Results

In a case where an insurance broker faced claims of professional negligence, Carol VanderWoude (Philadelphia) successfully defended the plaintiff’s appeal from a verdict obtained by Tim Ventura and Dana Gittleman (Philadelphia). The verdict against our client, an independent insurance broker, was well below the lost value of UIM coverage (i.e., $1 million), which the plaintiff sought to recover based on an alleged breach of the professional standard of care in failing to procure an endorsement for $ 1 million in UIM coverage on the plaintiff’s decedent’s commercial auto policy. 

Obtained dismissal of claims in a civil rights action brought against their attorney client in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The plaintiff brought claims for Deprivation of Rights (42 U.S.C. § 1983), Conspiracy Against Rights (42 U.S.C. § 1985), and Civil Conspiracy against their client. Jake and Josh filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to F.R.C.P. 12(b)(6), arguing that the plaintiff had failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.

We successfully defended against the plaintiff’s appeal in the Appellate Division, Second Department. The appeal challenged an order that adhered to a prior ruling by the Supreme Court, Westchester County, which had granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, dismissing the complaint. In our brief, we argued that the appeal should be dismissed due to the plaintiff’s failure to assemble a proper record on appeal. The plaintiff omitted critical documents relied upon by the motion court, including submissions supporting and opposing the defendant’s motion.

We successfully contested a claimant’s request for authorization for a van equipped with a wheelchair lift, arguing it was not a medical necessity following a work-related injury. Testimony revealed the claimant’s significant mobility challenges were due to a work-related traumatic brain injury and spastic hemiplegia. However, the employer/carrier contested the request, asserting it was neither reasonable nor medically necessary based on the authorized treating physician’s assessment.

We successfully defended a Massachusetts-based insurance company in a bitter dispute with the federal government regarding a Medicare conditional lien request. The insurance carrier’s satellite office is based out of New Jersey, and the underlying claim involved an injury sustained in a motor vehicle accident with payments being made to the claimant under a New Jersey PIP policy. The carrier exhausted the PIP policy following the injury.

After four hearings, we obtained the dismissal of a complex legal malpractice action arising out of litigation in the U.S. District Court over the failed purchase of a Kia dealership in New Jersey. The plaintiff’s claims against our client, a well-known transactional lawyer with one of the largest firms in the United States, involved hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees and losses related to the investment in the dealership.

We obtained summary judgment on behalf of several Philadelphia narcotics police officers in a Section 1983 malicious prosecution and fabrication of evidence lawsuit. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania dismissed the case, with prejudice, finding the record was barren of any fabricated evidence by any of the defendant officers that was ever used in or influenced any criminal proceeding against the plaintiff, the officers possessed probable cause to charge the plaintiff, and the plaintiff tendered no evidence of an underlying constitutional violation. 

We successfully defended an appeal of the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to the defendants in a motor vehicle accident case. The evidence indicated that, at the time of the accident, the plaintiff’s vehicle had stopped while partially merged from a service road onto the main traffic lane when it was struck by our clients’ truck, which was driving on the main lane, on the driver’s side of the plaintiff’s car. On appeal, the plaintiff argued our clients were a proximate cause of the accident.

We won a premises liability case involving allegations of negligent sidewalk design. The plaintiff, a quadriplegic who has been in a wheelchair since 1984, entered our client’s convenience store using the designated wheelchair ramp without issue. However, upon leaving the store, he inexplicably failed to use the same ramp and, instead, attempted to go directly over the curb, resulting in a fall and a fractured leg. During his deposition, the plaintiff admitted he successfully navigated the wheelchair ramp upon entering the store.

We won a very hard-fought motion for summary judgment based on the plaintiff’s failure to prosecute in a matter that is now 10 years old. Suzanne won oral argument to dismiss the suit, based on the plaintiff’s failure to prosecute his case, by proving both actual prejudice to the client, a psychologist, and an inexcusable seven-year delay in any activity by the plaintiff.