Jim is an associate in the Casualty Department. He counsels personal and corporate clients in numerous areas of tort litigation including automobile, premises liability, food-borne illness and products liability matters. Jim has tried over 100 civil cases throughout Pennsylvania.
Before joining Marshall Dennehey, Jim was staff counsel for the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company where he practiced tort litigation for 23 years. He handled automobile, premises liability, products liability, food-borne illness, dram shop and construction site claims against Liberty Mutual policyholders.
Jim was Of Counsel to Cowdrey, Thompson and Karsten, a litigation firm in Annapolis, Maryland, from 1993 to 1995, where he handled subrogation claims on behalf of Liberty Mutual.
Significant Representative Matters
· Represented a major restaurant chain in Philadelphia County in a negligence suit wherein plaintiff claimed he injured his throat as a result of ingesting glass in his food. The jury found for the restaurant, and plaintiff appealed. The verdict was ultimately affirmed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
· Defense verdict in Philadelphia County in a suit claiming injury from a rear end hit by a United Parcel Service vehicle. The damage to the plaintiff's vehicle was slight, and after five days of trial, the jury decided the plaintiff was not injured. Plaintiff did not file an Appeal.
· Summary judgment granted for the defendant in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, in a case wherein the plaintiff claimed he was injured on a piece of exercise equipment sold by our client. Plaintiff could not identify the product specifically and offered an expert report which could not identify the machine or any specific defect. The Court rejected any claims of a "malfunction" as the machine could not be identified.
Published Works
· Course materials for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Legal Department, 2001-2006
Classes/Seminars Taught
· Taught Continuing Legal Education (CLE) classes in civil litigation, civil procedure, and legal ethics for the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Legal Department, 2001-2006, 2001-2006
Past Employment Positions
· Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, 1981-1992; 1995-2007, Staff Counsel
· Cowdrey, Thompson & Karsten, 1993-1995, Of Counsel
Year Joined Organization: 2007
Publications
"Steel" Victorious: A Steel Mill Owner Is Not Liable to Former Employees Injured Six Years After the Owner Sold the Mill
Defense Digest Article · June 1, 2010
Pennsylvania - Premises Liability, Key Points: The owner's removal of an access drawbridge in a steel mill created a dangerous condition, but the buyer of the mill should have known about the danger. The buyer of a steel mill..., Defense Digest, Vol. 16, No. 2, June 2010