Moss Warranty Act, and Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection law that the “rail dust” either occurred in the manufacturing process or during transportation of the truck by the manufacturer to the dealership.

We obtained summary judgment in a wrongful death case arising from an alleged drowning in a whirlpool at a spa. The decedent, a 73-year-old woman, was found unresponsive by a lifeguard in the client’s whirlpool. There was no evidence as to how long the decedent had been submerged in the hot tub before she was found. The Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy and listed the decedent’s primary cause of death as hypertensive and arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with cardiomegaly. Drowning was listed as a significant contributing factor.

Obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a supermarket in a premises liability case in the Court of Common Pleas of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. The plaintiff claimed that she was injured when her hand was trapped in a deli case door that was closed by an inattentive employee. She claimed that in an attempt to free her hand from the deli case, she suffered an injury to her shoulder and her neck. MRI scans after the incident did show degenerative disc disease in her neck, as well as multiple herniated discs.

We obtained summary judgment in the Passaic County Superior Court of New Jersey on behalf of a non-profit shelter for battered women. The plaintiff, who was staying at the shelter at the time of her alleged incident, accused the shelter of negligence with regard to removing snow and ice from their parking lot. The plaintiff attempted to argue that she was not a “beneficiary” of the shelter but was a volunteer, who was not required to help but who chose to work at the shelter in exchange for room and board.

We successfully defended a national car company in a case involving the defense of a termination petition, the claimant’s petition for review of the utilization review determination, the claimant’s petition to review compensation benefit off-set, and a petition for penalties. The case involved a 2013 injury involving low back sprain/strain and an aggravation of degenerative disc disease with radiculopathy and facet arthropathy.

We successfully defended an eastern regional can corporation in the litigation of a brain injury case. The claimant was struck in the lower extremities by a form of sheet metal which caused him to become unconscious. Nearly three years later, the claimant filed a petition alleging that he sustained a brain injury with post-concussion syndrome and cervical disc herniations as a result of the incident. The defense presented fact witness testimony from the scene of the accident which directly contradicted the claimant’s version of the facts.

We successfully defended a national home décor manufacturer in the litigation of a review petition, which sought to add a cervical disc herniation and surgery to the nature of injury accepted in the case. The litigation had wide ramifications since the same claimant had attempted to reinstate workers’ compensation benefits based on an accepted shoulder/arm injury a year earlier and failed. As a result, the claimant traveled to Florida and underwent cervical disc surgery, claiming it was part of the same work-related injury.