Even when a claimant has not reached full recovery and has not returned to work in any capacity, there are still avenues available to reduce workers’ compensation exposure. One of these avenues is a medical examination called an Impairment Rating...

In Becker v. Smith & Nephew, Inc. , the District Court of New Jersey recently held that plaintiffs could not compel answers to pre-complaint discovery in order to form the basis of the complaint. ...

In Brady v. Urbas , 111 A.3d 1155 (Pa. 2015), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court’s decision to vacate judgment in favor of the defendant physician, Dr. Urbas, and remand for a new trial. The underlying case arose from a...

New Jersey recently passed a noteworthy insurance fraud law and is about to pass an anti-indemnification law in the field of transportation. ...

In a recent case, the question of whether the IME (Independent Medical Evaluation) letter asking specific questions is discoverable by the claimant’s counsel came about. As you may know, the IME letter from defense counsel to the IME physician is not...

 Class action suits over stolen customer information were quickly becoming the next big thing in litigation. Companies, including Target, were in the crosshairs of plaintiffs’ attorneys hoping to score big off of the threat of identity theft and fraud...

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Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services Law (CPSL) was amended in 2014 to include substantive changes to the requirements for the mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect. The new law became effective December 31, 2014. ...

Plaintiff Robert Occhifinto (Occhifinto) filed suit against defendant Robert S. Keppler Mason Contractors, LLC (Keppler) and others, seeking damages for alleged defective construction of an addition to his warehouse (the liability action). He claimed...

In Rodriquez v. Kravco Simon Company, A.2d, 2015 Pa. Super. 41 (2015), the Superior Court reversed the trial court’s decision granting summary judgment in favor of the defendant property owner in a slip and fall case. The property owner had...

In November 2014, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued the much anticipated opinion of Tincher v. Omega Flex . While the state of product liability law was significantly altered in the Commonwealth, the Tincher opinion left open the question...

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania recently decided a fascinating case, involving what was described as a “frivolous” appeal filed by the claimant. The most stunning element of the decision was the fact that even though attorney’s fees were not...

In a May 12, 2014, Memorandum Opinion, the Superior Court affirmed a multi-million dollar verdict in a trucking case where more than one million dollars in punitive damages was awarded. In so doing, the court rejected one of the defendants’ central...

 In response to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in Vine v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, State Employees’ Retirement Board, 607 Pa. 648; 9 A.3d 1150 (2010), the Pennsylvania legislature made significant amendments to Pennsylvania’s Powers...

 A little known section of Pennsylvania law, the Driveway Immunity Provision, 35 P.S §7210.502 (b)(4)(i) of the Construction Code Act, and 53 P.S.§10508(6) of the Municipalities Planning Code, may allow a municipality to avoid damages in an accident...

The Superior Court, in a non-precedential opinion, recently acknowledged the doctrine of intermediate form indemnity. In Bracken v. Burchick , (October 10, 2014), a general contractor entered into a subcontract for masonry work on a construction...

Recently the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board upheld a case where a claimant who was on his regular shift took a cigarette break while on the premises of the employer and was bitten by a co-worker’s dog; the injury was found to be...

This past November, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Tincher v. Omega Flex . The court overruled Azzarello v. Black Brothers , yet declined to replace it with the mandates of the Restatement (Third) of Torts...

The issue of whether the Superior Court erred in applying a blanket prohibition of evidence of a plaintiff’sconsent to surgeries and knowledge of the risks associated with the plaintiff’s surgeries in a medical malpractice case will be decided by the...