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The following is a list of our most recent events. Click on the links for more information or contact us at events@raynesmccarty.com
01/28/2009
Jim Mundy and Gerald McHugh Make "Report 100" List for Third Year in a Row
The Pennsylvania Report, a premier news source on Pennsylvania politics, for the third year in a row listed Jim Mundy and Gerald McHugh among the Top 100 Most Influential People in State Public Affairs....Details >>
12/01/2008
Pennsylvania Superior Court Rules in Favor of Raynes McCarty Client
Mother, who during her pregnancy, was misled by doctors as to the health of her baby, may hold the doctors responsible for the distress caused her by not being emotionally prepared for a child with severe disabilities....Details >>
11/12/2008
Martin Brigham selected as one of the World’s Leading Product Liability Lawyers.
Marty was nominated by a survey of other prominent attorneys to appear in the 2009 Guide to the World’s Leading Product Liability Lawyers....Details >>
10/29/2008
Raynes McCarty paralegal Donna M. Colarulo, R.P. serving on the Board of Advisors for Widener University’s paralegal training program.
As a member of the Board of Advisors Legal Education Program, Ms. Colarulo participates in panel discussions regarding decisions affecting the curriculum for Widener University’s paralegal training programs....Details >>
10/20/2008
Five Raynes McCarty lawyers recognized by Best Lawyers in America
Best Lawyers in America selected Marty Brigham, Roy DeCaro, Harold Goodman, Jerry McHugh and Stephen Raynes for inclusion in its 2009 edition....Details >>
10/20/2008
Jerry McHugh featured speaker at Pennsylvania Association for Justice Masters Series
Raynes McCarty lawyer Gerald A. McHugh, Jr. was the featured speaker at a PaAJ Masters Series continuing legal education program titled Perspectives on the Critical Components of a Trial....Details >>
10/20/2008
Tim Lawn featured speaker at Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association’s Luncheon Lecture Series
Raynes McCarty lawyer Timothy Lawn will speak at the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association’s November 3, 2008 continuing legal education program titled Proving Difficult Medical Malpractice Issues. ...Details >>
09/01/2008
Philadelphia jury awards Raynes McCarty client $950,000.00 for eye injuries caused by defective plastic flying disc.
After a two-day trial, a jury awarded the Raynes McCarty client $950,000.00 for a laceration to his eye caused by a shard of plastic that splintered from a broken flying disc....Details >>
09/01/2008
Philadelphia jury awards Raynes McCarty client $950,000.00 for eye injuries caused by defective plastic flying disc.
After a two-day trial, a jury awarded the Raynes McCarty client $950,000.00 for a laceration to his eye caused by a shard of plastic that splintered from a broken flying disc....Details >>
04/16/2008
Gerald McHugh and wife Maureen Tate were honored by Friends for Effective Education (FFEE) at the Tribute Medallion Award Dinner on April 16, 2008
The Award recognizes McHugh and Tate’s lifelong dedication to community service, while at the same time raising funds for the St. Francis de Sales Elementary School, in keeping with FFEE’s purpose of providing monetary support to schools that exhibit educational leadership....Details >>
03/31/2008
Regina M. Foley appointed to Philadelphia Bar Association Board of Governors.
Regina M. Foley was appointed to serve a one year term on the Board of Governors of the Philadelphia Bar Association by Chancellor Michael A. Pratt....Details >>
03/21/2008
Regina M. Foley spoke April 9, 2008 at Continuing Legal Education seminar.
Ms. Foley updated plaintiffs’ and defense attorneys alike on recent developments in products liability law at The Dispute Resolution Institute’s Personal Injury Potpourri....Details >>
03/20/2008
Jenimae Almquist named co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Advancing Civics Education (A.C.E.) program.
Raynes McCarty’s Jenimae Almquist and co-chair Barbara Potts, are leading members of the Bar Association in a program to provide supplemental civics education to Philadelphia area public school students starting in the Fall of 2008.
...Details >>
02/08/2008
Jim Mundy and Gerald McHugh Make Pennsylvania Report 100
The Pennsylvania Report, a premier news source on Pennsylvania politics, for the second year in a row listed Jim Mundy and Gerald McHugh among the Top 100 Most Influential People in State Public Affairs....Details >>
01/29/2008
Jenimae Almquist serves on Philadelphia Bar Association panel on work-family balance.
Raynes McCarty attorney Jenimae Almquist spoke at the program titled “How to Have It All - The Career and the Family,” organized by the bar association’s Women in the Profession Committee.
...Details >>
01/24/2008
Roy DeCaro Speaks at Philadelphia Trial Lawyers
On January 24, 2008, Roy DeCaro spoke to fellow trial attorneys about the steps he took to help secure the $5,000,000.00 verdict his client received in a recent product liability trial. ...Details >>
11/28/2007
Jury Awards $2.9 Mil. for Death Stemming from Blood Clot
A Philadelphia jury awarded $2.9 million to the wife of a bariatric surgery patient who died from a blood clot that traveled to his lungs after his post-surgical leg blood clots allegedly went untreated for 10 days. The verdict was in the Legal Intelligencer’s list of the Top 50 Verdicts and Settlements of 2007....Details >>
11/06/2007
$5 Million Verdict Upheld in Phila. Infant Tylenol Case
A Philadelphia judge has upheld a $5 million verdict rendered over a 1-year-old’s death allegedly due to liver failure from an overdose of Infants’ Tylenol....Details >>
09/12/2007
Raynes McCarty Distinguished Lecture in Health Law scheduled for October 9, 2007
Professor Michele Bratcher Goodwin, visiting professor of Law at the University of Chicago, will be the featured speaker at the Raynes McCarty Distinguished Lecture in Health Law which is jointly sponsored with Widener University School of Law.
...Details >>
09/10/2007
Best Lawyers ranks Raynes McCarty #1 In Philadelphia Personal Injury Litigation Firms
Best Lawyers in America is the oldest and most widely respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. It has announced its results for 2008, ranking Raynes McCarty as the Number 0ne personal injury litigation firm in Philadelphia, PA. Recognized for individual inclusion in Best Lawyers were: Marty Brigham, Roy DeCaro, Harold Goodman, Jerry McHugh and Stephen Raynes....Details >>
09/09/2007
Marty Brigham presenting at Visual Legal Advocacy Roundtable at Penn Law on October 19, 2007
Marty Brigham will be a featured speaker at the "Visual Legal Advocacy Roundtable" being held at Penn Law School. Marty will discuss his pioneering work on videotape settlement presentations....Details >>
05/04/2007
Federal Judge Lauds Firm’s Donation to Support Center for Child Advocates
Describing it as “an example of our Bar at its best”, United States District Court Judge, Stewart Dalzell commends Raynes McCarty’s $10,000.00 donation to the Support Center for Child Advocates....Details >>
05/01/2007
Marty Brigham honored in world-wide survey
The Legal Media Group ("LMG"), based in London, England, has just announced the selection of Raynes McCarty's Marty Brigham for inclusion in its "2007 Guide to the World's Leading Product Liability Lawyers." ...Details >>
03/15/2007
3rd Circuit Affirms $7.4 Mil. Verdict in Suit Against VA
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a $7.4 million verdict obtained by Raynes McCarty's Jerry McHugh and Regina Foley against the Department of Veterans Affairs stemming from its decision to expel a Delaware County man who suffered from “rage disorder” and just one day later murdered two of his children and two of their friends.
...Details >>
02/16/2007
Top 100 Most Influential People in State Public Affairs
Two Raynes McCarty Attorneys Identified as Top 100 Most Influential People in State Public Affairs...Details >>
02/07/2007
$1,750,000.00 Civil Rights Settlement for Widow of Undercover Officer Killed by Fellow Policeman
On February 2, 2007, Judge Stewart Dalzell approved a settlement by the City of Reading in a civil rights law suit filed by Gerald McHugh on behalf of the widow of a Reading police officer. The undercover officer - Michael H. Wise, II - died on June 4, 2004, when he was struck by a bullet fired by a fellow member of the Reading police force. ...Details >>
01/08/2007
Roy DeCaro and Stephen Raynes selected to be among 500 Best Plaintiff Lawyers
Roy DeCaro and Stephen Raynes were named as being among the 500 Best Plaintiff Lawyers in the United States by the Publication "Lawdragon."...Details >>
12/01/2006
$5 million verdict for child who died from liver damage caused by Tylenol
Roy DeCaro was the lead trial attorney for the family of a one year old child who died from liver failure caused by Tylenol. Mr. DeCaro convinced the jury that the drug company provided misleading and inadequate warnings about the concentration and toxicity of Infants’ Tylenol. The jury awarded the family $5,000,000.00 for the loss of their child. Recently, the trial court rejected the drug company’s request to overturn the verdict. ...Details >>
10/17/2006
Martin Brigham Honored
Martin Brigham received a lifetime achievement award from the Philadelphia area Occupational Safety and Health Project...Details >>
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LAW REPORTER
Suit on Behalf of Two Electricians Badly Burned in Arc Explosion
April 2003
By TS
Miller v. Lucent Techs., Inc., Pa., Phila. County C.C.P., No. 0011-1056,
Feb. 7, 2003.
Miller, 46, and Reenock, 36, were employees of an electrical contractor that
had been hired by Lucent Technologies to remove and replace equipment in a switchgear
cabinet, a box measuring about four feet by 10 feet by six feet, that contains
a switch used to control the destination of electricity for a facility. Lucent
was supposed to have de-energized the switchgear cabinet before the work began.
Although Lucent employees watched, they failed to detect a secondary power source–a
feeder cable carrying more than 12,000 volts–that was routed through the
same cabinet.
As Miller and Reenock began to work on the cabinet, a sudden arc explosion
occurred, sending electricity traveling through the open air. Miller was inside
the cabinet when the explosion happened. The electrical current passed through
his body, ignited his clothing, and traveled out the back of his head. Reenock,
who was standing just outside the cabinet, was burned by the thermal energy
of the arc.
Miller suffered second- and third-degree burns to more than 60 percent of his
body. He required 54 rounds of re-constructive surgery, and his medical expenses
totaled $1.4 million. Reenock suffered second-degree burns to 20 percent of
his body. Although he was back to work in six months, Reenock developed heightened
anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder because of his experience. His medical
expenses were $55,000.
Both men had been journeymen electricians earning about $45,000 annually. Miller
is now completely disabled. His past lost income is estimated at about $135,000,
and his future lost income will be about $675,000. Reenock’s lost wages
were about $23,000. Both men’s wives suffered loss of consortium.
Miller, Reenock, and their wives contacted ATLA members Martin K. Brigham
and Eunice Trevor, both of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and filed suit against
Lucent. Plaintiffs alleged that defendant had violated industry safety standards,
its own internal safety rules, and the contract for the project. Counsel’s
research showed that, had just one switch on the cabinet been thrown, the electrical
load would have been transferred from the switchgear cabinet to a companion
transformer, making the cabinet safe for Miller and Reenock.
Defendant argued that it was understood at the job site that it was the contractor’s
responsibility to make the work area safe. Defendant’s case was seemingly
bolstered when the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued
a citation against the contractor but not against defendant.
Brigham and Trevor were able to counter defendant’s assertions by taking
videotaped depositions of defendant’s employees who witnessed the tragedy.
These workers unanimously said that electrical safety was, in fact, defendant’s
responsibility. This was corroborated by the contract for the work, which stated
that defendant retained the exclusive right and responsibility to de-energize
the switchgear cabinet.
Plaintiff’s attorneys used a video settlement brochure to make their
case during extensive pretrial mediation. In addition to the videotaped depositions,
the brochure included detailed computer animation of the incident. “With
a roomful of Lucent’s attorneys and adjusters, having Lucent’s employees
up on the screen conceding to defendant’s safety violations was very powerful,”
Brigham said, “particularly when coupled with video images of the injuries.”
Plaintiffs also showed that defendant’s electricians had observed Miller
and Reenock without high-voltage testing equipment, personal protective equipment,
or any insulating material to isolate the fuses. Despite this, defendant had
not taken any steps to warn them about possible risks. Finally, plaintiffs demonstrated
that several warnings mandated by the National Electrical Code–the comprehensive
set of standards promulgated by the electrical engineering industry–had
not been posted.
Defendant agreed to pay Miller and his wife $10.34 million, and to pay Reenock
and his wife $665,000.
Plaintiffs’ experts were Gary Smullin, electrical engineering, Allentown,
Pennsylvania, and Vince Gallagher, safety, Stratford, New Jersey.
Defendant’s experts were Walter Farley, electrical engineering, Fairless
Hills, Pennsylvania, and Wendell Rust, federal safety standards compliance,
Bourbon, Indiana.
“Though our clients suffered horrific injuries, they remained incredibly
brave through the ups and downs of this litigation,” Brigham said. “Hopefully,
Lucent will have learned that contractor safety should be a paramount concern
rather than an afterthought, as it was here.”
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