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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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Record Settlement for Family of Lillie Belle Allen, Black Victim of Racist Mob
By Rick Lee
York Daily Record/Sunday News
Dec 7, 2005 — On a sultry July night in 1969, a terrified Hattie Dickson cowered in her white car as a barrage of bullets fired by young toughs and misguided teens ripped through the windows and tires and punched holes in the fenders and doors.
Her sister, Lillie Belle Allen, lay dying on the street, a few feet away, her body ripped open by a single rifled shotgun slug.
Tuesday morning, more than 36 years later, Dickson, proudly erect, led her family into City Hall to meet with York officials.
There, York Mayor John Brenner outlined a $2 million civil settlement and offered his condolences to her, Allen's daughter and other family members for the Aiken, S.C., woman's untimely and senseless murder.
"On behalf of the citizens of the City of York, all 40,862, we are very sorry for your loss," he said. "And I know no monetary settlement and no community dialogue will bring back Lillie Belle Allen, but I hope as a community we all will continue to heal, and we all will continue to work to make our community even better because that's really what York is about."
Dickson is the sole surviving occupant of the car that was shot up on North Newberry Street on July 21, 1969. Her parents, the Rev. James and Beatrice Mosley, and her husband, Murray Dickson, all lived through the shooting physically unscathed. Over the years, they passed away.
In January 2003, Dickson, her sister Jennie Settles and Allen's children, Debra Grier and Michael Allen, filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city, former police officer and past Mayor Charlie Robertson and former officers Dennis McMaster, James Vangreen, Ray Markel and Ronald Zeager.
The suit alleged the ex-cops had instigated violence against minorities in the 1969 riots, resulting in Allen's death, and that the city had covered up the officers' roles.
The two men convicted in 2002 of Allen's murder and the seven others who pleaded guilty to lesser charges were not named as defendants in the civil suit. Robertson, the sitting mayor when he was arrested for murder, was acquitted of all charges at trial.
After meeting with Brenner in his office Tuesday, Dickson, Grier, family members and their two attorneys faced a bank of cameras in the lobby of City Hall with the mayor. Brenner said the proposed settlement, to be paid at $200,000 a year, required city council approval. He also said he would request the resurrection of "community dialogues" in the fashion of the York Charrette, which was organized following the riots.
"We need to examine the conditions of mistrust, misunderstanding and missed opportunities ..." he said.
At the end of his prepared speech, the mayor hugged Dickson, who responded, "God bless you."
"I'm glad it's all over, and I'm leaving it all behind," Dickson said. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."
Assistant city solicitor Don Hoyt explained the settlement came after mediation sessions between the parties at the direction of U.S. Middle District Court Judge Yvette Kane. He said the mediations were "well-negotiated" and that the settlement releases all of the defendants, including the former police officers, from the suit.
"This is the end of it," he said.
Hoyt said the city analyzed the case based on risk. The family risked the judge tossing the case on the statute of limitations, and the city risked the case going to trial despite the passage of time.
The family's attorney, Harold Goodman, of Philadelphia, noted that Allen, 27 when she was gunned down, would have been 64 this Christmas.
He said the agreement was "not just a monetary settlement."
"No one can bring back a mother, a sister and a friend," he said. "Lillie Belle Allen can rest in peace."
After the news conference, Goodman said, "Any lawyer worth his or her salt would have liked to have brought it to closure in the courtroom.
"But the fact of the matter is that would benefit no one. Had we gone to trial and gotten, say a $40 (million) or $50 million judgment, which the City of York obviously couldn't pay, its taxpayers couldn't bear, and which would have only resulted in more heartache for the family, we really would not have accomplished anything."
Details concerning the family's share of the settlement, less attorney fees and costs, are not yet available.
Brenner said he will appoint a steering committee in January "that represents our places of worship and our racial, cultural and socio-economic diversity" to lead the community dialogues.
Its first order of business, he said, will be a "tasteful, visible and durable" memorial to Allen and York City Police Officer Henry C. Schaad, the other person killed during the race riots.
Schaad's brother, Barry, said he was surprised by Brenner's announcement. He said a memorial had been discussed years ago, around the time of the criminal trials.
"Maybe now we'll have something to go forth," he said. Goodman said that the Crispus Attucks Community Center already has offered space for a separate memorial for Allen, whose "name in the city seems to be as significant as Rosa Parks'."
He said the complete settlement - the $2 million, the community dialogues and the memorials - "could not happen if reasonable people did not come together."
Brenner said the first $200,000 installment will come from the financially beleaguered city's risk management account and will become part of the city's overall budget in coming years.
"We know we can make this work," he said.
Staff writer Teresa Ann Boeckel contributed to this report.
AT A GLANCE
The latest: York Mayor John Brenner and the family of Lillie Belle Allen on Tuesday outlined a $2 million lawsuit settlement in the 27-year-old woman's murder during the 1969 race riots.
City council vote: Unanimous approval.
Payment plan: $200,000 each year for 10 years.
Source of money: The city's general fund, from a risk-management account to pay legal claims against the city.
Other plans: Resurrection of community dialogues in the fashion of the York Charrette, which was organized following the riots, plus a memorial to Allen and York City Police Officer Henry C. Schaad, also killed during the riots.
BRENNER'S WORDS
Mayor John Brenner turned to Hattie Dickson, Lillie Belle Allen's sister, during the news conference Tuesday to make this statement:
"Now much has been said about an apology from the city. What I want to say today is to the family.
"On behalf of the citizens of the City of York, all 40,862, we are very sorry for your loss. And I know no monetary settlement and no community dialogue will bring back Lillie Belle Allen, but I hope as a community, we all will continue to heal, and we all will continue to work to make our community even better, because that's really what York is about."
HISTORY OF THE CASE
- 1969
- July 17: Taka Nii Sweeney, 17, is shot by an unseen gunman when Detective George Smith stops him and friends for violating the city's youth curfew. White and black gangs be gin rumbles that afternoon.
- July 18: Officer Henry C. Schaad, 22, is shot while riding in one of the police department's two armored trucks. He dies Aug. 1.
- July 21: Lillie Belle Allen, 27, of Aiken, S.C., is shot and killed while on a trip to visit her sister in York.
- July 22: National Guard troops roll into town with tanks, jeeps and armored trucks.
- 2000
- June 14: York County District Attorney's Office announces plans to seek a grand jury to investigate the murders of Schaad and Allen.
- Sept. 27: A York County judge impanels a grand jury to investigate the two murders.
- 2001
- April 26: Robert and Arthur Messersmith are the first of 10 men to be arrested in the death of Allen. Among them is York Mayor Charlie Robertson, one of the first police officers to arrive on the scene of her death.
- Oct. 30: Police arrest Stephen Donald Freeland and Leon Forrest Wright and charge them with Schaad's murder.
- 2002
- Oct. 19: Robertson is acquitted. Robert Messersmith and Gregory Neff are found guilty of second degree murder in Allen's death. The other suspects have previously pleaded to lesser charges.
- 2003
- March 13: After seven hours of deliberation over two days, a jury convicts Freeland and Wright of second-degree murder in Schaad's death.
- April 21: Freeland and Wright are sentenced. Freeland, who had about 3½ years left on an eight-to-20-year drug sentence, receives nine to 19 years in state prison for his role in Schaad's murder. Wright receives 4½ to 10 years in prison.
- 2000
- Dec. 6: City settles a civil claim filed by Allen's family, agreeing to pay the family $200,000 a year for 10 years.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
- In the Allen case
- Arthur Messersmith, 52, was sentenced to 1½ to three years for criminal attempt with the intent to kill and conspiracy to commit an unlawful act. He was paroled this fall.
- Rick L. Knouse, 52, was sentenced to nine to 23½ months for conspiracy to commit an unlawful act. He was paroled in May 2003 and died in June of natural causes.
- Clarence "Sonny" Lutzinger, 53, was sentenced to nine to 23½ months for conspiracy to commit an unlawful act. He was sent back to prison in October 2003 for a parole violation and has a parole date of February 2009.
- Robert N. Messersmith, 56, is serving a nine-to-19-year sentence for second-degree murder at Mahanoy State Correctional Institution in Frackville.
- Chauncey Gladfelter, 53, was sentenced to three to 23½ months for conspiracy to commit an unlawful act. He was paroled in February 2003.
- Thomas P. Smith, 54, was sentenced to three to 23½ months for conspiracy to commit an unlawful act. He was paroled in February 2003.
- Gregory H. Neff, 57, is serving a 4½-to-10-year sentence for second-degree murder at Pine Grove State Correctional Institution in Indiana, Pa.
- William C. Ritter, 54, was sentenced to nine to 23½ months for conspiracy to commit an unlawful act. He was paroled in August 2003.
- Ezra Slick, 55, is serving a two-to-five-year sentence at Laurel Highlands State Correctional Institution in Somerset for criminal attempt with the intent to kill and conspiracy to commit an unlawful act.
- Charlie Robertson, 71, was acquitted by a jury of first- and second-degree murder and lives in York.
- In the Schaad case
- Stephen Freeland, 53, was serving a nine-to-19-year sentence at Somerset State Correctional Institution for second-degree murder. He died there of natural causes on Oct. 24.
- Leon F. Wright, 57, is serving a 4½-to-10-year sentence at Houtzdale State Correctional Institution in Houtzdale for second-degree murder.
- Michael Wright, 55, was sentenced to time served, 86 days, for conspiracy to commit an unlawful act. Baltimore City Police believe a shot and burned body found after an apartment fire there on Nov. 18 is Wright's. They are awaiting positive identification.
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