Major Case Wins

Examples Of Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski Major Case Wins

• John Dughi secured a defense verdict on behalf of his client, a neuroradiologist who was alleged to have injured the plaintiff’s nerve root during a lumbar puncture, resulting in permanent and severe back pain and headaches. The plaintiff was a 43-year-old married father of four and former high-school and Ivy-League scholar-athlete, who claimed these injuries interfered with essentially all aspects of his life, from his career to his family life, and prevented him from engaging in any physical and athletic activities. Plaintiff’s last settlement demand was $5,000,000.  Cyndee Allert sat second chair to Mr. Dughi in securing the win. The case was tried to a jury in the Union County Superior Court over the course of 7 trial days. Wolfe v. Volvovsky, Docket No. UNN-L-3204-14.
• Russ Hewit successfully defended a cardiologist in a wrongful-death case brought by the estate of a 39-year-old married father of one in the Essex County Superior Court. Plaintiff claimed the decedent had presented to the emergency room with signs and symptoms of an acute heart attack, including a significantly abnormal EKG, but was discharged home, where he died the next day. Plaintiff’s economist testified to projected loss of income and loss of care, guidance and advice to the surviving spouse and child of between $3.6 and $4.6 million.  The case was tried to a jury over the course of two weeks in Essex County.

• Craig Domalewski and Chuck Radler won a $2,438,000 arbitration award in private arbitration before The Honorable C. Judson Hamlin, J.S.C. (Ret.) in a complex-commercial dispute involving claims for breach of contract and the commercial misappropriation of our client’s name and likeness. The arbitrator rejected all of the defendant’s defenses and granted our client full damages. The arbitrator found that the defendants’ accounting of its wrongful profits was not credible based on numerous contradictions between the defendants’ accounting, tax returns, and internal business records developed by the firm during the arbitration between the defendants’ accounting, tax returns, and internal business records. The arbitrator’s award required the defendants to disgorge $1,171,000 in wrongful profits, plus $17,000 in contract damages, $900,000 for emotional distress and damages to our client’s brand, and $350,000 in punitive damages, plus interest.
• Robert “Chip” Donnelly won a significant jury trial in the New Jersey Superior Court on behalf of the firm’s client, who was a defendant in the case. In the case, the plaintiff alleged that our client, a medical resident, failed to communicate important post-surgery information to the attending surgeon. All of the other defendants, including the attending surgeon, had settled with the plaintiff before trial. Mr. Donnelly presented a medical expert who testified that the resident had complied with the standard of care and properly kept the attending surgeon informed. The jury agreed and rendered a verdict of no cause of action in favor of the defendant.
• Russ Hewit successfully argued the case of Strumph v. Schering Corporation, 133 N.J. 33 (1993), on behalf of Schering Corporation, upholding the learned-intermediary-doctrine principle in New Jersey and dismissing a pharmaceutical failure-to-warn case on lack of proximate cause, as the prescribing physician testified that he was aware of the risks of the drug and would still have prescribed the medication to plaintiff, even with a different warning.  Mary Beth Gazi (together with former firm partner Christopher J. Christie) co-authored the Appellate and Supreme Court brief with Mr. Hewit.

• Craig Domalewski served as lead counsel for the defendant in a lawsuit filed by a plaintiff claiming permanent injury and seeking over $1 million in damages allegedly arising from the use of a major pharmaceutical company’s over-the-counter product. The case was dismissed without payment based on the investigation conducted by Mr. Domalewski and his team of investigators, which found evidence proving that the plaintiff’s claims pre-existed her alleged use of the defendant’s product.
• Craig Domalewski successfully secured a dismissal of a multi-million-dollar legal malpractice claim against a well-respected national law firm. The decision was appealed, and the dismissal was upheld by the Appellate Division.
• Craig Domalewski and Russ Hewit led a team of lawyers in litigating a major legal-malpractice action on behalf of two governmental agencies against their former law firm, which resulted in a major settlement recovery of over $20.8 million.
• Craig Domalewski successfully secured the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a government payor against a major hospital, alleging violations of the Insurance Fraud Prevention Act. The plaintiff had sought the denial of hundreds of thousands of dollars in claims for healthcare services provided by the hospital. The firm’s client steadfastly denied the allegations and the case was dismissed at the beginning stages of the litigation shortly after Mr. Domalewski filed a motion to dismiss.
• Craig Domalewski successfully led a team of lawyers in defending a governmental agency in a major federal lawsuit filed by a municipality that was seeking over $400 million in alleged property taxes. The case involved numerous complex factual and legal issues, including the applicability and scope of a property tax exemption. The case was litigated aggressively and, after a motion for summary judgement was fully briefed and argued, it was settled on very favorable terms for the firm’s client which fully upheld the client’s legal position.
• Craig Domalewski and Herb Kruttschnitt successfully defended a nursing home in a case brought by a former resident who alleged negligence and fraud against the nursing home due to an alleged improper referral to a home healthcare company. After a thorough investigation, which established there was no improper referral, Mr. Domalewski and Mr. Kruttschnitt successfully obtained a dismissal of the lawsuit on behalf of the nursing home.