appellate litigation

BLF has extensive experience in the federal and state appellate courts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and other jurisdictions. We have handled appeals which originated from cases where BLF served as trial counsel, as well as appeals in which another firm served as trial counsel and we were retained for the appeal.

Our representative cases in this area include:

• Successfully representing a national insurance company and a third-party claims administrator in an appeal before a state Supreme Court in New England. The issue was the scope of immunity conferred upon a TPA and an insurer by the state's Workers’ Compensation statute. When the case was taken up by the state Supreme Court, the clients retained BLF for the appeal. BLF succeeded in getting the TPA dismissed on a motion and the appeal as to the insurer, which had won below, was dismissed as improvidently granted following briefing and oral argument.
• Obtaining a reversal, by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, of the federal district court’s ruling, against BLF’s client. The district court held that a condemnee, who had lost property rights due to a five-year-long unlawful condemnation by a State agency, had no federal remedies for those losses. In a ground-breaking decision, the Third Circuit reversed, holding that the unlawful condemnation proceeding constituted a “per se taking,” and that because the remedy for this taking was not provided by the Pennsylvania law, it was provided under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The United States Supreme Court denied the opponent’s petition for writ of certiorari.
• Winning a victory in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, by obtaining a reversal of the jury verdict against BLF’s clients. The clients were sued for tortious interference with contractual relations by making truthful but damaging disclosures about the opponent’s business practices. The jury rendered a verdict for the opponent. Reversing, on an issue of first impression, the Supreme Court ruled, that truthful statements, even if made with an intent to harm, cannot constitute tortious interference with contractual relations.
• Winning a victory in the New Jersey Supreme Court in a ground-breaking case, which defined the parameters of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing in New Jersey commercial contracts. BLF’s client, a fishing company whose business included catching shellfish for sale to food processors and distributors, brought claims against a processing and distributing company for breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, which was an implicit part of that contract. The jury found for the client on the good faith and fair dealing claim, but against it on breach of contract claim. The Appellate Division reversed, holding that if there was no breach of contract, there could be no breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The New Jersey Supreme Court disagreed and reinstated the jury verdict. It held that a party who violated the spirit of the contract, while adhering to its letter, could be held liable for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, even if it did not breach the express terms of the contract.

Representative cases:

Daquilante v. Mercy Catholic Medical Center (Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board) (Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 2022). BLF successfully showed that the provision in the WC Act that allows an award of specific loss benefits for serious and permanent disfigurement of the head, neck or face, but not for disfigurement of the legs, does not violate the Remedies Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution, and does not violate equal protection principles in the state and federal constitutions. … Read More

Stoshick v. Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. and Indemnity Insurance Company of North America (Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board)(Pa. Cmwlth. Ct. 2022). BLF successfully showed that applying Section 1 of Act 111 of 2018 to a workplace injury that occurred prior to the Act’s effective date did not violate the Remedies Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution. … Read More

In re: Petition for Enforcement of Subpoenas Issued by the Hearing Examiner in a Proceeding Before the Board of Medicine (Pa. Supreme Court 2019).  BLF successfully obtained a ruling that the Commonwealth Court lacked jurisdiction to enforce subpoenas issued by a medical disciplinary hearing examiner at the request of a physician who sought records of mental health care treatment rendered by other providers.  ...Read More

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Inc. v. Core Tech Solutions, Inc. (N.J. Appellate Court 2013). BLF successfully defended a small R&D tech company against claims of breach of the obligation to negotiate in good faith. ... Read More

D'Amico v. ACE Financial Solutions, et al. (Conn. Supreme Ct. 2013). BLF successfully obtained dismissal of all claims against our clients, a workmen's compensation insurer and its third party claims administrator, in an appeal to the Connecticut Supreme Court. ... Read More

R & J Holding Company v. The Redevelopment Authority of the County of Montgomery (3d Cir. 2011). BLF obtained a precedent-setting appellate ruling that the taking of plaintiff's property title during the five years while unlawful condemnation proceedings were pending was a "per se taking." ... Read More

Walnut Street Associates v. Brokerage Concepts (Pa. Supreme Ct. 2011). In a case of first impression, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that truthful statements, even if made with intent to harm, cannot support a claim of tortious interference with contract. ... Read More

Interstate Realty Management Company v. Community Realty Management Company (N.J. Superior Ct. 2009). BLF attorneys won a multi-million dollar verdict for our client in this breach-of-contract case between two real estate management companies. The case concerned an agreement to share management commissions ... Read More

Estate of Ortlieb v. Hudson United Bank (3d Cir. 2005). BLF obtained a summary judgment for the defendant bank, on plaintiff's claim seeking damages for failure to mark his mortgages satisfied. ... Read More

Sons of Thunder v. Borden, Inc. (N.J. Supreme Ct. 1997). In this case of first impression, the New Jersey Supreme Court recognized a cause of action for breach of the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing. . ... Read More