Litigation

Dedicated Commercial Litigation Attorneys

Dilworth Paxson's Litigation Department lawyers are skilled strategic thinkers who provide strong and effective representation to their clients to help them meet their business objectives. Before entering the courtroom, however, our 50+ litigating lawyers counsel clients in preventative measures to avoid problems which might give rise to litigation and alternative methods for resolving their disputes such as negotiation, mediation or settlement to avoid the expense of lengthy trials. Once the path to litigation has been established though, Department members aggressively engage their seasoned trials skills to represent best their client's interests.

We represent clients litigate throughout the United States in federal and state courts trial and appellate courts, and before numerous administrative and regulatory agencies. Our members regularly handle complex cases involving:

In each representation undertaken by members of the Department, we strive to first understand a client's particular concerns and objectives, believing that such an understanding is essential to representing a client effectively.

Recent Cases

  • Representation of the Rigas family in civil and bankruptcy matters surrounding the bankruptcy of Adelphia Communications, Inc.
  • Representation of Joseph Neubauer, CEO and chairman of Aramark, in class action litigation relating to the proposed $22 billion going private transaction.
  • Representation of Relational Investors in multiple cases relating to their ownership of $700,000,000 of Sovereign bank stock.
  • Representation of Lloyds of London in a major jury trial in Philadelphia concerning an inter-insurer coverage dispute.
  • Defense of numerous clients in patent litigation brought by PharmaStem Therapeutics, Inc. involving the cryopreservation and use of umbilical cord blood stem cells for reconstituting the human immune system.
  • Defense of the States of Connecticut and Florida in several matters involving civil rights claims arising out of the state's care of the mentally handicapped.
  • Representation of Dow Chemical Company and several units of GE Capital in bankruptcy matters around the country.
  • Representation of former officers of Rite Aid Corporation in both criminal and civil securities fraud matters.
  • Counsel to opt-out plaintiffs in significant antitrust multidistrict litigation, either pending or recently concluded, including the Graphite Electrodes Antitrust Litigation and the Linerboard Antitrust Litigation.
  • Representation of the bankruptcy trustee of Student Finance Corporation in pursuing millions of dollars in potential recoveries in avoidance actions and claims for breaches of fiduciary duties.
  • Regular representation of Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in complex personal injury and procurement litigation.
  • Regular representation of New Jersey Transit in litigation at both the trial and appellate level.
  • Regular representation of Independence Blue Cross and its subsidiaries and affiliates in complex litigation, recently including a class action and multiple individual claims arising out of the misrepresentation by a physician of his psychiatric credentials.
  • Ongoing representation of the School District of Philadelphia against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in an action for state funding of court-mandated desegregation programs, as well as an action charging that the Commonwealth's school funding scheme violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Notable Decisions

  • Dilworth's environmental litigation lawyers successfully obtained a $23 million settlement for SEPTA on environmental contribution claims arising from the contamination of the Paoli Rail Yard. We proved through a process known as chemical fingerprinting that the vast majority of the environmental contamination of the Paoli Rail Yard occurred prior to 1976, when the Yard was owned by Penn Central Railway Company. After extensive discovery and motion practice, during which SEPTA's legal team obtained summary judgment against American Premier Underwriters Inc., the successor corporation to the bankrupt Penn Central Railway Company, Dilworth 's environmental litigation team was able to obtain the multi-million dollar settlement by proving that SEPTA did not cause the majority of the contamination of the Rail Yard which the EPA declared a Superfund Site in 1986.
  • Dilworth Lawyers Obtain Critical Injunction for MD Lenders and Brokers
  • Dilworth Paxson Facilitates Kimmel Center Settlement
  • Successful appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit which addresses the scope of patentability of computer software used to operate a hub-and-spoke mutual fund accounting system. For more information see State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, Inc.
  • Successful representation of investors seeking to purchase the San Francisco Giants baseball franchise and to move the team to St. Petersburg, Florida in an antitrust and libel action against Major League Baseball and its member teams. This suit, Piazza, et al. v. Major League Baseball, resulted in the landmark decision that Major League Baseball's historic exemption from federal antitrust laws did not preclude a suit over franchise relocation.
  • Representation of a foreign citizen in the TWA Flight 800 air disaster involving wrongful death and survival claims with complex conflict international law issues.
  • $145 million settlement for Envirotest Partners, in suits against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for termination of Envirotest's state contract for centralized auto emissions testing.
  • Over a period of years, Dilworth has represented the Barnes Foundation, which maintains one of the world's premier collections of Impressionist art, in securing modifications in the trust indenture established by Dr. Albert H. Barnes to permit a world tour of the collection and to facilitate the modernization of the Foundation's facility.

For questions or additional information, please contact Lawrence G. McMichael, Chair of the Litigation Group or J. Bradford McIlvain, Deputy Chair of the Litigation Group.

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