6/2/2015: Spring 2015 Liability Chronicle
The Spring 2015 edition of Franklin and Prokopik’s Liability Chronicle newsletter is now available in PDF format. It will provide updates from Maryland, Delaware, Florida, Virginia and West Virginia.
5/20/2015: Spring 2015 “First Report” Workers’ Comp Newsletter
The Spring 2015 edition of First Report, the Workers’ Compensation Newsletter of Franklin and Prokopik, is now available in PDF format. It will outline news, views, cases, and developments from Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia and Delaware. First Report is edited by Barbara Thompson, a Counsel at F&P.
Spring 2015 “First Report” Workers’ Comp Newsletter PDF
5/8/2015: Stephen Marshall Provides Webinar Series Update at DRI Meeting
Stephen Marshall, Counsel at Franklin & Prokopik, will be presenting an update on a Webinar Series to the DRI Products Liability Committee at their Fly-In Meeting. Marshall serves as the committee’s Webcast Chair. The event will take place on Friday, May 8, in Chicago, IL at the Hyatt Centric.
DRI is the leading organization of defense attorneys and in-house counsel. Membership in DRI provides access to resources and tools for attorneys who strive to provide high-quality, balanced and excellent service to their clients and corporations.
The Products Liability Committee is one of the largest and most active committees within DRI. The committee is comprised of 18 Specialized Litigation Groups (SLG). As the name suggests, each SLG is focused on either a specific type of product, group of products or particular issues within products liability law. Each SLG is guided by a steering committee comprised of knowledgeable and talented practitioners. With over 3200 members the Products Liability Committee is as diverse as the practice areas it encompasses.
4/20/2015: Bert Randall to Present at May SIIA Forum in New Orleans
Franklin & Prokopik President Bert Randall will be speaking at next month’s Self Insured Institute of America Inc. (SIIA) Workers’ Compensation Executive Forum. The event will take place on May 12-13 at the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans, LA.
SIIA’s Annual Self-Insured Workers’ Compensation Executive Forum is the country’s premier association sponsored conference dedicated exclusively to self-insured Workers’ Compensation. In addition to a strong educational program focusing on such topics as excess insurance and risk management strategies, this event will offer tremendous networking opportunities that are specifically designed to help strengthen business relationships within the self-insured/alternative risk transfer industry.
Bert will be presenting the morning of the 13th in an informative session covering the current status of medical marijuana and the strategies from a legal, human resource and claims perspective. In addition, the presentation will provide an update on the present approach of our Federal Government as well as other case decisions regarding marijuana utilization.
For more information, visit the conference home page.
4/14/2015: Andrew Stephenson and Colin Bell Represent F&P as Speakers at Trucking Boot Camp Series
Andrew Stephenson and Colin Bell, both Franklin & Prokopik Principals, will hit two more cities this week as part of “On the Road in 2015 – a Trucking Boot Camp for the Claims Professional.” F&P, one of the original firms involved in executing this event series, is now in its ninth year of participation. Fellow presenting companies include Carr Allison, Dowd & Dowd, FSSV, Pion, Nerone, Girman, Winslow & Smith, P.C, and Rincon Law Group. Andrew and Colin will speak on effective pre-suit resolutions of bodily injury claims, and Stephenson will sit on the “Potential Conflicts of Interest Between a Commercial Truck Driver, the Motor Carrier, and the Insurance Company that Insures them both” panel.
The Boot Camp traveled to Phoenix and Denver in March, will be in Dallas on April 15th, Chicago April 16th, and will travel south on May 20th and May 21st to Atlanta and Orlando. Click here to view additional information.
4/8/2015: F&P Attorneys Highlighted in USLAW Magazine Spring 2015 Article
F&P’s President Bert Randall and Principal Tamara Goorevitz were highlighted in “5 Minutes with Linda G. Thoede of iHeartMedia, Inc.” from this Spring’s USLAW Magazine. Linda, senior corporate counsel-litigation for iHeartMedia, Inc., recently sat down with USLAW to talk about working with USLAW NETWORK attorneys and the importance of “relationship, responsiveness, and reputation.”
Bert Randall was Linda’s first introduction to USLAW NETWORK. As a result of an extremely positive experience working with Randall, Linda ended up hiring his colleague, Tamara Goorevitz, when she had a case in DC (Goorevitz is licensed in Washington D.C.). This is a prime example of how invaluable relationship building is when it comes to having confidence in recommendation requests. For more information, read the full article below, taken from page 36 of USLAW Magazine.
3/4/2015: F&P Attorneys Successfully Limit Application of PIP Benefits in Delaware
In Castiglione v. National Interstate Insurance Company, No. CV13C-04-016 DCS (Feb. 2015), the Plaintiff John Castiglione filed a claim in Delaware Superior Court for Personal Injury Protection (“PIP”) benefits alleging that “he got hung up on a strap of a pallet jack and tripped and fell off the lift gate on the back of his trailer.” The Defendant, National Interstate Insurance Company, through Franklin & Prokopik attorneys, filed Summary Judgment arguing that Plaintiff was not entitled to PIP benefits.
The Court opined that the Plaintiff was within a reasonable geographic perimeter of the tractor trailer because he slipped while he was inside the trailer and fell to the asphalt below satisfying the occupancy requirement. However, the Court ultimately granted Summary Judgment to the Defendant holding that the Plaintiff’s injuries were not caused by the use or operation of the motor vehicle, except as a stationary platform from which product was being unloaded.
The tractor trailer was the mere situs of the Plaintiff’s alleged injuries and was not an “active accessory” in causing those injuries. Because Plaintiff was not injured in an accident involving the inherent nature of the motor vehicle, he was ineligible to recover PIP benefits under 21 Del. C. Sec. 2118. Given Delaware’s PIP benefit laws, and the claims that arise under those laws, if you ever have a question about a PIP claim, please contact William “Skip” Crawford.
2/1/2015: F&P Team Travels
Stephen Marshall –DRI Products Liability Conference February 4 – 6 in Las Vegas, NV
Colin Bell – Transportation & Logistics Council Annual Conference in Orlando, FL March 22 – 25
Colin Bell – Transportation Lawyers Association annual conference in Phoenix, AZ May 12 – 15
Andrew Stephenson – Liability Seminar Presenter in Indianapolis, IN, at Baldwin & Lyons, Protective Insurance Company, March 27
Andrew Stephenson and Colin Bell – “On the Road in 2015: Trucking Boot Camp for the Claims Professional”
Dallas, TX April 15
Chicago, IL April 16
Atlanta, GA May 20
Orlando, FL May 21
Bert Randall – Speaking at ACI’s 7th Annual Employment Discrimination Litigation conference, in Chicago, IL July 27-28