Patrick L. Mechas
Patrick L. Mechas
Biography
Co-chair of Burns White’s Healthcare and Long-Term Care Practice Group, Patrick Mechas has extensive legal experience defending professional negligence claims on behalf of medical and healthcare professionals, assisted living facilities, personal care homes, skilled nursing facilities, acute and long-term acute care hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and management services companies.
Regularly recognized among the Best Lawyers in America for Medical Malpractice Defense and a seasoned litigator with a national client base, Mr. Mechas seeks the most efficient, cost-effective methods, including arbitration and mediation, to resolve conflicts on behalf of his clients. In addition to his extensive healthcare practice, he defends products liability and general liability matters on behalf of businesses from a variety of industries.
Mr. Mechas is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the State of West Virginia, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. He is an active member of the Pennsylvania Bar, and West Virginia Bar associations, the Allegheny County Bar Association, the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County, and the Defense Research Institute.
Credentials
Areas of Law
- Medical malpractice
- Long-term care
- Products liability
- General liability
Education
- Duquesne University School of Law (J.D., 1990)
- Carnegie Mellon University (B.S., Administration and Management Science, 1981)
Bar and Court Admissions
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
- State of West Virginia
- United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
- United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia
Memberships
- Pennsylvania Bar Association
- West Virginia Bar Association
- Allegheny County Bar Association
- Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County
- Defense Research Institute
Accolades & Involvement
Awards/Honors
- Fellow of the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County
- AV® Preeminent™ 4.5 out of 5 peer rated in Martindale-Hubbell
- Regularly recognized by peers as one of the Best Lawyers in America® for Medical Malpractice Law-Defendants
- Selected by his peers for inclusion in Pennsylvania’s Best Lawyers®
Presentations
- Managing Expectations / Mitigating Risks in a Long-Term Care Setting
- Litigation Risk Management / Nursing Documentation in the Rehabilitation Hospital Setting
- Facility Investigations / Skilled Nursing Home Environment
- Litigation Risk Management / Skilled Nursing Facilities
- The Nursing Home and Assisted Living Facility Litigation Climate
- What Jurors Think
Representative Matters
- Secured a defense verdict in a civil action initiated against a psychiatric nurse where Plaintiff alleged that the psychiatric nurse negligently failed to properly monitor Plaintiff’s symptoms and her condition after the discontinuance and/or adjustment of medications that were necessary and required for treatment of her psychiatric disorder.
- Successfully defended the first Pennsylvania action brought by a nationally-renowned plaintiffs’ firm against a skilled nursing facility alleging substandard care.
- Secured a favorable settlement on behalf of a skilled nursing facility after successfully securing a transfer of survival action claims to arbitration pursuant to a signed Arbitration Agreement and a stay of the wrongful death trial pending in Federal Court until completion of the arbitration.
- Secured a defense verdict in an action initiated against the designer and manufacturer of a dental prosthetic device which plaintiff claimed failed as a result of a defective design.
- Secured a favorable settlement on behalf of a world-wide manufacturer of electrical transmission products in two separate actions. Fire erupted in a commercial building in which one worker was killed and the other was severely injured. The plaintiffs claimed the fire was caused by a defective component part produced by the manufacturer and filed suit alleging negligence, products liability and breach of warranty and sought wrongful death and survival action damages with extensive economic loss claims. Burns White argued that the product performed as it was intended to be used and that the fire was caused by human error.
- Secured a defense verdict in the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia in a products liability suit on behalf of an international designer and manufacturer of coating equipment. While cleaning a machine, the plaintiff’s hand was trapped in a roller resulting in a partial amputation. Burns White successfully argued that the plaintiff assumed the risk by not following proper safety procedures while cleaning the machine.
- Secured a favorable settlement on behalf of a manufacturer of spark detection equipment in multiple legal actions brought in connection with a fire/explosion that took place in a particleboard manufacturing facility. The fire/explosion resulted in multiple fatalities. Plaintiffs asserted product defect, negligence, and breach of warranty claims.
- Successfully obtained summary judgment on behalf of a long-term care facility in an action brought in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The court ruling resulted in a dismissal of an intentional infliction of emotional distress claim. The action was dismissed by the federal court with leave to re-file in state court relative to a remaining conversion claim.
