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Key Mistakes that Can Spoil Your Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Claim

There is an old proverb to the effect that ignorance of the law is no excuse. In fact, the sentiment is so old that the original version was in Latin. It means that, in criminal cases, a defendant can’t escape prosecution by saying he didn’t understand the rules. We Pennsylvania personal injury attorneys, who operate […]

The Inherent Danger of Highway-Rail Crossings

Category: Car Accidents

In the last century, our economy has expanded greatly. Industry and technology have revolutionized several times over, and today things can be achieved more quickly, easily, and at a fraction of the cost than ever before. Ideas are sent at the speed of light across the world, and as our knowledge grows, greater things can […]

Employees Working Rotating Shifts Are Risking Workplace Injuries

Category: Workers' Compensation

For many people, a normal work day is not 9-5; in fact, they don’t have a “normal” work day ever. Many Pennsylvanians find themselves working rotating shifts. This means that depending on the needs of their workplace, they could work days, nights, or even overnight shifts. The goal is to spread out the shifts equally […]

The Risks Food Service Workers Face on the Job

Category: Workers' Compensation

Do You Recognize These People? Katie has been working as a restaurant server and hostess for nearly thirty years now. She’s very familiar with the risks that go with the job—or so she thought. Four months ago, she was picking up an order from the kitchen when she slipped on a dropped tomato. Four months […]

Returning to Work While on Social Security Disability—Can it Be Done?

Category: Social Security Disability

You filed for Social Security disability benefits because you were disabled. The Social Security Administration (SSA) agreed with you, found that you qualified for Social Security disability, and started issuing you payments. Now, however, things may have changed. Perhaps there is a new drug or therapy available to provide you with some relief from your […]

Exhaustion Clause Enforced In Pennsylvania Underinsured Motorist Case

Category: Car Accidents

Last week, in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge McLaughlin in Irving v. Progressive Speciality Ins. Co., NO. 11-7594, 2012 WL 2912309 (E.D. Pa. July 17, 2012) (mem.) reviewed the enforceability of an exhaustion clause in a motor vehicle insurance policy in a case where a lawsuit was settled for the policy limits of one […]

Choosing The Right Doctor For Your Workers Compensation Claim

Category: Workers' Compensation

The day you were hired your new boss gave you information about workers’ compensation and pointed out that the company even had a list of approved medical doctors. That’s nice, right? It is, unless you come across one of those few doctors who care little about your health and are simply working for the company’s […]

How Pedestrians and Drivers Alike Must Work Together

Category: Car Accidents

With spring’s arrival comes a reality that many of us have forgotten about since the first flakes of snow began to fall—pedestrians and cars do not mix well. As crosswalks and intersections around our area go from barren to bustling, both motorists and pedestrians alike will need to take extra care to avoid tragic pedestrian […]

Does Anxiety Qualify as a Condition For Social Security Disability

Category: Social Security Disability

Mental disorders are often more difficult to overcome than anything physical that could come your way. When you’re in pain, you can often use your mind to calm yourself down and get through the situation. But when it’s your brain that is the problem—doing so can be impossible. Going to work and making it through […]

Facial Injuries Cause Physical and Emotional Scars

Category: Car Accidents

Facial injuries are among the most common car accident injuries, and the pain can often last a lifetime. When your car’s momentum and impact forces cause your head to hit the dashboard, steering wheel, or airbag with great force, the delicate bones in your face often bear the brunt of the accident. These injuries, known […]

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$10,043,952.13 Personal Injury
Schmidt Kramer, P.C.partner Gerard C. Kramer won a personal injury action for $10,043,952.13 in Northumberland County on behalf of a volunteer firefighter who was the victim of Intentional Tort. The 50-year-old volunteer firefighter was seriously injured when a barn collapsed, causing a spinal injury which left him a paraplegic. The claim was brought against the arsonist who intentionally started the fire. It is believed that the verdict is the highest ever in Northumberland County.
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$4,034,000.00 Personal Injury
Yesterday a Judge in Union County (Lewisburg, PA) awarded a couple from New Berlin, Pennsylvania, over $4,000,000 because the husband was shot while turkey hunting.You might ask yourself, how does a turkey hunting accident end up with that type of verdict? In order to understand the verdict you would have to know our clients. They are good people who had their life wrecked. Plus, you would have to know the defendant, who should not have been hunting with a gun because he was prohibited after a previous criminal conviction.It is a good verdict, because the Judge was able to do two things with his decision. First, he communicated to two very good people that their losses were something that those of us on the outside could appreciate and value. Mike Hobbins (our client) is a 51 year old guy who lost his sight because a convicted felon --who should not have even possessed a gun-- went hunting illegally, and broke with impunity the most fundamental rule in hunting: identify your target before you pull the trigger. The Judge accepted the financial loss Mr. Hobbins' suffered, but listened closely to the evidence of less tangible losses. When Mike broke down on the stand, because his daughter would end up walking him down the aisle at her wedding, as opposed to how it was supposed to go, the Judge was listening. When Mike could not keep it together, because of how emasculating it was for him not to be able to provide financially for his family, the Judge was listening. It was facts like these that the Judge cited to support the $2,000,000 award for non-economic damages. Second, the Judge wanted to send a message. Union County is a hunting county. Many of the residents hunt there, and people from outside the area come to Union County to hunt. It was my impression, from the Judge's statements as he rendered his decision, that he wanted to send a message to the people in Union County to protect them in their sport. The rules in place to restrict people convicted of crimes not to have a gun are not to be broken. Hunting is serious and you have to identify your target before you shoot. When you turn your back on the rules that are set to provide safety in a sport, you risk being an example. Here, the $1,000,000 punitive damage award sends that message loud and clear.When it really comes down to brass tacks, the right action was taken against a Defendant who may never truly appreciate what kind of impact his reckless choices caused.At Schmidt Kramer, we are injury lawyers. That means we work with people who were hurt in car accidents, who were hurt by the neglect of nursing homes, or those that were seriously injured because of the reckless, thoughtless acts of others. If you or a loved one have been injured in Pennsylvania, we may be able to help. While the verdict yesterday is not one that is representative of every case we do, it does show that serious and dedicated representation can bring good results.Joe ChapmanJanuary 18, 2013
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$2,200,000.00 Auto Accidents
On Monday, January 6, 2014, Schmidt Kramer accident lawyer Scott Cooper obtained a verdict on behalf of his client who is the widow of a man who died in a fiery crash on Interstate 78 in Lebanon County. The awarded verdict of $2.2 million was in a nonjury proceeding before a federal judge in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. That verdict includes $100,000 in punitive damages assessed against the owner of the trucking company.Kamilah Claxton won summary judgment in November after the defendants, Sukhwinder Singh and the trucking company for which he worked, failed to file a brief in opposition to Claxton's motion, which was made in September. The verdict in Claxton v. Singh was issued after the court held a non-jury assessment of damages earlier this month."Mr. Sukhchan Singh, the employer, is liable on the basis of respondent superior, but was also grossly negligent in failing to maintain his vehicle in compliance with state and federal law, particularly with regard to having required safety inspections and correcting defects in its braking equipment," said U.S. District Judge William W. Caldwell of the Middle District of Pennsylvania in his opinion accompanying the verdict."He was also grossly negligent in entrusting his vehicle to Sukhwinder Singh, an inexperienced truck driver who had failed the written test and driving test multiple times before finally earning his commercial driving license," Caldwell said.
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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 AMDate of Verdict: June 19. 2012Court and Case No.: C.P. Dauphin County No. 2009-CV-14003-MMJudge: Scott EvansType of Action: Medical malpracticeInjuries: Anoxic brain injuryPlaintiffs Counsel: Terry S. Hyman, Schmidt Kramer, HarrisburgPlaintiffs 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, PADefense Experts: James C. Reilly, Pediatric Otolaryngology, Wilmington, DEComment: 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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$1,024,040.80 Auto Accidents
Scott Cooper settled a wrongful death case on behalf of the widow of a police office who was killed in a car accident in the line of duty for $1,024,040.80. The claim against the other driver was amicably resolved before suit was filed for the entire available policy limits for the other driver. The case took place in Adams County, PA.
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Testimonials

Thank you for your excellent service and assistance during a very overwhelming time for me. Your assistance was much appreciated!
Josh D., Client of Gerry Kramer
Thank you for all your assistance, even coming to our home. Keep in touch.
David R., Client of Scott Cooper from Mechanicsburg, PA
From start to finish, everything was outstanding.
Robert B., Dog Bite Client of Gerard C. Kramer
Very nice people to work with.
Connie D., Auto Accident Client of Scott Cooper
You guys did an awesome job! Thank you.
Terrae B., Auto Accident Client of Scott Cooper

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