Attorneys Matthew Hamermesh and Thomas Brown led the firm’s team in defending an appeal in a contentious personal injury case. In a unanimous decision, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania denied the plaintiff’s appeal seeking a new trial to increase the jury’s damages award of only $100,000 at trial. The court rejected plaintiff’s argument that the trial court made a mistake in precluding various improper evidence plaintiff offered. In addition, the Superior Court found that plaintiff’s attempt to overturn the jury’s verdict on procedural grounds was not properly raised with the trial court.
The plaintiff raised four issues in his appeal: the verdict was improper because it was not reached by five-sixths of the jury; the trial court abused its discretion in evidentiary rulings; the trial court erred by denying a motion for directed verdict; and the trial court abused its discretion in denying a motion for a new trial based on the weight of the evidence. The Superior Court considered each of these arguments carefully and rejected them.
Matt Hamermesh and Tom Brown took the lead in the appeal, handling the post-trial and appellate briefing and playing key roles in convincing the Superior Court to affirm the jury verdict. Mark Aronchick argued the appeal.
