PITTSBURGH, Aug. 28, 2013 — Members David A. Damico, Daniel B. Donahoe, T.H. Lyda, Patrick L. Mechas, D. Scott Newman and Of Counsel Michael W. Burns were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2014 (Copyright 2013 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, SC). In addition, Mr. Damico was named the Best Lawyers’ 2014 Pittsburgh Railroad Law “Lawyer of the Year.”
First published in 1983, Best Lawyers® is based on a peer-review survey where nearly 50,000 attorneys cast nearly five million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas and geographic locations.
Mr. Damico, Founding Member and Co-Chair of the Transportation Group, brings more than 28 years of litigation experience coupled with business acumen to his corporate clients. He serves as National Trial Counsel to multiple railroad companies and has tried numerous occupational illness, toxic exposure and catastrophic personal injury cases.
Mr. Donahoe concentrates his practice in the defense of occupational illness cases in both federal and state courts throughout the country. With a primary emphasis in FELA litigation, he has also performed defense work in the areas of product liability, automobile insurance and personal injury.
Mr. Lyda, who Co-Chairs the Transportation Group, was named Pittsburgh Railroad Law “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers last year. A litigator with more than 20 years of experience, he is well versed in occupational disease, toxic tort and products liability litigation. Mr. Lyda also handles OSHA citation contests and inspections for clients in several industries and is an invited speaker on the topic at national conferences.
Co-Chair of the firm’s Healthcare and Long-Term Care Practice Group, Mr. Mechas has 20 years of legal experience defending professional negligence claims on behalf of medical and dental professionals, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, long-term acute care hospitals and management services companies. In addition to his extensive healthcare practice, he has defended numerous products liability and general liability matters on behalf of businesses from a variety of industries.
Mr. Newman joined the firm in 1990 and is Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Group. He represents both self-insured corporations and insurance companies before workers’ compensation judges, the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board and the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Mr. Newman maintains a secondary concentration in the practice of administrative law under the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act and Black Lung Benefits Act.
Founding Member Mr. Burns has more than 40 years of litigation experience representing individuals, businesses and governmental agencies across multiple jurisdictions. He currently serves as Of Counsel to the firm. Mr. Burns has extensive experience litigating catastrophic loss personal injury, toxic tort and dram shop cases in federal and state courts throughout the nation.