A recent Jury Verdict Research study found that the median (midpoint of data, not average) jury award for personal injury trials in Pennsylvania is $40,974. Personal injury plaintiffs in Pennsylvania receive damages in 48% of tort cases that go to trial.
Pennsylvania’s highest court last week in Fitzpatrick v. Natter that circumstantial evidence provided by a plaintiff’s spouse in a medical malpractice lawsuit is sufficient to get past summary judgment in an informed consent malpractice claim. The court found that a Pennsylvania Superior Courty had erred in concluding that Pennsylvania’s informed…
The Insurance Journal reports that a Pennsylvania jury awarded $10.2 million to a teenager who paralyzed in a drunken-driving crash while wearing a lap belt in the backseat of a Volkswagen. The verdict assigned 51 percent of the liability to the drunk driver, 39 percent to Volkswagen, and 10 percent…
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled last week that an insurance company has a duty to defend negligence allegations against a couple accused of negligently failing to obtain proper psychiatric care for their son, failure to confiscate his handgun, and for failing to notify the police that he possessed a gun.…