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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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PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
Schultz’s Wife Settles Claim with du Pont
The multimillionaire killed
wrestler David Schultz in
1996. He’ll pay $35 million,
those close to the case say.
By Ralph Vigoda
Inquirer Staff Writer
The widow of Olympic wrestler David Schultz has settled her wrongful-death claim
for a record amount against John E. du Pont, the multimillionaire who shot Schultz
to death nearly four years ago in Newtown Square.
The exact award to Nancy Schultz will be kept confidential at the request
of lawyers, but those familiar with the drawn-out negotiations say the total
will be about $35 million. According to a trade journal that watches such cases,
that figure would be the largest award resulting from a wrongful-death suit
ever paid directly by one person.
The case was scheduled for trial Monday before Delaware County Court Judge
James F. Proud, and it was that imminence that prodded both sides to make the
agreement final, say Schultz’s lawyers.
Not all of the money will go directly to Nancy Schultz. Her lawyers, who filed
the suit in March 1997, will take a fee of up to 25 percent. The IRS will get
a share in federal estate tax, and a portion of the award will be put in trust
for the Schultzes’ son, 13, and daughter, 10.
With the case over, Schultz said in a statement released by her lawyers, “I
can now turn my attention back to my children as they move through their junior
high and high school years without David to guide them. I will continue to honor
the memory and legacy of my husband through the Dave Schultz Wrestling Foundation.”
Nancy Schultz, who lives in Foster City, Calif., is president of the foundation,
which she began after her husband’s killing to raise money to finance
and train wrestlers.
David Schultz, who won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics, was shot to death
by du Pont on Jan. 26, 1996, in the driveway of the home Schultz rented at du
Pont’s Foxcatcher Farm. He was 36 and training for a comeback at the 1996
Olympics in Atlanta.
Nancy Schultz’s team of lawyers, including S. Gerald Litvin, Gerald
A. McHugh, Jr. and Arthur G. Raynes, all of Philadelphia, submitted a petition
to Proud on Tuesday to seal the terms of the agreement. The final settlement
was in place the next night. Proud, by law, must approve the agreement, which
he is expected to do next week.
The primary stumbling block throughout settlement negotiations was determining
an accurate depiction of du Pont’s wealth. During court
hearings,
Schultz’s lawyers
voiced concerns
that du Pont
was keeping assets
hidden to lessen the
amount he would
have to pay. The two sides met regularly in Proud’s
chambers in the last few months.
At du Pont’s murder trial in 1997, his fortune was estimated by the
Delaware County District Attorney’s Office as close to $250 million. His
lawyers strongly disputed that figure, and sources now say his wealth is about
half that, or approximately $125 million.
A sizable portion of du Pont’s worth comes from his 400-acre Foxcatcher
Farm in Newtown Square, where he lived from birth until his arrest in January
1996.
Du Pont’s longtime lawyer, Taras M. Wochok of Paoli, said yesterday
that his client was “happy to put this behind him.” He said du Pont
was in good health.
“He’s adjusted to his present life,” he said.
Du Pont, who was benefactor of the successful Foxcatcher wrestling team based
at his farm, was arrested two days after the killing when he stepped outside
his mansion, where he had gone after shooting Schultz. As police ringed the
grounds, he refused to surrender, coming out only after law enforcement officials
turned off the heat and told du Pont he would be free to go to the powerhouse
and check the generator.
He was held in Delaware County Prison until September 1996, when he was found
mentally incompetent to stand trial by Judge Patricia Jenkins. She reversed
that ruling two months later after du Pont received treatment at Norristown
State Hospital.
Testimony in his murder trial began in January 1997 and lasted five weeks, followed
by a week of deliberations by the jury, which found du Pont guilty of third-degree
murder, but mentally ill.
Du Pont’s lawyers have said he hoped to return to Foxcatcher Farm when
he finished his 13-year minimum prison term in January 2009. Du Pont, who turned
61 Monday, will be 70 then. Du Pont, married briefly in 1983, has no children.
Since May 1997, he has been at Cresson state prison in Cambria County, about
10 miles from Altoona.
In a formal statement, Wochok said, “In reaching the settlement, du
Pont sought to bring closure to what has been a devastating time for Nancy and
her children and to help them make a new beginning. He sympathizes with the
Schultz family for the grief they suffered. For du Pont, the settlement also
ends a dark chapter in what was otherwise a life driven by patriotism, natural
history, sports and philanthropy.”
The award to Nancy Schultz includes compensatory and punitive damages. Compensatory
damages cover actual expenses, such as funeral and burial costs, plus an estimate
of the income David Schultz would have earned during his life.
A monetary figure also is placed on Nancy Schultz’s loss of her husband’s
companionship, and on the loss of the guidance David Schultz would have provided
for his children. Generally, such awards are tax-free.
Punitive damages are designed to punish du Pont, and generally make up the
bulk of such awards. The punitive damages would be subject to federal estate
tax or state inheritance tax.
Also taxable is an award for the pain and suffering of David Schultz before
he died from the gunshot wounds.
“No amount of money can ever compensate Nancy and her children for the
loss of their husband and father, but this settlement will at least assure them
financial security in Dave’s absence,” her lawyers said.
The money du Pont will pay is the largest wrongful-death settlement that is
collectible against an individual’s assets, according to Thomas Harrison,
publisher of Lawyers Weekly USA, a national newspaper for lawyers that tracks
large awards. While other awards have been for more money—the $907 million
verdict earlier this year against convicted Philadelphia murder Ira Einhorn
is believed to be the biggest ever—those are not likely to be paid.
There have been larger collectible awards—in malpractice cases, for example—but they have been paid primarily by institutions, or covered by insurance,
Harrison said.
Perhaps the most publicized wrongful-death award in recent years was the $33.5
million that O.J. Simpson was ordered to pay in 1997 after a jury found him
liable for the deaths in 1994 of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman—even though he was acquitted fo the murder in his criminal trial.
However, his lawyers have said he has no money, and it is unlikely that amount
will be paid.
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