Noteworthy Cases

Product Liability
S.B. v. “Major Defense Contractor”
A veteran suffered delayed blindness many years after exposure to high intensity microwave radiation while working as a radar operator. Relying upon federal test results that were decades old, recovered under the Freedom of Information Act, Mr. McHugh was able to establish the degree of radiation to which the plaintiff was exposed. Because of a lack of research in American medical literature, it was necessary to translate a number of studies from foreign countries to establish the mechanism of injury. A confidential seven figure settlement was reached with the defense contractor who designed the radar, which was subsequently reported by the national publication Microwave News.

J.P. v. “Multi-National Engineering Firms”
A pipe fitter working at an industrial plant outside Philadelphia was badly burned when a bin full of molten ash at a co-generation plant exploded, covering his body. Suit was brought against major, multi-national corporations, and following extensive reconstruction of the accident, which demonstrated flaws in design and fabrication of the bin and its control system, a confidential settlement of $11.1 million was paid.

Highway Accidents
B.W. v. “National Oil Refining Company”
A train collided with a gasoline tanker at a railroad crossing, resulting in a massive fire, and killing the train’s engineer. The accident was caused in part by the failure of the railroad crossing signal, and in part by the driver of an oil company tank truck who failed to look before entering the crossing. The investigative report of the National Transportation Safety Board suggested that the truck driver had no responsibility for the accident, but Mr. McHugh prevailed by doing an independent reconstruction of the accident, disproving the conclusions of the NTSB, resulting in a confidential seven figure settlement for the engineer’s widow.

DeS. v. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
A motorist entered a highway from an entrance notorious for being the site of many fatal accidents. State highway officials had refused to recognize the area as a hazard because they were unable to determine an explanation for the problem. Mr. McHugh retained a prominent engineer who identified the adjoining road as a distraction that would cause motorists to misjudge the distance of oncoming cars. In addition to achieving a settlement, the family of the victims also succeeded in having the entrance permanently closed.

T.S. v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
A street in an older section of Philadelphia was allowed to deteriorate, where trolley tracks were laid along a right-of-way for public transit down the center of the street. The tracks remained, and the condition of the road worsened, over a period of years, because the governmental entities involved could not agree as to who properly had legal responsibility for maintenance. Ultimately, a jury returned a verdict of $15 million on behalf of a passenger who suffered severe orthopedic injuries, when the dangerous condition of the roadway caused the driver of the vehicle in which she was riding to loss control. The case, tried by Mr. McHugh along with his mentor S. Gerald Litvin, was reported by the American Bar Association Journal as one of the top ten jury verdicts of 1988.

Medical Malpractice
A.C. v. “Major Teaching Hospital”
A patient suffering from a tumor in one ear erroneously received radiation to his other, healthy ear, rendering him deaf. To overcome a contention that the plaintiff’s hearing loss was the result of auto-immune disease, Mr. McHugh arranged for state-of-the-art DNA testing to be done by the medical expert who created the definitive diagnostic test, discrediting the hospital’s defense. This resulted in a jury verdict and $4.1 million recovery for the patient.

Friter v. Iolab
A senior citizen underwent surgery to implant an artificial lens in his eye at a major teaching hospital in Philadelphia. At the time, the lens was deemed to be experimental by the Food & Drug Administration, but this fact was not revealed to the patient. A jury awarded substantial damages for loss of the eye, finding that the hospital as an institution owed a duty to the patient to secure his consent under the terms of the FDA clinical trial in which it was participating. This verdict was then affirmed on appeal, representing the only instance in Pennsylvania law where a hospital, rather than an individual physician, was held legally responsible for failure to obtain a patient’s consent.

Friter v. Iolab Corp., 607 A.2d 1111 (Pa. Super. 1992).

J.S. v. “Major Teaching Hospital”
A single mother who was expecting twins went into labor at a major hospital, where errors in anesthesia caused anoxic brain injury, leading to her death. At the time, the victim of this incident was unemployed and receiving public assistance. Mr. McHugh argued that the children’s loss of their mother, particularly at the inception of life, had a substantial value, and succeeded in achieving a confidential settlement of $4.25 million to provide for their future, notwithstanding the lack of an earnings history.

Quinn v. Drexel College of Medicine
Physicians at Drexel University participated in a historic operation in which an artificial heart prolonged the life of a patient for several months. After his death, the family sued the College, alleging that its doctors had failed to render proper care. In a case that attracted national attention, Drexel asked Mr. McHugh if he would consider defending its team of surgeons. Although known as an advocate for patients, after reviewing the medical records and concluding that the doctors had done nothing wrong, Mr. McHugh accepted the only defense case of his career, and won dismissal of the claims against Drexel.

Aviation
A.N. v. “International Travel Providers”
Four Pennsylvanians on a trip to Kenya, Africa, died in a plane crash when the aircraft in which they were traveling failed to climb over a mountain range, killing all on board. To secure damages for their families, it was necessary to establish jurisdiction over foreign travel providers in the United States. When American law did not appear to create a remedy for the families, Mr. McHugh prevailed by researching applicable African precedent in the Library of Congress in Washington, and prevailed by proving their case in a Philadelphia courtroom under principles of Kenyan law. A confidential multi-million dollar settlement was then reached.

Lockerbie Air Disaster
After a terrorist plot resulted in the destruction of a Pan American international flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, Mr. McHugh was retained to represent the family of a prominent Philadelphia businessman who died in the tragedy. Cooperating with national counsel for the class of victims, the case was ultimately resolved with a confidential multi-million dollar settlement.

Wrongful Death
Schultz v. duPont
After John duPont, one of the heirs to the Dupont chemical fortune, murdered Olymic champion David Schultz while he was serving as coach of Dupont-sponsored wrestling team. Mr. McHugh was retained as part of team which included his mentor, S. Gerald Litvin, and current partner Arthur G. Raynes, to represent the family of the victim. After winning favorable rulings on the ability to collect an award of punitive damages from someone suffering from a mental illness, the case settled confidentially for terms reported by the media as the largest single settlement of a wrongful death case ever on behalf of an individual decedent.

DeJesus v. United States of America
A veteran suffering from anger management problems, with a history of domestic abuse, was released from a Veterans Administration facility even though he was demonstrating signs of an emotional crisis. Shortly thereafter, he murdered two of his children and two of their playmates. With his colleague Regina Foley, Mr. McHugh succeeded in proving that the federal government had committed acts of gross negligence under Pennsylvania’s Mental Health Procedures Act, winning damages for the two mothers who had lost their children.

Civil Rights
M.T. v. “Urban Police Department”
A teenage boy stole a briefcase from a police officer, and fled after flipping on the emergency lights on the officer’s vehicle. A massive manhunt for the youth resulted in a high speed pursuit, causing a head-on collision on Interstate 95. Mr. McHugh successfully argued that such conduct by police could rise to the level of a civil rights violation, notwithstanding precedent from the United States Supreme Court that had dramatically limited liability for police pursuit. The case resulted in a confidential seven figure settlement after plaintiff rested at trial.

N.F. v. City of Philadelphia
Following a murder related to organized crime, police arrested a local resident without an extensive criminal history, and proceeded to build a case against him. It was later revealed that the accused was innocent, and that improper police procedure was followed. Following a jury verdict that civil rights violations had occurred, Mr. McHugh was retained as special counsel to brief and argue the appeal before the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court.

Premises Liability
M.H. v. “Urban Shopping Mall”
A young man attended the premiere of a controversial movie, the subject of which was gang violence, and was shot in the parking lot of the theater following the show by an unidentified assailant, causing serious injuries. Mr. McHugh brought suit against the shopping mall
where the theater was located, and the national theater chain showing the film, arguing that such a violent episode would have been both predictable and preventable with adequate security. When discovery revealed a nationwide pattern of violence accompanying late night premiers of such movies, defendants agreed to pay a confidential settlement totaling $4 million.

M.M. v. “Amusement/Water Park
A grade school student came to Pennsylvania on a class trip and drowned in a wave pool, in an incident that attracted national attention. Mr. McHugh was retained to prove that the drowning occurred because of the dangerous design of the pool, and the failure of life guard’s to recognize the signs of a swimmer in difficulty. To prevail, he retained a well- known water safety expert who had authored many of the national standards for lifeguards published
by the American Red Cross. The child’s family received a confidential seven-figure settlement.