Articles & Updates
Autopsy, Cremation & the Spoliation of Evidence in Wrongful Death Cases
Article by Courtney Barbacane, Esq., published in The Legal Intelligencer Posted on March 28, 2023 What happens when an autopsy is performed,...
Effective Appellate Advocacy in Ohio: 10 Tips for Success on Appeal
Article by Holly Olarczuk-Smith, Esq. While there are several steps involved in presenting a successful case on appeal, crafting the appellate brief...
Attorney Lyda Interviewed Regarding Heightened Concerns in Food Industry Injuries
Attorney T.H. Lyda was interviewed in an article published in the Business Insurance online publication on March 15, 2023. The...
No Bad Faith for “Reasonable, Not Perfect” Claims Handling
Article by Adam Murdock, Esq. The Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently granted an insurer’s motion for summary judgment after finding that...
No Bad Faith or “Nefarious Purpose” in Updating Liability Assessment & Settlement Value
Article by Adam Murdock, Esq. The Middle District of Pennsylvania recently granted an insurer’s motion for summary judgment on a bad faith claim...
Illegal Action as a Bar to Recovery: In Pari Delicto in the Healthcare Malpractice Context
Article by Anne Frankel, Esq. and Josey Richards, Law Clerk. Published in the Professional Liability Defense Quarterly, Volume 15, Issue 1 in March...
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Enforces Household Vehicle Exclusion
Article by Daniel Twilla, Esq. and Josephine Mlakar, Law Clerk The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently affirmed that the household vehicle exclusion...
Asserting Immunity from Tort Liability as a Statutory Employer
Article by Alana Staniszewski, Esq. The Pennsylvania Superior Court recently dove into the depths of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act...
Insured’s Failure to Obtain Consent to Settlement Deemed Prejudicial
The Western District of Pennsylvania recently granted an insurer’s motion to dismiss breach of contract and bad faith claims with prejudice after...
Western District Finds No Bad Faith For Policy Interpretation Based On Unsettled Law
Article by Daniel Inadomi, Esq. The Western District of Pennsylvania recently granted an insurer’s motion for summary judgment and denied an...
Third Circuit Charts Path for Standing in Data Breach Litigation
Article by Daniel W. Inadomi, Esq. In a precedential opinion, the Third Circuit clarified the nature of the “injury-in-fact” that could give rise to...
No Bad Faith For “Proper” Investigation & Plaintiff’s Own Delay
The Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted an insurer’s motion for partial summary judgment and dismissed a bad faith claim after finding that the...
Third Circuit: Falsified Invoices Are ‘Undoubtedly Material’ During Claim Process
Article by Daniel Inadomi, Esq. The Third Circuit recently affirmed a District Court’s granting of summary judgment in favor of an insurer on...
Significant Changes are Coming to the Davis-Bacon Act
Attorneys Kurt Fernsler, Esq., Richard Saxe, Esq., and Law Clerk Jane Schleicher discuss the significant changes to the David-Bacon Act that will...
What Does Voluntary Withdrawal from the Workforce Mean for the Employer?
Article by Alana Staniszewski, Esq. Under Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Law, generally, an employer may seek a suspension of a Claimant’s...
Key Doctrines to Raise in Defending FELA Cases
Article by Holly Olarczuk-Smith, Esq. The Federal Employers' Liability Act ("FELA") is a federal statute that provides a cause of action against a...
The Double-Edged Sword: Building A Strong Defense
Article by Courtney Barbacane, Esq. My stream of consciousness is enough to make you seasick. I am a former plaintiffs' attorney, who transitioned...
The Developing Privacy Landscape for Financial Institutions
Article by Daniel Inadomi, Esq. published in For the Defense DRI Magazine, October 2022 Issue Issued October 2022 Focusing on the privacy...
COVID-19 Concerns in Workers’ Compensation Claims
Article by Danielle Parks, Esq. published in The Legal Intelligencer Posted on October 5, 2022 COVID-19 has injected itself into virtually every...
Appellate Advocacy: 5 Keys to Developing Persuasive Briefs & Oral Arguments
Article by Holly Olarczuk-Smith, Esq. Representing a client on appeal is wholly unlike representing a client at trial. Effective appellate advocacy...
Key Changes to the Venue Rules for Medical Professional Liability Claims in Pennsylvania
Article by Daniel Margonari, Esq. On Thursday, August 25, 2022, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court eliminated the venue carve-out applicable to medical...
Does a Plaintiff’s Illegal Action Preclude Recovery as a Matter of Law?
Article by Josey Richards, Law Clerk A recurring issue is whether drug and rehabilitation centers can assert the defense of comparative negligence...
Supreme Court of Ohio Finds Anti-Blocking Statute is Federally Pre-Empted & Cannot be Enforced Against Railroad
Article by Colleen Mountcastle, Esq. In State v. CSX Transp., Inc., Slip Opinion No. 2022-Ohio-2832, the Supreme Court of Ohio found that Ohio’s...
Is an Employer Liable to Purchase a New Home for an Injured Worker?
Article by Stephen Perrott, Esq. and Joseph Romano, Esq. In a recent Decision, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania held that while an employer is...
Construction Materials: Where Are You and Why Do You Cost So Much?
Article by D. Matthew Jameson III, Esq., published in The Legal Intelligencer Posted on August 9, 2022 The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the...
Courts Find Direct Repair Claims Not So Direct
Article by Daniel Twilla, Esq. and Kathleen Dapper. Esq., published in The Legal Intelligencer Posted on July 26, 2022 Pennsylvania bad-faith...
Back to School, Back to Masks?
Article by Kerven Moon, Esq. and Kiley Verbanac, Law Clerk While the seasons have changed and the weather has gotten warmer, one thing has remained...
Ethical Issues in Employment Law: When Is (and Isn’t) Joint Representation Permitted?
Article by Douglas Hart, Esq. From inadvertently disclosing electronic records in discovery to dealing with third-party payment issues (i.e., when...
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Grants Allowance of Appeal in Regular Use Exclusion Case
Article by Kathleen P. Dapper, Esq. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has granted the petition for allowance of appeal in Rush v. Erie Insurance...
Provider Liability Under EMTALA: An Overview
Article by Ryan King, Esq. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) is a federal law that Congress enacted in 1986 to prevent...