I. Present Responsibility of Defendants Under current Pennsylvania law, if you are a defendant in a lawsuit with at least one other defendant and are joint tortfeasors*, you may be responsible for...

Title VII of the Civil Rights of 1964 prohibits an employer from engaging in discriminatory employment practices on the bases of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The United States...

Under 42 U.S.C.§ 1988, a prevailing party in a civil rights lawsuit brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C.§ 1983 may seek a reasonable amount of attorney’s fees, as well as costs of litigation. The Supreme...

The Employer’s Role in Settling Claims In 1996, the Pennsylvania Legislature passed Act 57. The legislation has had a dramatic effect on how workers’ compensation cases are handled. One of the...

C&W is pleased to report a major success in its appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on behalf of its resort client in a personal injury action brought by a skier who fell while boarding a...

Cipriani & Werner, P.C. successfully defended an appeal to the Commonwealth Court arising out of the trial court’s denial of Plaintiff’s Post-Trial Motion. In the case of Tucker v. Bensalem...

In this case, the Claimant sustained an eye injury sometime in 1979 or 1980. Claimant was a nurse cleaning the tracheotomy of a patient with herpes simplex virus (“HSV”). The patient coughed...

One of the greatest pitfalls in mitigating indemnity exposure occurs where the employer fails to make a legally sufficient job offer that will hold up in litigation. In the most common real world...

In Bowlaway Lanes, the Claimant sustained a work-related injury in 1975 while employed by Eleventh Frame Lounge. The injury resulted in the replacement of Claimant’s hip with a prosthesis....

In order to obtain a remedy under Title 42 U.S.C.§1983, a plaintiff must assert the violation of a federal right, not merely the violation of a federal law. Whether a federal statute creates such...

Unless a shipper and carrier have a contract which excludes the Carmack Amendment, the federal statute provides the exclusive remedy for loss or damage to goods arising from the interstate...

In the most recent appellate case addressing the new way of litigating UM/UIM matters in Pennsylvania, the Superior Court upheld the venue clause requiring that consumers file suit in the county...

The Pennsylvania Legislature has significantly changed its rules relating to the reimbursement of Department of Public Welfare (DPW) liens for Medical Assistance (MA) payments from recoveries by...

For as long as most claim professionals have been in practice, all UM/UIM have been subject to the Pennsylvania Insurance Department’s mandatory arbitration requirement, forcing every unsettled...

Starting in 2009, carriers with primary responsibility for medical coverage will be required to report any settlement, judgment, award or instances in which such responsibility ceases. The...

The Claimant sustained disfigurement of her neck as is typical of anterior cervical surgeries and was awarded 22 weeks for disfigurement by the Workers' Compensation Judge. On appeal to the...

On August 14, 2008, President Bush signed into law The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. The bill, which was presented and passed due in large part to the rash of children's toy...

On September 25, 2008, President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments of 2008 (“ADAA”). These new provisions to the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) will take effect...

1. When is the new law effective? ANSWER: Act 2008-44 applies to lawsuits filed on or after September 2, 2008. 2. What changes are contained in the new law? ANSWER: There are two major changes....

The Claimant filed a Claim Petition alleging he sustained an injury in the course and scope of his employment. In support of his Petition, he testified that while he was walking in the Employer’s...