Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C. is pleased to announce that Stewart A. Cunningham has joined the firm as a partner in its Cranford office. Mr. Cunningham is a well-respected civil trial and health care attorney.
Mr. Cunningham has built an outstanding reputation over the course of his career by his representation of hospitals and their medical staffs, physicians, healthcare professionals, pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers. Mr. Cunningham has tried over 20 cases to verdict and has consistently achieved successful outcomes and verdicts in favor of his clients in state and federal court in New Jersey. Mr. Cunningham’s complex civil litigation experience includes the defense of parties in pharmaceutical and medical device defense cases involving breast implants, pharmaceutical agents and prosthetic devices.
In addition to his stellar career as a civil litigation attorney and trial lawyer, Mr. Cunningham also has substantial experience as a health care attorney. Mr. Cunningham served as Vice President of Legal Services and General Counsel at Saint Michael’s Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey for more than a decade and, in that capacity, he provided legal advice to senior management and the board of directors on a wide range of issues, including corporate compliance and fraud and abuse related matters, internal and government investigations, physician compensation arrangements, employment issues, and medical staff related matters.
Mr. Cunningham currently represents the medical staff of a major New Jersey hospital, providing advice to the President of the Medical Staff, the Medical Executive Committee, and senior hospital administration on a variety of matters, including Medical Staff Bylaws related issues, Corrective Action activities, including serving as counsel for the Medical Executive Committee in Fair Hearings, and reporting to the National Practitioner Data Bank and state authorities. Mr. Cunningham also provides representation to physicians and other healthcare professionals in matters before the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners and the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C. is excited that Mr. Cunningham has chosen to continue his career with the firm. He will continue to handle complex civil litigation including presentation of hospitals and their medical staffs, physicians, healthcare professionals, pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers, and will add further depth and experience to the firm’s health care law practice.
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C. secured a dismissal of a wrongful death lawsuit against a physician based on New Jersey’s COVID-19 Immunity Statute. In Campbell v. Woodcliff Health & Rehabilitation Center, the Appellate Division dismissed the case on appeal. The Appellate Division ruled that New Jersey’s COVID-19 Immunity Statute changed the scope of any common law duty that the defendants owed to the plaintiff’s decedent and that the Immunity Statute limited such duty to one of simply avoiding gross negligence, or worse, in connection with providing medical services during the State’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak in New Jersey. This was a significant litigation victory for our client and is an important ruling for all New Jersey physicians and other health care providers who rendered medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The physician was represented by Rachel M. Schwartz and Ryan A. Notarangelo.
A-3177-22A-3178-22-ESTATE-OF-DONVILLE-CAMPBELL-ETC-VS-WOODCLIFF-HEALTH-REHABILITATION-CENTER-ET-AL-L-7744-21-BERGEN-COUNTY-AND-STATEWIDE-CONSOLIDATEDPlease join us in welcoming Ashley Mitrow and Thalia Holst as our 2024 summer associates! We are very excited to work with Ashley and Thalia this summer as they advance their professional development by gaining real-world experience and working with the lawyers at our firm.
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C. is proud to announce that nine of its attorneys have been selected to the 2024 New Jersey Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists.
Super Lawyers is a part of Thomson Reuters and is a research and peer-review rating service. The Super Lawyers selection process comprises hundreds of thousands of statewide or regional surveys supplemented by a comprehensive examination of each nominee’s background and experience, focusing on such criteria as verdicts and settlements, transactions, representative clients, honors and awards, educational background, and any other outstanding achievements. Only 5 percent of the total lawyers in the state are selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers, while only 2.5% of attorneys under the age of 40 or who have been practicing for ten years or less will be selected as Rising Stars.
The DHD attorneys recognized on the 2024 Super Lawyers List are:
In addition, the firm is also proud to announce that Ryan Notarangelo, Alexa Luzzi and Cara Anan were named to the 2024 New Jersey Rising Stars list.
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For more information about the selection process methodology for the awards referenced above, please visit SuperLawyers.com
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Mark Petraske secured another defense verdict after a 7-week trial in Camden County. Mr. Petraske represented an Emergency Room physician in a significant personal injury case brought on behalf of a 54-year-old woman who died after presenting to the Emergency Room with necrotizing fasciitis and severe sepsis. Plaintiff alleged that the surgical team delayed in bringing the patient to the operating room by doing unnecessary imaging and engaging in poor decision making and that the Emergency Room doctor delayed in starting antibiotics and fluid resuscitation and failed to communicate with the surgical team in a timely manner which delayed the patient from receiving timely surgical intervention. Mr. Petraske defended the allegations against the Emergency Room physician on both liability and causation grounds and, while the orthopedic attending was found negligent, the Emergency Roon physician was determined to be not negligent by the jury.
Mark Petraske is the Co-Chair of DHD’s Medical Malpractice Defense Department. Mr. Petraske is a Certified Civil Trial Attorney and throughout his distinguished career has successfully represented healthcare professionals and institutions in professional negligence cases. Since March 2022, Mr. Petraske has started 16 trials, and secured 10 defense verdicts. Three cases involved mistrials due to plaintiff-related issues, one has been retried to a defense verdict. Three matters settled during trial for the initial offers. Two of the cases have resulted in published appellate decisions, along with two unpublished Appellate decisions in cases where he had secured dismissals on behalf of DHD’s clients.
11/6/2024
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C. is proud to announce that it has been ranked in the 2024 Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”. The firm was recognized by Best Law Firms® as a Metropolitan Tier 1 firm in New Jersey for Commercial Litigation.
The 2024 edition of Best Law Firms® includes rankings in 75 national practice areas and 127 metropolitan-based practice areas.
Click here to view Best Law Firms Methodology
About Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C.
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C. is a mid-size New Jersey firm which combines the skill of a large firm with the individualized service of a small firm to deliver exceptional and cost-effective results for our clients. The firm has a statewide practice with 3 offices in New Jersey, more than 30 lawyers, and a 40-year history of successfully representing clients in a wide range of complex litigation and other legal matters.
No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was enacted on March 29, 2020, to provide emergency financial assistance to millions of Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. One source of relief provided by the CARES Act was the authorization of up to $349 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention through PPP loans for payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent and utilities. The PPP allows the interest and principal on loans to be forgiven if the business used the proceeds on eligible expense in accordance with the law.
The Department of Justice is now investigating PPP loans in New Jersey and throughout the country pursuant to the federal False Claims Act, common law theories of overpayment and breach of contract, the equitable theory of unjust enrichment, and other potential causes of action. In addition to potential criminal charges for intentional fraud, the False Claims Act permits the United States to recover treble damages, or three times the amount of its loss. In addition, the United States may recover penalties of over $10,000 per individual false claim or individual document falsified in support of a false claim, to the extent the documentation was falsified.
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C. is ready to assist individuals and companies in connection with a federal criminal or civil investigation regarding the Paycheck Protection Program. Each case needs to be examined individually to determine the potential applicable defenses. If you have received a Notice of False Claims Act investigation regarding a PPP loan that you or your company received, please call or email Craig A. Domalewski or Brandon D. Minde for a consultation.
Mary Beth Gazi recently secured the dismissal of a wrongful death lawsuit against a nurse practitioner based on the statute of limitations. In the lawsuit, the nurse practitioner was not named in the original complaint. After initial written discovery and depositions, plaintiff’s counsel was permitted to amend the complaint to add the nurse practitioner despite the objection of Ms. Gazi that the amendment was improper because the claim was time-barred. Subsequently, Ms. Gazi filed a motion for summary judgment and argued that the claim should be dismissed based on the statute of limitations because the consultation notes contained in the pertinent records clearly listed the nurse practitioner’s name and employer, and the records also contained two typed consultation reports by the nurse practitioner. The motion for summary judgment was opposed by plaintiff who argued that the claim was not time-barred and permissible under the fictitious pleading rule because “John Doe” parties were included in the original complaint. Under New Jersey law, the fictitious pleading rule allows a litigant to preserve a cause of action when the litigant knows the nature of the claim but does not know the identity of the alleged tortfeasor. After a lengthy oral argument, the trial court granted the motion for summary judgment and held that the claim was barred under the statute of limitations. In so ruling, the court rejected plaintiff’s effort to rely on the fictitious pleading rule based on its determination that plaintiff failed to use proper diligence because the nurse practitioner’s identity could have been ascertained by a thorough review of the records before the expiration of the statute of limitations.
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C. (DH&D) is excited to announce that Brandon D. Minde has been promoted to the Executive Committee and will join Craig A. Domalewski and Russell L. Hewit in the management of the firm. “Brandon has been with us for ten years and he has made a significant contribution to our firm,” said Mr. Domalewski. “Brandon has made DH&D a better firm and we look forward to his continued contribution to the firm’s growth and success as a member of our management team,” added Mr. Hewit.
Mr. Minde is a certified criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor. He leads the criminal defense and regulatory practice group at DH&D and is also a member of the firm’s civil litigation and trial practice group, with a focus in complex civil litigation.
Dughi, Hewit & Domalewski, P.C. has a statewide practice in all state and federal courts in New Jersey, with 3 offices in New Jersey, more than 30 lawyers, and a 40-year history of successfully representing and advocating for clients in a dozen different areas of practice.
