Representative Matters

Business Commercial
• • Presided over a high-stakes commercial litigation involving claims of negligence, breach of contract and breach of warranty following significant property damage at an industrial facility; case resulted in a multimillion-dollar jury verdict, substantial delay damages and an award of attorneys’ fees and costs; post-trial proceedings included complex motions related to apportionment of liability, judicial emergency timelines and multiple anticipated appeals
  • Presided over case centered on the interpretation of business income, extra expense and civil authority provisions in a commercial policy, along with the applicability of various exclusions; policy language was found to be ambiguous, and ruling was in favor of the insured, emphasizing the principle that ambiguities in insurance contracts must be construed against the insurer under Pennsylvania law; summary judgment granted in declaratory judgment class action involving insurance coverage for pandemic-related business losses
  • Presided over a highly contested injunction proceeding challenging the termination by Pittsburgh International Airport of its concessions provider; the issue was whether the business relationship was governed by a lease, making it a landlord/tenant relationship, or a commercial contract
  • Presided over a number of complex insurance coverage cases involving hundreds of millions of dollars of coverage, including business interruption, asbestos claims, environmental and CGL coverage
  • Presided over several significant breach of contract cases about the Marcellus Shale natural gas formation involving issues with joint ventures in the production (downstream) and pipeline (upstream) phases of shale gas development, production and transportation
Civil Rights
• • Presided over case involving petitions from two transgender women who sought name changes aligned with gender identity, resulting in holding a Pennsylvania statute unconstitutional for prohibiting individuals with felony convictions from legally changing their names; the ruling emphasized the constitutional rights to individual dignity and protection from discrimination, particularly where outdated legal names exposed petitioners to emotional distress and public harm; the decision addressed complex intersections of identity, criminal history and civil rights
Corporate Governance
• • Presided over a shareholder derivative suit challenging the $28 billion acquisition of the HJ Heinz Company by Berkshire Hathaway and Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital; the case involved the application of the business judgment rule, as expressed in the American Law Institute’s principles, relating to derivative actions and the evaluation of the findings of the Heinz Special Litigation Committee; the ruling concluded that the committee's findings that the Heinz corporate officer's belief that the acquisition was in the best interest of the company was not the product of bad faith, self-dealing, concealment or other breach of the officer's duty of loyalty
  • Presided over many cases alleging violations of minority shareholder or limited partner rights claiming illegal "freeze-outs" or "squeeze-outs" of stakeholders in business entities; the rulings required application of Pennsylvania's Business Corporation Law, LLC Act and Uniform Partnership Act
Employment Law
• • Presided over a multiweek jury trial where plaintiffs alleged defamation in a SEC filing following their voluntary separation from an investment advisory firm; the jury awarded the three former employees $29 million in compensatory and punitive damages
  • Presided over numerous cases involving alleged violations of noncompete and nonsolicit clauses in employment contracts, including those involving a Fortune 50 executive, a group of insurance professionals and several physicians 
Family Law
• • Presided over a juvenile court case resolving an issue of first impression in Pennsylvania, ruling that the child protective services agency was responsible for continuing foster care payments for a child who was admitted to college on a scholarship for the duration of her college education
Intellectual Property
• • Presided over a preliminary injunction between a large domestic and a foreign railroad corporation over technology being developed relating to positive train control; the technology would enable the automatic stopping of a train upon detection of a dangerous condition on the track ahead; the case proceeded with multiple days of closed courtroom testimony about the two entities' development of their positive train technology
  • Presided over a number of trademark cases in a variety of industries, primarily claiming market confusion and the validity of market surveys
Personal Injury
• • Presided over a group of cases against several Catholic dioceses, alleging sexual abuse by clergy and teachers; one such case resulted in a ruling distinguishing a Pennsylvania Supreme Court case on the application of the statute of limitations, permitting a factual analysis of the Discovery Rule and allowing the case to proceed past the preliminary stages
  • Presided over several cases alleging premises liability in which women were sexually assaulted on the property of a mall operator, a fast-food chain and a national coffee chain; at issue was not only premises liability, but also whether the cases could be brought anonymously or the plaintiffs had to bring the case in their names; the ruling permitted anonymous prosecution, reasoning that the defendants were fully aware of the plaintiff’s identification
Real Property
• • Presided over complex foreclosure matter involving federally subsidized affordable housing, which included property conditions, receivership management and balancing creditor rights with community welfare
  • Presided over consumer protection case involving predatory rent-to-own housing agreements; matter involved widespread allegations of deceptive contract terms, unsafe living conditions and improper eviction practices affecting hundreds of low-income families statewide
  • Presided over matter involving closure and evacuation of a deteriorated residential property due to severe safety hazards, including fire risk and structural instability; case involved balancing tenant protections under a pandemic-related eviction moratorium with urgent public safety concerns; decision was informed by documented property neglect, prior incidents and local code enforcement reports
  • Presided over a large partition case involving generations of property owners adjacent to the Pittsburgh International Airport allowing the airport to acquire the parcels necessary for leasing the larger airport property to a shale gas driller and producer, resulting in significant royalties to the airport
Taxation
• • Presided over two cases challenging the constitutionality of local tax ordinances; Allegheny County’s tax on the sale of alcoholic beverages (the "drink tax") to support public transit in the county was found to be constitutional, while the City of Pittsburgh’s 3% tax on out-of-state athletes and performers (the "jock tax") was found to be violative of the Pennsylvania Constitution's uniformity clause