Author: Suzan Cherichetti

Failure to Preserve Surveillance Video Undercuts Key Defense Argument (PA)

A recent opinion in Nixon v. Family Dollar Stores of Pennsylvania, LLC, a slip and fall case from the Middle District of Pennsylvania, highlights the importance of preserving video surveillance, and the potentially dire consequences for failing to do so. In April 2018, Vanessa Nixon was shopping for a birthday card at a Family Dollar store in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, took five or six steps...Read More

WCM Obtains Summary Judgment Prior To Discovery Pursuant To The Homeowner’s Exemption of NYC’s Sidewalk Law

Wade Clark Mulcahy successfully obtained pre-discovery summary judgment dismissing the Plaintiff’s complaint and the City of New York’s crossclaims against Gloria and Debra Lewis, arguing the insured were shielded from liability pursuant to the Homeowner’s Exemption of New York City Administrative Code §7-210. The action against our clients and the City of New York arises out...Read More

Employment Liability Insurance Policies Unlikely to Cover Workplace Tort Claims Brought by Non-Employee Plaintiffs

In Penn Psych Center Inc. v. US Liability Ins. Co., a Pennsylvania state court addressed, for the first time, whether employment practices liability (EPL) insurance policies generally cover the costs of tort litigation brought against an employer and their employees by third-parties with no employment relationship to the insured. The underlying action involved a suit against Penn Psychiatric...Read More

NY District Court Breaks with Other States on COVID-19 Insurance Coverage but Leaves Door Open

New York courts have been stricter on businesses seeking insurance coverage for pandemic related damages, however, there are still possibilities of coverage even if the policy includes contamination or loss of use exclusions, as exemplified in Thor Equities, LLC v. Factory Mutual Insurance Company. Plaintiff, Thor Equities LLC (“Thor”), a commercial landlord, rents hundreds of properties...Read More

PA Supreme Court Finds that a Corporation’s Owners Can Be Liable for Conduct of Sister Corporation

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently confronted a novel question: can a sister corporation’s owners be held personally liable for the actions of the corporation’s sister company? In Mortimer v. McCool, the plaintiff suffered severe and permanent injuries in a car collision after she had been struck by a drunk driver. She sued the restaurant that served the driver that struck her....Read More

Plaintiff’s Slip and Fall on Wet Floor Goes to Jury as Summary Judgment is Denied (NY)

In Lopez v. 1355 Morris Ave, LLC (1st Dept. 2021), the First Department upheld a trial court’s decision to deny defendants’ motion for summary judgment. In some premises liability cases, a defendant can occasionally avoid liability if it shows that it warned the bystander of a dangerous condition, or that the bystander had knowledge of the dangerous condition prior to the accident. Here,...Read More

PA Landowner Avoids Liability for Snowmobile Crash, Snowmobile Club Not So Lucky

In Conway v. N.E.P. Sno Trails, Inc., the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna determined that a landowner could not be held liable for a snowmobiler’s injuries that occurred on its property. The court did, however, find that the snowmobile club the snowmobiler was a member of could be held liable. Plaintiff, Brent Conway, filed a negligence action against a snowmobile club and landowner after...Read More

Friends Keep Their Promises & Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk (NJ)

Is an individual who volunteers and assures police officers during a car stop of an alleged drunk driver that he will take the drunk driver and his car safety home – but instead relinquishes the car back to the drunk driver before reaching that destination – civilly liable if the drunk driver then collides with and injures another motorist? In this case, Diaz v. Reynoso, police stopped a...Read More

WCM Philadelphia Partner Becomes Treasurer of Philadelphia Association of Defense Counsel

On June 21, 2021, WCM Partner Colleen E. Hayes was elected to the position of Treasurer of the Philadelphia Association of Defense Counsel, one of the oldest local defense organization in the country. Colleen is a partner in WCM’s Philadelphia office and serves clients in commercial coverage related matters. Colleen was also recently selected as a Pennsylvania Rising Star for 2021. She also is...Read More

WCM Obtains Defense Verdict in Philadelphia In-Person Trial

WCM Partner Bob Cosgrove and Counsel Matthew Care with the assistance of associates Ben Ferrell and John Lang and summer associates Halley Matthes and Jean Scanlan obtained a defense verdict in the case of Hakim Scott v. Murano Deli v. Charlie Kim.  In this complicated procedural case, in May 2013, Hakim Scott was stabbed in his left thumb while leaving a deli/bar.  The stabbing was committed...Read More