Recently, in Livshitz v. Designer Brands, Inc., No. 23-3082, 2025 WL 80259 (3d Cir. Jan. 13, 2025), the Honorable John F. Murphy of the Third Circuit affirmed the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s grant of summary judgment in...
Single-Vehicle Policy Stacking Provides Premium Worthy Benefits
Recently in Higgins v. Nationwide Affinity Ins. Co. of Am., 2024 PA Super 312 (Dec. 26, 2024), the Superior Court of Pennsylvania was tasked with analyzing whether an insurance policy provides illusory benefits by charging a premium for “stacking” of uninsured...
Can’t Default without a Cause
On December 20, 2024, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, in a published decision, upheld a trial court’s decision that a defendant’s failure to answer a complaint did not result in a “default” on issues, but a damages assessment, holding that a defendant could still...
A Compelling Case for Medical Examinations
Recently, the Superior court of Pennsylvania in Verba v. Erie Insurance Exchange, No. 2633 EDA 2023, 2024 WL 4631682 (Pa. Super. Ct. October 21, 2024), analyzed whether the trial court erred in granting an insurer’s motion to compel its insured to submit to an...
On the Road to Summary Judgment: Negligent Entrustment & a Lessee’s Duty to Investigate Potential Drivers in a Leased Truck Accident Case
Recently, in Brown v. Brooks, 2024 WL 4664806 (E.D. Pa. Nov. 4, 2024), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted defendant Penske’s summary judgment motion on plaintiff’s claims of negligent entrustment, failure to maintain and...
New Jersey Supreme Court Affirms Limits on Insurers’ Duty to Defend in Workplace Injury Cases
The New Jersey Supreme Court recently delivered a decision in Rodriguez v. Shelbourne Spring, LLC, clarifying the extent of an insurer’s duty to defend an employer against workplace injury claims. The Court concluded that Hartford Underwriters Insurance Company was...
Reserve Your Rights, Or Forever Provide a Defense
In Mist Pharmaceuticals, LLC v. Berkley Insurance Company, the New Jersey Appellate Division addressed the application of a "capacity exclusion" in a Directors and Officers (D&O) Liability Insurance policy. Mist Pharmaceuticals sought indemnification from Berkley...
The Bicycle is Off and Away in the Post-COVID World
The recent case of Wilson v. Beiler and JM Lapp Plumbing & Heating, 2023-02714-TT (Chest. Ct. Ct. Com. Pl. 2024), is exemplary of runaway jury exposure that has accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic. In Wilson, the plaintiff, Heath Wilson, was riding his bike...
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Finds Fatal Flaws in the Pro Se Plaintiff’s Evidence and Grants Defendants’ Summary Judgment Motion
When Proofing Your Case, You’re Going to Knead to Get Around Hearsay In Sergei Kovalev v. Lidl US, LLC, et al., 2024 WL 4642982 (E.D. Pa. Oct. 31, 2024), the pro se Plaintiff purchased several loaves of bread from a Philadelphia based Lidl supermarket in March and...
