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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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SAFER TIMES PHILAPOSH
Philadelphia Area Project on Occupational Safety and Health
Third Party Lawsuits Promote Workplace Safety
Summer 2004
SAFER TIMES PHILAPOSH
Philadelphia Area Project on Occupational Safety and Health
Because of the Workers’ Compensation Act, injured workers cannot sue
their employers, no matter how severe the injuries or how unsafe the working
conditions. Injured workers can, however, potentially sue any other company
which may have contributed to causing their accident. These lawsuits can not
only provide desperately needed financial resources to injured workers and their
families, but also promote workplace safety, through re-design of unsafe products,
changes in work practices and improved training.
Because of the intense (and inaccurate) propaganda campaign mounted by the
insurance industry, the public has become more biased against lawsuits. Many
union members are skeptical of injured workers who file a lawsuit; the members
may feel reluctant to provide crucial aid in the investigation and development
of the claim. Supporting the work of a lawsuit, however, both helps the union
brother or sister and helps prevent the same type of accident from happening
again. A goal of every “third party” lawsuit should be workplace
safety. Here are some real life examples:
Cutting Torch Flashback: Greg took great pride in his skill in using a cutting
torch to disassemble truck bodies for parts; he could cut the metal without
any metal damage or distortion. One Saturday morning, just as he lit his oxygen-propane
torch, a fireball erupted from the rubber hoses entering the torch handle, setting
Greg’s clothing on fire.
As happens scores of times every year, the flame from the tip of the torch
had “flashed-back”, traveling up through the torch and burning through
the rubber hoses. A simple device, known as a “flashback arrestor”,
would have safely extinguished the flame inside the torch. The torch manufacturer,
however, offered the arrestor only as an “option”. Greg sued the
manufacturer, arguing that safety should not be an option. Armed with the long
(and ignored) history of prior flashbacks, Greg was able to force a settlement
of his case. The manufacturer then immediately began re-designing its torches
so they would all have built-in flashback arrestors.
Missed Pressure Vessel Inspections: At Workers’ Memorial Day, the crowd
listened to Roxanne tearfully describe how her husband, Dave, was fatally burned
when the built up pressure of scalding water ripped open a large pressure vessel
that was part of a steel mill’s boiler system. Unqualified welders working
for the steel mill (who were immune from any lawsuit) had defectively welded
a manway into the vessel. The defects, as well as the absence of a pressure
relief valve, should have been detected and the vessel should have been condemned
by the Boiler Inspection Company during their annual inspections.
To encourage the settlement of her lawsuit against the Boiler Inspection Company,
a videotape mini-documentary was prepared in which Roxanne could talk about
the loss of her husband and safety experts could explain all of the Inspection
Company’s failures. The Inspection Company was not only persuaded to settle
Roxanne’s claims, but also got her permission to use the videotape as
a training tool for all of its inspectors, so the inspectors could understand
the real life consequences of their work.
Forklift Under-ride: As Mark pulled back from a load he had just placed with
his forklift, he felt a pressure on his back. A steel shelving support was just
high enough to pass over the main housing of the stand-up forklift and was low
enough to be under the over head protection. As the forklift drifted back, the
shelving support pushed Mark forward, pressing his chest against the controls
and preventing him from operating the forklift. With the air pushed from his
lungs, Mark couldn’t yell for help and slowly suffocated to death.
Mark was more than the five hundredth documented case of a worker being injured
or killed in a forklift “under-ride”. The manufacturer not only
had refused to add a metal post at the rear of the operator compartment that
would have protected the driver, but also had destroyed records of prior under-ride
accidents as part of its “document retention” program. In Mark’s
family’s lawsuit, the Court was appalled by the manufacturer’s conduct
and allowed the family to seek punitive damages. The case promptly settled and
the next fleet of forklifts from this manufacturer all had the protective metal
post.
Stove Tip-overs: Product liability suits promote consumer safety as well as
workplace safety. In only the briefest moment that it takes an active five year
old to slip into the kitchen, Abraham tried to help by getting his own food
off the stove. He opened the stove door and stepped up on it for a better reach.
The stove tipped over, toppling a pot of boiling water onto his groin and thighs.
Tragically, every year hundreds of children and the elderly are injured or
killed when they place weight on an open stove door, not knowing that only about
35 pounds of weight on the outer edge can tip over even a large stove. The Consumer
Product Safety Commission and the appliance manufacturer trade association have
ignored more than three decades of children being either burned by falling pots
of scalding food or crushed to death when they are caught between the falling
stove and door. Lawsuits have prompted local communities to pass local laws
requiring that stoves be anchored to the floor with an “anti-tipover bracket”
and manufacturers to place warnings on the front and back of stoves and to patent
new designs that will prevent tipovers.
What you can do: Union members can support their injured brother or sister,
and work to prevent the occurrence of similar future accidents by:
- Making sure that the accident scene for any serious accident is photographed
and that any product involved in the accident is saved in a secure place;
- Supporting the injured worker in the decision to consult with a lawyer
experienced in representing injured workers in third party cases;
- Responding cooperatively to requests from the lawyer to help the injured
worker by obtaining information, providing information about the accident, and,
if necessary, serving as a witness.
For any further information regarding this article, feel free to contact Marty
Brigham, who was lead trial attorney in the cases described, at: mkbrigham@raynesmccarty.com.
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