Schmidt Kramer Attorneys Named to Best Lawyers in America® 2027

Scott Cooper 2025 Gerard Kramer Schmidt Kramer Injury Lawyers is pleased to announce that four of our attorneys have been selected for inclusion in the 2027 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®.

Michael Kosik Daryl Christopher For the attorneys being recognized, this honor carries particular significance because Best Lawyers selections are based on peer review.

Our attorneys honored for the 2027 Edition of Best Lawyers in America® include:

Michael E. Kosik — Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs
Scott B. Cooper — Appellate Practice, Insurance Law, Litigation – Insurance, and Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs
Gerard C. Kramer — Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs
Daryl E. Christopher — Insurance Law, Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs, Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs, and Product Liability Litigation – Plaintiffs

How Honorees Are Chosen for Best Lawyers in America®

Best Lawyers uses a peer-review process to identify attorneys for inclusion. This means lawyers nominate and evaluate other attorneys they believe have demonstrated professional excellence in particular areas of law. The process also includes additional reviews of each nominee’s professional background and accomplishments.

Why the Best Lawyers in America® Recognition Matters to Us

For Schmidt Kramer, the significance of this recognition goes beyond the honor itself. Being selected by fellow attorneys is a meaningful acknowledgment of the work, experience, and professional reputation each of these lawyers has built over the course of their careers.

This recognition is meaningful to us because Schmidt Kramer is deeply connected to the communities we serve. Our attorneys have spent their careers helping people in Harrisburg and throughout Central Pennsylvania, both in their legal work and through their involvement in the community. We are proud to see four of them recognized by their peers for that work.

We are proud to see Mike, Scott, Gerard, and Daryl recognized by their peers. We are equally proud of the work they do every day on behalf of injury victims, injured workers, and families in Dauphin County.

Why This Recognition Also Matters for Our Community

Finding a lawyer when you need one is not always easy. If you don’t have a personal reference from a friend or family member, it can be hard to know where to turn. Peer recognition awards, similar to Best Lawyers®, offer another piece of information to consider when evaluating a lawyer’s experience and reputation.

Awards like these are not just to honor attorneys. They also serve as a guide for injured victims and their families when they find themselves needing legal help. A Best Lawyers recognition is certainly not the only factor to consider when choosing an attorney, but it can provide some initial insight for people trying to find out more about the lawyers practicing in their community, the areas of law they handle, and how they treat their clients.

Congratulations to Mike, Scott, Gerard, and Daryl on this well-deserved recognition!

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Recent Results

$742,000.00 Workers' Compensation

Scott Cooper settled a wrongful death claim for $742,000 on behalf of a the estate of a trash worker killed in a car accident in Franklin County. The case was amicably resolved for all of the available insurance policy coverage for the other driver and under insured motorist carrier. Also, Mr. Cooper was able to amicably resolved all subrogation interests with the worker's compensation carrier for a lump sum and agreement for the subrogation claim to be waived in full.

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$1,200,000.00 Personal Injury

A Dauphin County jury has awarded a $1.2 million verdict to the parents of a 5-year-old who had an anoxic brain injury and stopped breathing after he had a tonsillectomy. 2012-06-26 10:00:00 AM Date of Verdict: June 19. 2012 Court and Case No.: C.P. Dauphin County No. 2009-CV-14003-MM Judge: Scott Evans Type of Action: Medical malpractice Injuries: Anoxic brain injury Plaintiffs Counsel: Terry S. Hyman, Schmidt Kramer, Harrisburg Plaintiffs Experts: Dr. Anna H. Messner, liability; Lucille Packer, Pediatric Otolaryngology, Palo Alto, Calif.; Terry P. Leslie, vocations and earning capacity, Lancaster; Dr. Hilary B. Berlin, pediatric psychiatry, Great Neck, N.Y. Defense Counsel: Andrew H. Foulkrod, Darlene K. King, Foulkrod Ellis, Camp Hill, PA Defense Experts: James C. Reilly, Pediatric Otolaryngology, Wilmington, DE Comment: A Dauphin County jury has awarded a $1.2 million verdict to the parents of a 5-year-old who had an anoxic brain injury and stopped breathing after he had a tonsillectomy. The entire verdict came against Dr. Andrew M. Shapiro, the doctor who plaintiffs Reginald Graham and Tykeisha Metz alleged chose to have the boy monitored at a pediatric ward. The plaintiffs argued Shapiro failed to tell nurses caring for the baby about, and how to care for, the boy's enhanced risk for respiratory failure. The jury came back on June 19 and awarded Reginald Graham and Tykeisha Mets $500,000 in non-economic damages and $686,170 in loss of future earning capacity, according to the plaintiffs counsel. According to the statement, the baby's mother brought him to Shapiro because she was "'afraid that he might stop breathing during his sleep,'" the plaintiffs' pretrial statement said. Shapiro performed a sleep study and observed the baby's Apnea Hypopnea Index to be 43 — four times higher than what's considered severe. A tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy were performed. According to the plaintiffs, the baby's sleep study results put him at an increased risk for post-operative respiratory complications. Despite this, they argued in the statement, Shapiro ordered the pediatric nurses at the Harrisburg Hospital general pediatric ward to observe the boy as they would any other patients — about once every four hours. The pretrial statement said that one in four children who have an AHI in the 40s and oxygen desaturation below 80 have some type of respiratory problem. The younger the child, the greater the risk of a respiratory problem, the statement said. According to the statement, Shapiro took off the child's pulse oximeter, the finger-mounted device used to measure blood oxygen, and ordered a heart and respiratory rate monitor. The child was 11 months old at the time. The plaintiffs pled that the baby was last seen at 4 a.m. There was no record of his oxygen saturation for the next hour and 45 minutes. He stopped breathing a 6:40 a.m., and his brain was without oxygen long enough to cause demonstrable injury on an MRI. "Immediately prior to his surgery, [the child] was a normal child, who could say mama, eat finger foods, and was just on the verge of walking," the statement said. "After his code, [he] was like a newborn. He could not lift his head or sit up. He could not talk. He could not move." In his pretrial statement, Shapiro argued that he recognized the child's pre-operative sleep study showed he was driven to breath by decreased blood oxygen saturation, which he said was typical in patients with obstructive sleep apnea. He argued the American Academy of Otolaryngology dictates that admission to the intensive care unit is not the standard of care. In the statement, he said nurses did not observe signs of respiratory distress. No alarms sounded until the child arrested, the statement said. He said the baby likely arrested as a result of hypoglycemia and/or an acute aspiration, which he argued would not have been identified by blood oxygen saturation. — Ben Present, of the Law Weekly

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$100,000.00 Auto Accidents

Tough liability motor vehicle accident with a huge Medicare lien. Abbie was able to negotiate with Medicare to waive their lien, securing additional money for the client. Client from Lebanon, PA

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$250,000.00 Auto Accidents

Sometimes the party who causes a tragic situation will recognize their responsibility, and other times they have to be shown. Charles E. Schmidt, Jr., recently brought a police department to the table and was successful in resolving a case for more than $250,000 to the benefit of his client. The police still admit nothing. But Mr. Schmidt's relentless pursuit of the case through the Court of Common Pleas, and then the Commonwealth Court, brought the case to a successful conclusion. The police department had argued that they were immune from any liability because their vehicle had never hit the vehicle in which the innocent by-stander sat. Mr. Schmidt countered with alleging the failure of the police officer pursuing a suspect to turn on his lights and his siren. If a police officer is going to exceed the speed limit, he must turn on his lights and sirens to warn innocent by-standers of danger. Many police departments across the country have decided not to continue police pursuits because of the danger to by-standards, and this particular police department may have had a policy which was similar. In any case, the innocent by-stander's family was able to successfully prosecute their case against the police department through their lawyer's work.

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$250,000.00 Auto Accidents

Mike Kosik successfully pursued an under insured motorist case against State Farm. After reaching a settlement with the driver responsible for the accident, a claim for under insured motorist benefits was pursued against the clients own insurance policy. The claim was pursued because the other driver was under insured and the client were not fully compensated. State Farm refused to settle and after suit was filed removed the case to the Federal Middle District of Pennsylvania. State Farm made several small offers of settlement which were rejected by the clients and the case proceeded to trial. The jury rejected State Farm’s position and awarded $250,000 against State Farm which the court molded to $150,000 based on the previous settlement.

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Congratulations to Our Attorneys Selected to Best Lawyers in America® 2027!

How Honorees Are Chosen for Best Lawyers in America®

Why the Best Lawyers in America® Recognition Matters to Us

Why This Recognition Also Matters for Our Community

$742,000.00 Workers' Compensation

$1,200,000.00 Personal Injury

$100,000.00 Auto Accidents

$250,000.00 Auto Accidents

$250,000.00 Auto Accidents

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