Of Interest

New York (Insurance Coverage) State of Mind (NY)

In City of New York v. Fleet General Insurance Group Inc., the Eastern District of New York addressed the causal link required to trigger an insurer’s duty to defend an additional insured. This case arises out of a state-court lawsuit, filed against the City of New York, for millions of dollars in property damage, that allegedly occurred when a section of Northern Boulevard in Queens collapsed...Read More

Not So Slippery Slope: NJ Supreme Court Rules On Slip And Fall Snow / Ice Cases (NJ)

We previously reported a decision by the New Jersey Appellate Division in Pareja v. Princeton International Properties, which held that commercial landowners have a duty to prevent or remediate snow and ice conditions on their sidewalks even when precipitation is falling. The New Jersey Supreme Court, in a landmark decision, has reversed the Appellate Division and has held that the commercial...Read More

Does COVID-19 Mean Quarantine? (PA)

In a recent order from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the court addressed the first of what is sure to be many cases stemming from cancellations of vacations and other travel due to COVID-19. This case was a putative class action filed on behalf of individuals who cancelled travel due to the coronavirus pandemic and whose claims for travel insurance claims were later denied by the...Read More

A Synysta Labor Law Case (NY)

Volodmyr Synysta v. 450 Partners LLC, NY Slip Op. 50508(U), 2021 WL 2213821 (Kings County, May 20, 2021) is a Labor Law action. Plaintiff brought Labor Law §§240(1), 241(6), 200, and common law negligence claims against various parties for injuries sustained after falling from a scaffold at a construction site. In the instant motion, Plaintiff sought summary judgment on his §§ 240(1), 241(6)...Read More

Pennsylvania Federal Court Pulls The Emergency Brake On Car Dealers’ COVID-19 Lawsuits (PA)

In Star Buick, et al. v. Sentry Ins. Group, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on May 26, 2021 dismissed plaintiffs’ Star Buick GMC, Star Buick GMC Cadillac, and Star Pre-Owned Bethlehem (collectively “Star Buick”) complaint seeking loss of business income pursuant to an all-risks business protection insurance policy. Star Buick filed an amended complaint seeking the loss of business...Read More

Call Your Next Witness – Bob Cosgrove and Matt Care Discuss last week’s Defense Verdict

“Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels.”    What does this Ginger Rogers quote have to do with litigation and trial practice? Good question.   Bob Cosgrove and Matt Care just tried a case to a unanimous defense verdict, in front of of a real live jury in Pennsylvania.  You can read up on the details of the case here. Putting aside the odd...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

“WCM Partner Recognized As Rising Star”

Wade Clark Mulcahy LLP is pleased to announce that Colleen E. Hayes, Partner in the Philadelphia office, was selected as a 2021 Pennsylvania Rising Star.   Colleen handles, inter alia, litigation arising out of a variety of coverage contract disputes, including matters involving general liability, professional liability, first-party property, product recall, fine arts, jewelers block, and “bad...Read More

Call Your Next Witness – Aisling Jumper of Trans Re

Aisling Jumper had a “typical” introduction into the insurance world — by working at a call center in County Galway, Ireland, speaking Spanish to international travelers on holiday.   You know — “typical.” Aisling ended up going to law school, and has been involved in the insurance world ever since, whether at a law firm, with a third-party administrator,...Read More

New Jersey Appellate Division Permits a Driver and Employer’s Determination of Improper Actions as Admissible Evidence

In Hassan v. Williams, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey found that a trial court improperly excluded multiple documents, including the determination letter written by an employer that its driver acted improperly, as well as the letter written by that driver about his own conduct. At the trial level, these documents were excluded as the Court held they went to the...Read More