Kline & Specter, PC, and its attorneys have had unparalleled legal success with personal injury, medical malpractice and product liability lawsuits in the Philadelphia suburbs including the counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery. Our injury lawyers also have obtained major legal victories in other Pennsylvania cities and regions including the Lehigh Valley, Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pittsburgh and Erie as well as many rural parts of the commonwealth.
The firm has obtained substantial jury verdicts and settlements in jurisdictions in which juries are often considered reluctant to hand down large monetary awards to plaintiffs. Consider the following:
Bucks County: This highly publicized $14 million jury award against the Pennsbury School district for Ashley Zauflik, who lost her leg when she was run over by a school bus. The December 2011 verdict was reportedly a record for Bucks County.
A case against Daisy Manufacturing and its defective high-powered BB gun which injured and led to the eventual death of a Bucks County teenager resulted in a major confidential settlement and action against the company by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The case of Tucker Mahoney was featured on the TV show 20/20 and was chronicled in the book Two Boys. (Learn more)
More Bucks County cases …
Chester County: A $1.2 million jury verdict in the case of Douglas Derr, who was standing at his driveway when a tractor-trailer struck a tree which then hit Derr, fracturing his skill and causing other injuries.
In December 2011, the firm’s lawyers won an $805,000 verdict for the parents of a 35-year-old West Goshen man who was admitted to Chester County Hospital for stomach pain and was given too much pain killer, exacerbating his sleep apnea and resulting in his death. (News coverage - McGinley)
More Chester County cases …
Delaware County: A $38.2 million verdict for a woman rendered a paraplegic following an accident at a dangerous intersection. The verdict was a record in Delaware County and at the time was largest verdict in any of the 66 Pennsylvania counties outside Philadelphia. (News coverage)
A $2.9 million jury award in a medical malpractice case for the widow of a doctor who died in his own hospital. Dr. Marc Ebel’s condition deteriorated over several days and he finally died as a result of negligence on the part of two physicians who had been his colleagues. (Delaware County Daily Times article)
More on Delaware County cases …
Montgomery County: A $40.5 million settlement in the case of six people who died and six who were injured in a 2001 explosion and fire at the Village Green apartment complex in Hatboro. Defendants in the case included the landlord and PECO.
The largest-ever verdict in Montgomery County in 2006 with an award of $20 million for a 6-year-old Richlandtown boy who went blind after his premature birth at Abington Memorial Hospital. The jury in the case determined that the hospital and two doctors were responsible. (News coverage)
More on Montgomery County Cases …
OTHER MAJOR PENNSYLVANIA CASES:
Some of Kline & Specter’s largest lawsuits have come outside metropolitan Philadelphia. There are too many to list, but the following are some of the highlights:
Allegheny County: A Pittsburgh jury ordered Ford Motor Co. and local dealership McCrackin Ford Inc. to pay $8.75 million to the family of a 43-year-old tow truck operator who was killed when the defective parking brake on his truck gave way and he was crushed by his own vehicle. (News coverage) (Kline & Specter had won verdicts of $153 million and $52 million in a previous case against Ford in federal court in Nevada – See White v. Ford)
In other Allegheny County cases, Kline & Specter won the largest medical malpractice verdict in Allegheny County history with a $7.8 million award for a 4-year-old boy who suffered cerebral palsy as a result of a birth injury. (News coverage)
And in 2010, the firm settled for nearly $2 million the case of a woman killed when a roof collapsed at a ride at the Kennywood amusement park. (News coverage)
More on Allegheny County Cases …
Erie County: Kline & Specter attorneys won the largest-ever personal injury verdict in Erie County with a $21.6 million award against Hamot Medical Center in a case in which nurses failed to alert an obstetrician of variable decelerations in a twin birth, leading to a delay in childbirth and severe brain damage in one baby. (News coverage)
Indiana County: A $6 million jury verdict, believed to be a record for Indiana County was handed down for a baby who suffered cerebral palsy as a result of a doctor's failure to act promptly during the delivery. The doctor was found 75 percent negligent and Indiana Hospital 25 percent negligent. (News coverage)
Lehigh County: A record Lehigh County verdict of $33.1 million was awarded for a Macungie Woman who was dying of cancer because a doctor and a company providing mammography services were negligent in failing to diagnose breast cancer. A jury awarded $28.1 million to Bonnie Welteroth and $5 million to her husband. Reports at the time said the verdict was also the largest-ever for a medical malpractice suit in Pennsylvania. (News coverage)
In another well-known case, a jury awarded more than $2.9 million for Jane S. Baker, a former Lehigh County commissioner, county executive and later state legislator, who as a pedestrian was run over by a drunk driver. Baker suffered a broken back, ribs, arm and fingers, as well as a cognitive impairment, from the incident.
Luzerne County: A $19.1 million jury award for Teresa McManamon, who was struck by a van while at work on a road crew placing cones along a construction site in Hazleton. Her injuries – numerous broken bones and extensive neurological damage – left her unable to work or care for herself or the three children she was raising on her own. (See The McManamon Case)
Wayne County: A $3.2 million settlement was obtained by Kline & Specter lawyers for the widower of a woman killed by a piece of farming equipment that whipped lose from the truck hauling it on the open road. The judge in the case indicated the settlement at the time was a record for Wayne County. (Read the story)
Click here to see a more complete list of Kline & Specter Major Victories.