Our Cases

The following is a list of cases handled by the firm and their results.

  1. Trude v. Martin, et al., No. GD90-7920 in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County. $4,300,000.00 premises liability/liquor liability verdict obtained for 25 year old man who was pushed into and over a poorly maintained wall surrounding a stairway landing by an intoxicated patron of a bar located in the building. The wall collapsed, causing the plaintiff to fall off of the landing onto the ground below, landing on his neck, causing him to become a quadriplegic. The verdict was upheld on appeal through the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and collected.
  2. $495,000.00 in settlements obtained from the liability insurer and the underinsured motorist (UIM) insurer for a 46 year old man and his wife. The plaintiff was the driver of a truck involved in a rear-end accident. The accident caused the husband's herniated lumbar disc and bulging cervical discs.
  3. $400,000.00 settlement obtained for a 45 year old woman and her husband for a doctor's failure to timely diagnose and treat a cancerous lump in the patient's breast, eliminating the chance for a lumpectomy, and requiring a total mastectomy. The patient had a strong family history of breast cancer, and had herself previously undergone a mastectomy on the opposite breast before the oncologist misread the mammogram results on the first occasion, and on two occasions thereafter, before proper diagnosis and treatment occurred.
  4. Wojcik v. Handee Marts, et al., No. GD97-2316 in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County. $1,250,000.00 inadequate security verdict, plus delay damages, obtained for multiple gunshot victim convenience store clerk, upheld on appeal through the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and collected.
  5. $250,000.00 in settlements and UIM arbitration award obtained from the liability insurer ($100,000.00 limits of coverage), the UIM insurer ($100,000.00 limits of coverage obtained after UIM arbitration) and $50,000.00 from plaintiff's UIM insurer to settle bad faith suit handling claims arising out of a rear-end motor vehicle collision resulting in aggravation of a pre-existing cervical disc herniation requiring fusion surgery for a 46 year old woman.
  6. $295,000.00 in settlements obtained from liability and UIM insurers for a 75 year old driver of a car "T-boned" in the middle of a four-way intersection resulting in a dislocated shoulder, broken ribs and crushed lungs. He and his wife testified that he had stopped at the intersection, looked both ways and proceeded. The defendant pizza delivery driver claimed he had stopped and "never saw" the other car. $97,000.00 in settlements were also obtained from the liability and UIM insurers for the wife-passenger, who sustained a torn rotator cuff of her shoulder, dizziness and a brief recurrence of a pre-existing Bell's Palsy facial twitch in the accident.
  7. $160,000.00 settlement obtained for a 51 year old health club patron and her husband for her avascular necrosis requiring a hip replacement caused by her slip and fall while attempting to descend the steps into the club's pool. She was taking aqua therapy to recuperate from hip replacement surgery she had undergone on the opposite hip. The pool had recently been repainted and this was the first time the plaintiff, a member of the health club, had attempted to reenter the pool after its repainting. It developed that the paint used was an inappropriately overly slippery type, not recommended for swimming pool floor surfaces.
  8. $268,000.00 uninsured motorist award obtained and collected for a 52 year old woman who suffered hip and pelvis fractures and exacerbation of pre-existing degenerative spinal disc disease as the result of a "T-bone" intersection accident in which the other driver was attempting to run the red light. Liability insurance coverage was denied for the other driver's commercial vehicle, due to a pre-accident bankruptcy filed by the company that had leased the van, which had given instructions that its traveling salespersons were no longer authorized to use them.
  9. $850,000.00 settlement obtained for the estate of an 81 year old female Alzheimer's patient who was a resident of a personal care facility that advertised itself as specializing in Alzheimer's patient care, and was part of a large national nursing home chain. Due to underfilled patient quotas, a 62 year old brain damaged male patient was admitted to the facility, and repeatedly exhibited violent tendencies. The woman was discovered in the facility's hallway in the middle of the night, severely beaten. She lived for several more months before dying as the result of her brain injuries and resulting complications. The nursing home employees did not advise the family that the male patient was found in the vicinity of the victim, with a facial bruise and apologizing for the incident, shortly after the woman was found unconscious in the hallway. The punitive damages claim had to eventually be dropped because any award that might have been obtained would have been uncollectible due to the bankruptcy filing of the nursing home chain. The settlement was paid by the liability insurer.
  10. $1,500,000.00 settlement obtained for a worker suffering a head injury, torn rotator cuff shoulder injury, rib and spinal fractures and exacerbation of pre-existing degenerative spinal disc disease as the result of a fall at the factory where he was a supervisor, due to the failure of an independent contractor retained for plant maintenance to have properly reconnected a removable railing.
  11. $3,700,000.00 liability and UIM insurance settlements obtained for a 51 year old man sustaining fractures of both arms and both legs, and a below the knee amputation of one of his legs, as the result of a crossover head-on collision.
  12. Gbur et al. v. Golio, No. GD03-5415 in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County. $757,273.45 verdict, plus delay damages, obtained for the estate and widow of a now deceased patient whose bone cancer was misdiagnosed and inappropriately treated at age 74 resulting in about 1000 days of improperly controlled painful symptoms and the performance of unnecessary and ineffective invasive dental and prostate procedures. Defendant's post-trial motions were denied and appeal is pending.
  13. Woodson v. The Medical Center, et al., No. 10601-2002 in the Court of Common Pleas of Beaver County. $1,500,000.00 verdict, plus delay damages, obtained for an incapacitated brain injured patient. Plaintiff had pre-existing severe paranoid schizophrenia, that would have prevented him from ever working, and required him to live in a group home. During a combined uvulopalatopharyngoplasty and bilateral nasoseptoplasty surgical procedure, the Defendant attending anesthesiologist absented himself from the operating room during a significant portion of the procedure, including during the key portion when the patient was emerging from anesthesia, resulting in the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist prematurely removing the endotracheal tube, causing respiratory and cardiac arrest, and resultant permanent severe injury due to lack of oxygen to the brain before the patient was eventually resuscitated. Defendants' post-trial motions are pending.
  14. $350,000.00 settlement for a couple where the husband was in a rear-end truck/auto collision, resulting in various injuries, including a herniated cervical disk requiring surgery.