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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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The Legal Intelligencer
Raynes McCarty Pro-Bono Team Proves that Faulty Medical Evidence Led to Father Being Falsely Accused in Son's Death
A Costa Rican national from Centre County had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving due to the pro bono work of two Philadelphia attorneys from Raynes McCarty.
Alejandro Mendez Vargas, charged with first-degree murder for the death of his 3-month-old son, sat in jail for more than two years with no bail or trial.
Charles Hehmeyer and A. Roy DeCaro, two civil lawyers who hadn’t done a criminal case in over 20 years, were asked to take over Vargas’ defense by Holmes Morton, a physician who specializes in genetic disorders among the Amish community.
Vargas’ wife and mother of their baby, Lisa Mullenax Mendez, lived in Centre County with Vargas and their son Lucas.
Mendez never wavered in her support of Vargas and maintained that he did not shake the baby to death as he was accused of doing, the attorneys said. It was that charge that had Vargas facing the death penalty.
Morton told Hehmeyer he believed the baby’s death was due to a vitamin K deficiency in his blood, something that was overlooked in a key lab report done by Geisinger Medical Center when the baby was brought to the center “lifeless,” the two attorneys said.
This was like déjà vu for Hehmeyer. He received a nearly identical call five years earlier from Morton. After that call, Hehmeyer took on as pro bono the case of another Amish mother who was accused by the same medical center of shaking her baby to death, he said.
Morton thought that Sara Glick, the child of an Amish minister, was not shaken to death but suffered from the same vitamin K deficiency that he assumed killed Vargas’ son. That mother was released on all charges.
Hehmeyer was not able to take on this case by himself because he did not meet state requirements to try a capital murder case. That’s where DeCaro came in. Hehmeyer thought that his years of experience in medical malpractice work and DeCaro’s former work as a state and federal prosecutor would be a good mix.
He then went to firm founder Arthur G. Raynes to see if the firm would back the cases. “Arthur told me, ‘If you truly believe he is innocent, then we are obligated to take the case pro bono. The firm will back you 100 percent,”’ Hehmeyer said in a statement.
After getting expert testimony from both Morton and Lucy Rorke, the chief of neuropathology at Philadelphia’s Children’s Hospital, DeCaro and Hehmeyer went forward with what they felt was a strong defense of a vitamin K deficiency.
According to the attorneys, taking care of the logistics of the case was difficult because the original prosecutor in the case, Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar, went missing in April.
They secured a trial date of January 2006 earlier this summer. Their next step was to get rid of the capital murder charge, removing the possibility of a death sentence if the case went to trial.
In August, Hehmeyer and DeCaro were granted a motion to dismiss that capital charge by Centre County Common Pleas Court President Judge Charles C. Brown Jr.
“The court determines the commonwealth failed to present sufficient evidence to constitute a prima facie case on the charge of murder of the first degree,” Brown said. “The commonwealth presented evidence that Lucas’ death was a result of shaken-baby syndrome and possible impact to the head…however, the commonwealth did not present further evidence to show defendant’s intent to kill,” Brown said.
After receiving their first partial victory, their next steps were a bit unusual, according to DeCaro and Hehmeyer.
They served the District Attorney’s Office and prosecution experts with five defense expert reports and demanded a retraction of the prosecution’s reports that Vargas shook his baby to death, they said.
Their next step gave the prosecution a road map to their defense, but it was a risk they were willing to take, DeCaro and Hehmeyer said. They requested that they be allowed to present the case to the Attorney General’s Child Abuses Review Committee, a committee established to aid smaller counties in reviewing complex medical malpractice cases.
The committee did reconvene to discuss the case again, but the defense was not allowed in. It has traditionally been a committee for the prosecution.
The two main defense experts, however, sat on this committee. The day after the committee met, the District Attorney’s Office offered Vargas a deal, DeCaro said.
Vargas was offered a plea of involuntary manslaughter and immediate release from prison with time served, according to the attorneys.
The defense refused the deal, which would have forced Vargas to admit his guilt. The prosecution then returned with a second offer of a plea of nolo contendere, allowing him to maintain his innocence and walk out of jail with time served.
It seems that both sides were hesitant to take this case, where neither sides’ experts would budge, to trial.
It’s a horrible position to put someone in,” DeCaro said in a statement. “Alejandro knows he is innocent. But how can you go to trial in a murder case and risk a jury mistake which would put him in prison for more than 20 years?”
Vargas walked out of jail just a few days before Thanksgiving after accepting a plea of no contest to involuntary manslaughter.
The Centre County district attorney that tried the case, Lance T. Marshall, said he was concerned about a jury trial as well.
“Dr. Rorke and Dr. Morton, they’re heavyweights. We’re not suggesting they’re not heavyweights in this field.” Marshall said. “But if the scientists can’t agree on how this baby died, how can 12 people?”
Vargas’ deal allowed him to go back to Costa Rica a free man or remain here with a 19-month probation term to serve. He decided to go back to his home country, but he still has the option of coming back to America.
Mendez is a college profession in Pennsylvania and remained in the country to finish out the school year. According to DeCaro, the two still want to be together, and at the end of this school year that is what they will do. It is still undetermined where they will choose to live.
“He had the option,” Marshall said of Vargas’ option to stay in the country. “He would have been an immigrant convicted of involuntary manslaughter. His prospects of getting a job, I think, quite frankly, aren’t very good.”
Both sides view this case as at least a partial win.
“It was important for us to get a conviction here,” Marshall said. “We didn’t want this case to be kind of the standard for vitamin K deficiency.
“I know intellectually it is a good result,” Hehmeyer said in a statement. “But it doesn’t feel good. These doctors are going to sweep this mistake under the carpet.”
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