On the Pulse…Other Notable Achievements

RECOGNITION

Robert Aldrich (Scranton, PA) was recently elected to a five-year term to the Executive Board of the Pennsylvania Defense Institute. Rob has been a board member of PDI for the past eight years. With his elevation to the Executive Board, he will begin his term as PDI’s secretary and will ultimately become PDI’s president, following in the footsteps of many other Marshall Dennehey past presidents, including most recently Stuart Sostmann, Jason Banonis and Matthew Keris.

Kimberly Kanoff Berman (Fort Lauderdale, FL) was appointed treasurer of the Florida Supreme Court Historical Society at the 42nd Annual Board of Trustees meeting of the Florida Bar. 

Melanie Foreman (Philadelphia, PA) has been appointed as a Hearing Committee Member for the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. She will serve a three-year term that began on July 1, 2024, to run through June 30, 2027. Hearing Committee Members perform essential roles in Pennsylvania’s disciplinary system, chief among them to review Disciplinary Counsel’s recommended dispositions and to conduct hearings into formal charges of attorney misconduct and petitions for reinstatement. These efforts are critical to guiding the Board and the Supreme Court in their determinations. 
 
Christopher Reeser (Harrisburg, PA) appeared on Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) as a commentator who introduced cases that were argued before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Chris and a local plaintiff’s attorney alternated in describing the facts of a case, the procedural history, and the issues to be decided by the Court before oral argument of the case was televised on PCN.

Congratulations to Seth Schwartz (Philadelphia, PA), co-chair of our Construction Injury Litigation Practice Group, on being named a 2024 Client Service All-Star by The BTI Consulting Group. Seth is one of only 296 attorneys selected nationwide who were identified by corporate counsel for superior client service. Clients say, “Everything Seth does is very client service oriented. He makes us feel like his only client.” Learn more about Seth’s practice and approach to client service: https://lnkd.in/e-dSSArK
 

PUBLISHED ARTICLES

The Legal Intelligencer published “DOL’s Retirement Security Rule Imposes New Fiduciary Standards on Financial Services, Insurance Industries,” authored by Samuel Cohen and Ryan Friel (both of Philadelphia, PA). You can read their article here.

PLUS Blog published Dana Gittleman’s (Philadelphia, PA) article “Insurance Agents and Brokers Get No Summer Vacation from Risk Management.” You can read her article here. 

PLUS Blog published Dana Gittleman’s (Philadelphia, PA) and Jeremy Zacharias’ (Mount Laurel. NJ) article “Insurance Agent Skorrs Victory in New Jersey’s Appellate Division.” You can read this article here. 

Joslyn Restivo and Oner Kiziltan (both of Fort Lauderdale, FL) authored the article, “Florida High Court Clears Path for Insurance Companies to Utilize Payment Methodologies Enumerated in PIP Statute,” which appeared in the Daily Business Review. The article discusses the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in Allstate Insurance v. Revival Chiropractic regarding the “billed amount” issue—one of the most longstanding issues in Florida PIP law. You can read their article here.

InsuranceLawGlobal.com published Alesia Sulock’s (Philadelphia, PA) article “The Assessment of Professional Liability Claims in the U.S.” You can read Alesia’s article here. 

The Legal Intelligencer published “Your Well-Being Matters: Attorney Mental Health and Professional Competence” and “‘But I Could Have Gotten More!’—Damages Speculation in Legal Malpractice Cases” by Alesia Sulock and Josh J.T. Byrne (both of Philadelphia, PA). 

David Tomeo (Roseland, NJ) and Melissa Dziak (Scranton, PA) authored the article, “Navigating a New Legal Landscape: Protecting the Corporate Veil in the Med Mal Suit,” which appeared in the New Jersey Law Journal’s Medical Malpractice Supplement. The article explores the historical roots and status of the “piercing the corporate veil” doctrine in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. You can read their article here. 

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

Mohamed Bakry (Philadelphia, PA), in his role as president of The Lawyers Club of Philadelphia, hosted a CLE, “Communications with Parties and the Court,” with Josh J.T. Byrne (Philadelphia, PA) as one of the panelists. This one-hour program was comprised of four 30-minute presentations by the panelists, followed by a discussion and Q&A from the audience. The presentations focused on how to determine whether a party is represented and specifically addressed the topic of current and former corporate employees. The discussion also included how to ethically communicate with unrepresented parties from the perspectives of an attorney and a judge.

We are proud to have two outstanding attorneys from our firm involved with DRI’s annual Diversity for Success Seminar. Mohamed Bakry (Philadelphia, PA), a member of our DE&I Committee, served as the 2024 Program Chair, and Christina Gonzales (Philadelphia PA) moderated a portion of the DRI Women of Color Roundtable discussion.

Josh J.T. Byrne (Philadelphia, PA) presented “Disciplinary and Reinstatement Cases You Should Know” at the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s training for new hearing committee members. The presentation focused on the disciplinary process from the perspective of respondent’s counsel. 

Josh J.T. Byrne and Alesia Sulock (both of Philadelphia, PA) presented for Attorney Protective on the “Ethical Use of Social Media in the Practice of Law.” The presentation attracted over 1,300 attendees.

Michele Frisbie (King of Prussia, PA) was a guest lecturer on “Avoiding Liability for Personal Trainers” at Montgomery County Community College’s Health and Fitness Professional AAS Degree and Personal Training Certificate programs.

John Gonzales (Philadelphia, PA) presented a webinar entitled “An Introduction to Fourth Amendment Police Liability Claims” for the National Academy of Continuing Legal Education. 

Sean Greenwalt (Tampa, FL), Oner Kiziltan, and Joslyn Restivo (both of Fort Lauderdale, FL) presented at the Florida Insurance Fraud Education Committee’s annual conference. Their presentation, “No Tipping, Please: Responding to Gratuitous Payment, Coverage, and Policy Disputes,” tackled all the new and old challenges to PIP exhaustion and policy limits.

Matthew Keris (Scranton, PA) joined hundreds of the country’s leading health care executives, clinicians, and other professionals at the 2024 American Hospital Association Leadership Summit. Matt co-presented the session “Multi-Disciplinary Evaluation of Liability Risks of AI in Health Care: The Board Focus,” with Susan Boisvert, Senior Patient Safety Risk Manager at The Doctors Company. The session focused on how professionals can prepare for upcoming medicolegal challenges in light of anticipated increases in AI legal spend.

Julia Klubenspies (Roseland, NJ) was a featured speaker at the new resident orientation for the first class of resident physicians at The Valley Hospital in Paramus, New Jersey. Julia spoke on “Risk Management Topics and Strategies for the Resident Physician.”

Leaders of our Trucking & Transportation Litigation Practice Group revealed the major employment law issues impacting the industry with AM Best Information Services. Leonard Leicht (Roseland, NJ), Peggy Bush (Orlando, FL), and Harold Moroknek (Westchester, NY) shared lessons learned from actual cases they have handled. Listen now! https://lnkd.in/eAG5cfxN

Harold Moroknek (Westchester, NY) was part of a group of presenters at this year’s Auto Haulers Association Spring Conference.
 
Michele Punturi (Philadelphia, PA) was joined by Michelle Leighton, Vice President - Senior Claim Consultant at Connor Strong, and Robin S. Roeder, Senior Vice President Risk Management at Sedgwick, in presenting CLM’s webinar “The Dream Team Approach to WC Case Management.” 

Jeffrey Rapattoni (Mount Laurel, NJ) spoke at the New England Chapter IASIU two-day training seminar, where he presented “Ethics and the Investigator.”

Tune in to the latest Professional Liability Underwriting Society podcast, where David Shannon and Ryan Friel (both in Philadelphia, PA) discuss the new SEC rule for cybersecurity and its impact on compliance frameworks and reporting obligations. https://lnkd.in/esBGPCDA 

Jack Slimm (Mount Laurel, NJ) joined a panel to present the New Jersey State Bar Association’s CLE program, “Legal Malpractice Update.” The seminar touched on ethical issues in legal malpractice, including claims and proofs involving the New Jersey Lawyers Fund for Client Protection, problems arising from accepting electronic payments, fee splitting and referral fees, emotional distress damages, the impact of artificial intelligence on legal malpractice, and appellate malpractice.

Robin Snyder (Philadelphia, PA) joined a panel at the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry’s Healthcare Summit to present “Navigating Medical Malpractice: Insights Into Pennsylvania’s Legal Landscape.”

Sunny Sparano (Roseland, NJ) joined a panel of fellow Insurance Law Global members to present “Navigating Liability for Design: Key Considerations for Contractors, Professionals, and Insurers.” In this webinar, the panel of construction law experts contrasted the duties imposed on design and construction practitioners in the USA, France, and Australia respectively.

Alesia Sulock (Philadelphia, PA) joined an international panel of attorneys and members of Insurance Law Global to present the webinar “The Assessment of Damages in Professional Liability Claims.” This panel of experts compared and contrasted how damages are calculated in Argentina, Australia, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the USA. Alesia also presented with the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Professional Liability Committee, “Avoiding Legal Malpractice,” to the Monroe County Bar Association.

Suzanne Utke (Philadelphia, PA) lectured on the topic of “Medical Legal Issues” for the physicians assistant programs of Thomas Jefferson University.

Timothy Ventura (Philadelphia, PA) and Christopher Block (Roseland, NJ) presented “The Seven-Ten Split Mock Trial: Navigating Agent Errors & Omissions,” at the Annual Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) Conference. The mock trial was designed to mimic a trial based on actual errors that arose under E&O liability for insurance agents. During the session, attendees were also provided with an overview of E&O liability, including an examination of how the agent could have avoided a lawsuit, and common causes of E&O claims against insurance agents.

Mark Wellman (New York, NY) hosted “AI - The Future of Litigation,” at the CLM Alliance (Claims and Litigation Management) New York City local chapter event.

Jeremy Zacharias (Mount Laurel, NJ) was a panelist for a New Jersey Institute CLE seminar entitled, “Solving Problems in Commercial Real Estate Transactions,” where he discussed 21st Century ethical considerations in commercial real estate transactions. The seminar, geared towards individuals handling commercial real estate matters, also discussed commercial real estate transactions in New Jersey and how one can craft and negotiate contracts and leases that protect your clients against excessive risk. 

Lary Zucker (Mount Laurel, NJ) joined a panel to present a webinar, “Managing Bowling & Pickelball Claims,” for the Sports and Entertainment Risk Management Alliance. This webinar provided an in-depth review of the most common risks in bowling and provided guidance on how to identify, manage, mitigate, investigate, and defend these cases. It also covered risks associated with America’s fastest-growing sport, pickleball. The panel discussed the dos and don’ts of liability and exposure. 

_{Defense Digest, Vol. 30, No. 3, September 2024, is prepared by Marshall Dennehey to provide information on recent legal developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. ATTORNEY ADVERTISING pursuant to New York RPC 7.1. © 2024 Marshall Dennehey. All Rights Reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm. For reprints, contact tamontemuro@mdwcg.com.}