Litigation Results
ESTATE CONTEST – OVERTURN OF WILL PRODUCED BY UNDUE INFLUENCE – DELAWARE COUNTY
A mother who had lived alone and had been suffering from intractable cancer came under the influence of a financial planner. The mother’s only child was living halfway across the country and working in a full-time blue-collar job with little vacation benefits. Over her lifetime the mother unbeknownst to her daughter and friends had amassed an estate of near One Million Dollars. During the last months of her life she was in and out of the hospital often, and while her daughter visited as much as possible, the mother met frequently with the financial planner who used his position to gain the mother’s trust and friendship. Just weeks before her death the financial planner persuaded the mother to execute a will. He did this by having his attorney contact the mother and based solely on a call draft a will that the mother later executed even as she remained on powerful cancer treatment medication. This will left 95% of the mother’s estate to the financial planner and only 5% to the mother’s daughter. After the will was presented for probate, objections were presented and after months of litigation a settlement was reached wherein over $900,000 of assets were agreed to be distributed to the mother’s daughter.
ESTATE CONTEST – DEFENSE OF WILL CONTEST CLAIM – PHILADELPHIA COUNTY
Two heirs to a father’s estate objected to will that left substantial assets to that father’s paramour. The heirs sought to have the will completely overturned and all bequests to the paramour stricken. After lengthy litigation a settlement was reached wherein the father’s paramour still received a major portion of the assets left to her under the will.
PERSONAL INJURY – RECOVERY IN EXCESS OF $1,000,000 – DELAYED DIAGNOSIS – PHILADELPHIA COUNTY
After having been rejected by other counsel, this matter was accepted and a young woman from an impoverished household and area who had been characterized by two medical providers as overstating her complaints and branded as a psychosomatic individual with respect to her complaints of headaches and impaired vision, was ultimately found to be suffering a tumor on her optic nerve. After years of litigation and the assistance of arguably the country’s premier neuro ophthalmologic surgeon, the case settled as the jury was about to be selected.
CRIMINAL DEFENSE – CHESTER COUNTY – AGGRAVATED ASSAULT BY VEHICLE WHILE DUI
A defendant was arrested and charged with having struck a pedestrian while operating his vehicle at high speed and under the influence of alcohol. Prosecution relied upon physical evidence at the scene including skidmarks and blood stains. After lengthy discovery, investigation and use of forensic engineering and automotive experts, the most serious charges were dropped, and defendant was sentenced only on the DUI.
CRIMINAL DEFENSE – THEFT IN EXCESS OF $200,000 – MONTGOMERY COUNTY
A defendant was charged with stealing from her employer and even prior to charges being filed counsel contacted that employer and began a dialogue that ensued for a period of months. Employing diligence, and skill beyond that just required for the courtroom, counsel was able to persuade the employer to forego filing charges and to forego any public dissemination of these events. An agreement was made for repayment of @ 75% of the stolen funds and the employee’s dismissal.
PERSONAL INJURY – BUCKS COUNTY – PEDESTRIAN STRUCK CROSSING ROAD OUTSIDE THE CROSSWALK
A plaintiff was struck by a vehicle in the early evening while crossing the road yards away from the plainly marked crosswalk. The defendant’s carrier relied upon the police report and a conversation it related with the witness named on the report. Counsel interviewed the witness and discovered that she had not been given the opportunity to fully describe the events she witnessed and/or did not actually see. After getting her voluntarily and uncompensated written statement providing details not appearing in the police report and apparently not communicated prior to the carrier, a settlement was reached in amount just shy of $100,000.
A plaintiff’s claim for personal injury arising from an auto accident was dismissed by the Eastern District court for plaintiff’s failure to provide written notice to the Federal agency for whom the defendant was employed. Defendant had been driving his personal vehicle and after negotiations with his insurance carrier did not produce a settlement, the plaintiff filed suit days before the Statute of Limitations was to run out. Months later, the government filed a motion to substitute itself as the defendant averring that notwithstanding that the defendant had been operating his own unmarked car at off hours, that on this occasion he was still in the scope of his postal agency employment. The District Court then dismissed the case on the government’s motion ruling that the plaintiff had failed to provide written notice to the Federal agency within the two-year requirement of the Federal Tort Claims Act, notwithstanding that the plaintiff had filed suit within two years. Appeal was made to the 3rd Circuit which felt compelled to uphold the lower court despite its harsh application under these facts. Counsel filed a Writ of Certiorari with the US Supreme Court which accepted the case on a 5-4 ruling. The case was then remanded to the 3rd Circuit wherein the plaintiff’s right to file the lawsuit was affirmed and the case ultimately was settled for appropriate value. Bradley v. United States 290 U.S. 1002, 104 L.Ed. 2d 150, 109 S. Ct. 1634 (1989).
NEW JERSEY COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE CONTEST – DECIDED BY 3RD CIRCUIT AFTER ORAL ARGUMENT
Plaintiff entered into written contract of sale with NJ property owner that did not contain a “time of the essence” clause. Following lengthy delays that the defendant attributed to the plaintiff, and a period of silence wherein defendant asserted that negotiations had ceased to the point wherein defendant could reasonably assume that the plaintiff was no longer capable or interested in consummating the transaction, the defendant then sold the property to a third party. Plaintiff sued for breach. The District Court ruled for the defendant, assigning to plaintiff a failure to timely close by implicitly imposing a “time of essence” clause into the written contract. On appeal the 3rd Circuit reversed and remanded for a measure of damages to be awarded to the plaintiff, finding as a matter of New Jersey law, that imposing a ‘time of essence” clause when none was contemplated or appeared in the written contract, be it in the construct of equity or at law, could not stand, and that judgment must be in favor of the plaintiff and damages for breach must be awarded. Of important note, this case also highlighted the peril of making admissions lightly. The defendant admitted that the contract had been assigned to the plaintiff, and thus even though the plaintiff could not produce a written assignment as may have been required to bring the action, the admission to plaintiff’s averment in the complaint that he was the assignee doomed that argument for the defendant.
CRIMINAL DEFENSE – THEFT IN EXCESS OF $200,000 – PHILADELPHIA COUNTY
A defendant was arrested and charged with theft from her employer. After a Preliminary Hearing and follow-up discovery and court listings, counsel met with the employer’s private attorney on multiple occasions, and followed that with multiple meetings with the prosecuting attorney, ultimately structuring a plea deal that avoided jail time and publicity of the events in exchange for a long-term repayment plan with a substantial term of probation.
