Results

In our successful appeal to the Commonwealth Court, the workers’ compensation judge had awarded a closed period of benefits and then terminated all benefits, despite the employer’s late answer. The judge found that the description of injury was not well-pled and, therefore, not deemed admitted. The Appeal Board reversed the judge on the full termination of benefits, saying that, since our IME physician did not acknowledge a work-related psychiatric injury, his testimony was in conflict with the admitted injury due to the late answer.

We successfully defeated the claimant’s appeal on a hotly-debated issue surrounding course and scope of employment in a case involving a motor vehicle accident during a paid lunch hour, which resulted in extreme medical treatment costs. We were able to convince the underlying court that the claimant was not in the course and scope of employment at the time of injury due to her deviation to run personal errands. The claimant appealed alleging the fact that, as her lunch hour is paid, she was certainly in the course and scope of employment and the underlying court erred.

We received a complete defense verdict in favor of our client in an equity action involving property rights in the client’s public safety building. The plaintiff, a volunteer fire company, moved its operation into a public safety building space constructed for it by the Borough, our client. Instead of accepting a lease that provided it with occupancy for 100 years, the fire company was made a tenant at will. The fire company was a tenant for 10 years, during which it brought a for-profit ambulance service into its space without the Borough’s consent.

• Justin Johnson and Lynne Nahmani (New Jersey) secured a directed verdict in a subacute rehab case. At the close of plaintiff’s case, three motions for directed verdict were made. The court agreed that the plaintiffs had not met their burden on causation with the expert testimony.

We obtained a defense jury verdict in a legal malpractice action arising from two wrongful termination trials. This matter included the two trials, an appeal, in addition to involving aspects of intellectual property law. There we numerous evidence issues as a result of the two underlying trials. However, we were successful on pretrial hearing in limiting plaintiff’s proofs and in barring significant damages claims asserted by the plaintiff’s expert. The jury rejected these claims and awarded all of our client’s fees, with interest and costs.

We were affirmed the granting of summary judgment in favor of our client in a high-speed police pursuit case. The plaintiff was severely injured after a brief police pursuit involving the driver, who died as a result of the pursuit. The plaintiff then sued the local municipality for negligence, arguing that the officers caused the wreck by turning a traffic stop into a high-speed chase.

We won a trial for a cable company where the claimant was injured while working at one of the company’s sites. The claimant was hired by one of the subcontractors of our client to complete work at their facilities. We successfully argued that the claimant is not an employee or special employee of our client. The court agreed and dismissed our client from this claim. 

Defense award in a binding FINRA arbitration in Columbus, Ohio on behalf of a financial advisor. The Claimant alleged unauthorized trading and breach of fiduciary duty in connection with individual stock trades. The Claimant further alleged breach of fiduciary duty in relation to the financial advisor’s recommendation that the account be changed from a commission based to an advisory fee-based account.

We obtained a dismissal with prejudice in an action based on an alleged violation of contract, constitutional challenge of a Florida statute, and enforcement of a third-party settlement agreement. We represented an international nonprofit private membership organization in an action by a former member for violation of his membership in said organization. The plaintiff attempted to use a settlement agreement from a prior case to show that he was in compliance with the organization’s membership requirements.

We won a unanimous precedential decision that upheld the venue transfer of a significant case from Philadelphia to Butler County under the doctrine of forum non conveniens. The decision breaks a recent string of appellate reversals of venue transfers out of Philadelphia. The decision has been reported as creating the new standard that defendants must meet in order to secure a venue transfer based on forum non conveniens.