MccuMber, Daniels, buntz, Hartig & Puig, P.a.trial & aPPellate attorneys

Florida Pennsylvania new Jersey

The Benchmark is a quarterly newsletter which will provide succinct discussions about important topics or developments in defense and commercial litigation. if there is a specific article or topic that piques your interest, please feel free to contact andrew McCumber, at amccumber@mccumberdaniels.com or any other member of the team through our website, www.mccumberdaniels.com. The Benchmark is provided to foster collaborative discussion and your feedback or suggestions for topics is welcomed.

Second Quarter, 2012

in tHis issue“It’s great to work with somebody who wants to do things differently.” ~Keith Bellow

Put ‘Em in Coach: Why an Appellate Attorney Should be

Added to the Trial Team P. 2

The U.S. Congress Should Legislate that “Never Events”

Are Inadmissible in Medical Malpractice Lawsuits P. 4

Social Media: Key Evidence in a Technology Driven

Society P. 6

Protect Yourself from Cyber Crime P. 7

www.MCCuMBerdaniels.CoM seCond quarTer, 2012

Put ‘em in Coach: why an appellate attorney should be added to the Trial Team

By Marc l. Penchansky

litigation is expensive. That opening sentence exhibits two hallmarks of good appellate writing. First, the sentence is brief. second, the reader is likely to agree with the idea expressed. The trick to good appellate writing is to string several of these easily digestible and undeniable ideas together to convince the reader to accept a more controversial premise. For purposes of this article, the premise is that engaging an appellate attorney at an early stage provides a benefit to the client worthy of its cost. admittedly, every case does not require the involvement of an appellate attorney. some cases lack the sophistication or potential exposure to warrant the retention of an appellate attorney (another hallmark of good appellate writing is to explicitly concede weak points). But for those cases with some level of complexity or potential exposure, the disparate skills of the appellate and trial counsel mix well to promote both a positive and unassailable result.

Trial attorneys are often specialists. Trial attorneys

grounded in the proven facts and established law.

How do the different skill sets harmonize to provide a benefit to the client? First, the appellate attorney’s input is invaluable at devising trial strategy. The appellate attorney provides a fresh set of eyes removed from the personalities of the case. This allows the appellate attorney to provide a frank look at the weaknesses and strengths facing each party as they try to make their case. an appellate attorney can assist the trial attorney to adapt their case to the trends or changes in the law. an appellate attorney can accomplish this by suggesting areas for discovery or potential topics for dispositive motions.

an appellate attorney can also be useful in preparing motions for the trial attorney. The foremost skill of a good appellate attorney is the ability to write persuasively. a trial attorney is busy with trial preparation. allowing the appellate attorney to write the motions best utilizes the skills of both attorneys. and although these motions should not be seen as a first-draft of an appellate brief, it permits the appellate attorney an opportunity to become familiar with the ins and outs of the case. See In re Marriage of Shaban, 105 Cal.Rptr. 2d 863 (Cal. 4th Dist. Ct. App. 2001).

in order for an issue to be heard by an appellate court, the trial

work for years to perfect certain methods and tactics to produce results in their area of expertise. Trial attorneys also work in the trenches. They constantly work with their clients and butt heads with their opponents. This day-to-day struggle for their client can lead to a very myopic approach. due to their proximity with the subject matter, trial lawyers are always at risk of conflating their passions for their client with a belief that the underlying merits of their action are strong.

By contrast, appellate attorneys are usually generalists. an appellate attorney continually surveys the entire legal landscape looking for trends and novel legal approaches. a good appellate attorney will seek ways to tinker with these trends and legal innovations and expand them to new areas of the law. The appellate attorney is also more apt to be detached from the passions of the case. This detachment is not because they do not believe in the client’s plight. instead, the detachment is necessary because the appellate attorney’s

audience is a panel of seen-it-all-before judges and not novice wide-eyed jurors. a panel of grizzled veterans is less likely to be swayed by the attorney’s passions. instead, the judges will be looking for the attorney to provide rock-solid analysis

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therefore is able to provide trial counsel with this indispensible research. delegation of this last-minute legal research to appellate counsel also frees up trial counsel to concentrate on activities in the courtroom.

despite appellate counsel and trial counsel working in perfect tandem, the end result may not be positive. decisions need to be made concerning which issues to present in post-trial motions to the court. a threshold determination is whether the court will consider the error prejudicial. if the error is harmless, the court will not offer relief. This is a question frequently confronted by appellate counsel when prosecuting appeals. Therefore, an appellate counsel is in a better position to make a determination about whether the error will be seen as prejudicial by the court.

Further, the presentation of too many alleged errors during post-trial motions could hurt the chances for success. Meritorious assertions simply get lost within the larger stew of complaints. Therefore, it is best for appellate and trial counsel to work in tandem to winnow the potential errors to those most likely to provide for reversal. This is an important task as those claims abandoned in the post-trial motion risk being lost during appeal as well.

The irony is that the goal is to avoid an appeal by retaining an appellate attorney at an early stage. This team approach to litigation provides the client with

the best possible representation. yes, costs should always be weighed against the benefits. But the costs are not fixed. Many of the activities of the appellate attorney during trial are not duplicative of the trial counsel. Furthermore, the use of the appellate attorney can be molded to the needs of each case. it may be that there is one issue that worries trial counsel and he feels the need for the opinion of appellate counsel. if the case is complex or the stake large, perhaps it is feasible to have the appellate attorney take a more active role.

counsel must properly preserve the presumed error. Preservation of error is most often viewed as establishing the record and making proper objections at trial. But the process begins as early as the pleading stage and continues throughout pre-trial activity. an example of the vigilance required to preserve appellate claims currently played out in our office. in Pennsylvania, a party alleging professional liability must file a certificate of merit. The certificate of merit is a statement by counsel noting that a qualified expert has determined that the allegations are meritorious. Failure to file the certificate of merit leads to dismissal of the action. often attorneys challenge the lack of certificate of merit by preliminary objection. However, the Pennsylvania rules of Civil Procedure provides a different method for challenging the lack of a certificate of merit, the submission of a praecipe to enter non pros. The appellate courts have not addressed whether filing a praecipe is the sole proper vehicle to seek dismissal for failure to file a certificate of merit. at least one trial court, however, has asserted that it is the sole vehicle to seek dismissal. See White v. Behlke, 69 Pa. D. & C.4th 353, 364-66 (Pa. Com. Pl. 2004). a prudent trial attorney would follow the precedent of this one trial court in order to assure the viability of the issue on appeal.

Trials often go in unanticipated directions. no matter how thoroughly a trial attorney has prepared, an unexpected legal issue is sure to arise. a good appellate attorney needs to be proficient in legal research and

Marc l. Penchansky is an associate at McCumber daniels and practices in the firm’s Philadelphia area office where he concentrates on appellate matters and the defense of

the firm’s clients. Mr. Penchansky is admitted to practice in new Jersey and Pennsylvania. email Mr. Penchansky at mpenchansky@mccumberdaniels.com.

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Perhaps surprisingly to some, the sunshine state, site of the dangling chad debacles, is leading the country in some positive and proactive legislation. Florida has set an example for necessary federal legislation. Florida legislators recently passed forward-thinking legislation with a keen eye toward retaining fairness in the judicial system and containing the escalation of liability costs associated with health care and resulting expenses associated with defensive medicine. House Bill 479 relating to medical malpractice became law on June 28, 2011. This legislation includes a use preclusion on the admissibility of “any records, policies or testimony of an insurer’s reimbursement policies or reimbursement determination regarding the care provided to the plaintiff” in any medical negligence action.1

This broad use preclusion is significant in light of changes to the reimbursement policies adopted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services (“CMs”) and seeks to address a potential unintended consequence of such legislation before it becomes an issue. The 2005 deficit reduction act (“dra”) authorizes CMs to use its value-based purchasing tools to increase quality and efficiency of care.2 The dra requires CMs to select hospital-acquired conditions (“HaCs”) for which hospitals would not be paid higher Medicare reimbursement.3 effective october 1, 2008, CMs stopped reimbursing health care providers for the provision of care and treatment where certain adverse events occurred, which CMs deemed “reasonably preventable by following evidence-based guidelines.”4 CMs

adopted three additional “never events” effective January 15, 20095

and it is reasonable to assume that CMs will continue to expand this list of non-reimbursable events.

Florida’s law defines “insurer” to include any private or public insurer, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services (“CMs”).6 a “reimbursement determination” is defined as “an insurer’s determination of the amount that the insurer will reimburse a health care provider for health care services.”7

“reimbursement policies” are “an insurer’s policies and procedures governing its decisions regarding health insurance coverage and method of payment and the data upon which such policies and procedures are based, including, but not limited to, data from national research groups and other patient safety data.”8

The inadmissibility of this information will ensure fairness in juror consideration of medical malpractice lawsuits stemming from the occurrence of HaCs that have been deemed “never events” by the federal agency. without such a rule, plaintiffs would seek to introduce evidence of the HaC payment rules in order to establish presumptive liability under res ipsa loquitor, the legal doctrine which means “the thing speaks for itself” and shifts the burden to the defendant to prove it was not negligent. Plaintiffs argue that an HaC could never occur absent negligence. Many HaCs are medically complex, however, and this determination requires expert testimony and a case by case review of the circumstances. generally, in medical negligence cases, the parties must present expert testimony to the

jury regarding the care and treatment provided to the plaintiff so that the jury can determine whether the medical provider’s care was in line with the “standard of care” for that particular type of medical care and treatment. This new initiative to incentivize efforts to further reduce the frequency of these HaCs does not equate to a determination that the standard of care must have been breached.

although some “never events,” such as a foreign object retained after surgery or surgery performed on the wrong body part or wrong patient, would obviously trigger the doctrine of res ipsa loquitor, others are substantially more complex and are not always preventable by following evidence-based guidelines. For example, res ipsa loquitor should not be applied to a case involving a patient’s development of a pulmonary embolus because death by pulmonary embolus can occur even where the care provided was appropriate. Medical research establishes that a small percentage of patients will develop deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolus despite receiving appropriate doses of heparin. informed consent is obtained from patients to advise them in advance of these possible complications not to warn them of expected negligence. similarly, decubitus ulcers are not always preventable in patients with certain co-morbidities and conditions. For instance, a patient with a fractured neck may develop a pressure sore because moving the patient risks exacerbating the fracture and causing paralysis. likewise, a fall may not be preventable, despite the appropriate availability of an in-reach call button and bedrails, where an independent

The u.s. Congress should legislate that “never events” are inadmissible in Medical Malpractice lawsuits

By starlett M. Miller

www.MCCuMBerdaniels.CoM seCond quarTer, 2012

payment systems. HealthPartners (Mn) Cigna, Blue Cross/Blue shield, aetna, well Point, unitedHealth group have followed suit and added “never event” language to their contracts. The private payer approach is still inconsistent, ranging from not addressing HaCs to denying

all payment. Florida’s use preclusion was d e l i b e r a t e l y drafted to include the reimbursement policies and determinations of any insurer.

without federal l e g i s l a t i o n precluding the admissibility of “never events,” the HaC

payment rules may have additional unintended impact on hospital admissions and hospitals’ compliance with reporting regulations. if hospitals determine that they are unlikely to be reimbursed for the care provided to certain patients, i.e. patients with co-morbidities that make them vulnerable to a particular healthcare-acquired condition, hospitals may choose to refuse admission to these patients. Further, hospitals are required to track and report the occurrence of adverse events in order to improve patient safety by learning from these events and designing systems to prevent future occurrences. without this use preclusion, hospitals, which are already experiencing reductions in reimbursement due to the HaC payment rules, would be in the position of anticipating that a potential case may become nearly impossible to defend where evidence of the patient’s insurer’s reimbursement policies will be admitted. This could have the practical effect of discouraging hospitals’ full compliance with reporting rules for fear of a vast

increase in indefensible lawsuits that would essentially double their losses where such an event occurs. in order to avoid these unanticipated results and ensure that HaC payment rules are not permitted to unjustly impact healthcare liability costs, Congress should follow Florida’s example and legislate that evidence of CMs’s billing and reimbursement policies is not admissible in medical negligence litigation.

1 Florida statute § 766.102(3)(a).

2 CMs Final rule 2009, section 1886(d)(4)(d) of the 2005 deficit reduction act.

3 CMs Manual system, Change request 5679 (July 20, 2007).

4 The original eleven “never events” selected by CMs effective october 1, 2008 are foreign object left in patients after surgery; air embolism; blood transfusion incompatibility; stage iii or stage iv pressure ulcers; falls, burns, electric shock, or other trauma resulting in serious injury; catheter-associated urinary tract infection; vascular catheter-associated infection; certain manifestations of poor control of blood sugar levels; surgical site infection following coronary artery bypass graft; surgical site infection following certain orthopedic and bariatric surgeries; and deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism following total hip or total knee replacement. see CMs Final rule 2009, Federal register / vol. 73, no. 161 (august 19, 2008).

5 The three additional “never events” adopted by CMs effective January 15, 2009 are a surgical or invasive procedure when the practitioner erroneously performs: (1) a different procedure altogether, (2) the correct procedure but on the wrong body part, or (3) the correct procedure but on the wrong patient.

6 Florida statute § 766.103(a)(1).

7 Florida statute § 766.102(3)(a)(2).

8 Florida statute § 766.103(a)(3).

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patient refuses to call for help before attempting to get out of bed on her own.

Res ipsa loquitor is a powerful concept. if it were applied to a case of medical malpractice involving a pulmonary embolus, for example, the jury would be instructed that the healthcare providers had a duty to ensure that the plaintiff did not develop any pulmonary embolus. The jury’s analysis of liability would then begin with the p r e s u m p t i o n that a pulmonary embolus does not occur absent negligence and the hospital or physician would have the burden of proving otherwise. To allow such billing and reimbursement rules to be admitted as evidence of the “standard of care” would invade the province of the jury and impairs providers’ due process rights. it is entirely reasonable for Congress to determine that policy-driven billing and reimbursement rules are irrelevant and highly prejudicial to the issues to be determined by the jury. although plaintiffs argue that patient safety was the driving force behind the HaC rules, these rules are not safety statutes. The primary purpose behind the HaC payment rules is to reduce the federal deficit by lowering CMs’s costs. To create a presumption of negligence in addition to denying payment for care creates a penalty and system cost beyond what providers can cover.

adding to the risk that providers will face unjustly indefensible medical lawsuits, private healthcare insurers have followed CMs’s lead and adopted similar policies in their

starlett M. Miller is an associate at McCumber daniels focusing her practice on complex commercial litigation, long-term care defense and medical malpractice defense. in addition, Ms. Miller develops

educational programs for the firm’s clients and their industries regarding new developments in the law and strategies for minimizing liability. email Ms. Miller at smiller@mccumberdaniels.com

“the SunShine State, Site of the dangling chad debacleS, iS leading

the country in Some poSitive and proactive legiSlation. florida

haS Set an example for neceSSary federal legiSlation. florida legiSlatorS recently paSSed

forward-thinking legiSlation with a keen eye toward retaining

fairneSS in the judicial SyStem and containing the eScalation of

liability coStS aSSociated with health care and reSulting expenSeS

aSSociated with defenSive medicine.”

www.MCCuMBerdaniels.CoM seCond quarTer, 2012

“social media” fifteen years ago was an unknown expression that has now infiltrated most people’s daily lives. The rise of social media outlets brings with it a host of issues forcing traditional legal concepts to evolve to keep pace with technology. The effect that Facebook, Twitter, linkedin, or Myspace (just to name a few) has on litigation varies from jurors tweeting during trials and litigants posting potentially revealing images and status updates that cast doubt on their claims to parties making disparaging comments about judges and lawyers regarding their cases on Facebook.

accessing someone’s Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace records could wield incredible power in pending litigation; particularly when elusive damages are at issue. a claimant’s case could be irretrievably harmed by the discovery of Facebook or Twitter posts showing the claimant engaged in activities suggesting that he or she is not really injured. For instance, a claimant posting about scuba diving or playing golf while simultaneously alleging

that he suffers terrible back pain could be quickly discredited by the disclosure of those records.

The question, then, is how does counsel access those records? and, even if those records are discovered, how do you get them admitted at trial?

obtaining social media records is complicated, to say the least. The national trend is to permit access to those records provided counsel sets forth the traditional discovery notions of relevancy and whether that information will lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. But, given the potentially voluminous quantity of postings and twitters involved in a person’s account, problems then arise over how much data will be turned over, by whom, and whether that information is truly “private.” Facebook’s user agreement, for instance, provides that even information placed on the private sections of one’s account can become part of other individuals’ profiles and in effect become public. “Facebook users are thus

put on notice that regardless of their subjective intentions when sharing information, their communications could nonetheless be disseminated by the friends with whom they share it, or even by Facebook at its discretion.”

at least the argument can be made that a litigant’s Facebook account records pertaining to posts, photographs, and other data is discoverable if relevant

to an issue in the litigation or will lead to other admissible evidence. But, even if counsel obtains those records, are they admissible at trial? That issue arises in the context of authenticating that the posts and other data actually belong to that specific person. it becomes prudent, then, to lay the foundation early on in the discovery process that an account belongs to that person and that his or her posts, tweets, etc., were indeed authored by him or her.

in short, a person’s involvement in social media outlets is certainly a relevant consideration when litigating particularly when subjective damage claims are involved. in the poetic words of a federal judge in Texas, it is “voodoo information.”

Kimberly a. Potter is an associate at McCumber daniels focusing her practice on handling insurance defense, professional liability defense, general liability defense, auto liability defense,

commercial litigation, and medical malpractice litigation. email Ms. Potter at kpotter@mccumberdaniels.com

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social Media: Key evidence in a Technology driven society

By Kimberly a. Potter

www.MCCuMBerdaniels.CoM seCond quarTer, 2012Page 7

When companies first started delving into social media, their first concerns were, how are we going to handle all this new business? later this concern turned into, how are we going to handle all these negative comments and reputational damage? (see blog on Clear and Convincing Evidence, “The dark s ide o f Corpora t e soc ia l Med ia , http://wp.me/pJiTH-5t”) now businesses have another issue to be concerned about, targeted malicious attacks via social media sites.

“Hackers do not care what the size of your business is. They only care if they can get past your defenses and relieve you of your valuables.”1 usa today recently posted a story, “social-network use leads firms to boost security,”2 according to research found from firewall maker Barracuda networks, who analyzed web traffic of 5500 PC users in 20 nations and found 1 in 60 Facebook postings, and 1 in 100 Twitter tweets, carried malicious code. in response to this flurry of new malicious threats, symantec published The risks of social networking.3

This report entails the types of threats that are spreading throughout social media, including password phishing, targeted message spam, w32.Koobface worm, fake security checks from malicious applications, vulnerabilities in applications, to name a few, and provided a list of 8 best Practice tips to practice when your company and employees are using social media to promote services.

1. be skepticalsocial networks can be a useful source for business information, as well as for newsworthy updates from your friends. But they also contain a lot of useless information. generally speaking, you should treat anything you see online with a high degree of skepticism. do not believe everything you read, be it financial advice, breaking news, or tips on free giveaways—especially if it involves clicking a link or installing an application. if someone asks you for money in advance, it might be a scam.

2. check Privacy Policies & settingsall major social networking services have specific privacy guidelines and rules that are published on their websites. Make sure you understand them, even though they may be tedious to read, as they likely explain whether your information is shared with other parties. some services offer the ability to restrict your privacy settings for specific groups, such as allowing you to share pictures with your friends only and not everyone. Make good use of these settings.

3. good Passwordsuse good, strong passwords. (your birth date or “123456” are not good passwords.) if possible, the password should contain letters and numbers, as well as special characters. if you can’t remember complex passwords, either use a passphrase as hint or use any of the available password management utilities that can securely store them for you. do not choose a password that can be guessed by the information that you have published on your account site. This includes friend’s names, favorite movie stars, or pet names.

4. Protect the Passwordyou should never share your password with others. This includes services that promise to help you get more friends or something similar. do not lose control of your password. if you enter your password, ensure that you are on the real website and not a phishing scam page that just looks like the original site. should you suspect that you have fallen for a phishing attack and your account has been compromised, use a clean computer to log into the original service and change your password.

5. be thoughtfulalways think twice before posting something. Keep in mind that once you posted it, even to a close group of friends, you no longer have control over where it will be reposted and who might read it. These things can come back to haunt you when you search for a new position. Consider if you really need to publish the full information. This includes posting too many personal details, such as phone numbers or work-related things. Furthermore refrain from forwarding virus

hoax or exaggerated warning messages that will confuse more than help other users. Be nice and respectful to others—do not post hate messages about others, since you would not want to receive them yourself.

6. be WaryPeople on the internet are not always who they claim to be. The celebrity who you are following might just be another fan, and the supposed co-worker from another office might just be someone doing reconnaissance on your enterprise. not everyone that claims to be your friend is your friend.

7. stay updatedalways ensure that the software you use is up-to-date. not only does this include the operating system and web browser, but also third-party plug-ins, such as PdF viewers. install all the latest patches and hot fixes from the official site and automatically check for newer available versions through the software.

8. stay Protectedsome of the newer attacks are very sophisticated and are sometimes hard to spot for an untrained eye. use comprehensive security software to protect against these threats. The use of social media is a great way to get your company brand name out to many end users in a very low cost manner. if your company provides the appropriate steps to help with prevention, it is possible to see more positive returns. social media sites are also doing more to protect their users by upgrading profiles and updating firewalls. if something looks suspicious, it is better to ask your iT staff before a problem occurs.

1http://www.symantec.com/connect/2011_internet_security_Threat_report_identifies_risks_For_sMBs

2 http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/story/2012-02-27/social-network-workplace-security/53292514/1

3 http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/enterprise/media/security_response/whitepapers/the_risks_of_social_networking.pdf

Protect yourself from Cyber CrimeBy stephanie F. Hedrick

seCond quarTer, 2012www.MCCuMBerdaniels.CoM

ANNOUNCEMENTS

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sPeaKing evenTs

lawrence M. silverman is scheduled to co-present at the Pennsylvania Conference of state Trial Judges annual Meeting on July 27, 2012 at 10:45 aM. Mr. silverman’s presentation is titled, “nursing Home abuse.”

amy l. Miles is scheduled to present, “what to do after you receive the appellate Court’s decision” on May 18, 2012 to attendees of The sarasota County Bar association’s appellate section Cle seminar.

Kenny a. Puig is scheduled to present on a panel at the Claims and litigation Management alliance’s (ClM) Professional liability Mini-Conference in Chicago, illinois on July 13, 2012. The panel will discuss ‘sorry seems to be the Hardest word: a Tri-parte Perspective on apology legislation in Medical Malpractice Claims.’

new aTTorneys

andy Mccumber is scheduled to present on a panel at leadingage Florida’s 2012 annual Conference on wednesday, July 25, 2012 at 10:45 to 11:45aM. More information will be posted to the McCumber daniels website.

Mr. Mccumber is also scheduled to present at the Florida Health Care association’s 2012 annual Conference on Monday, July 30, 2012 at 9:45 to 10:45aM and then again on wednesday, august 1 at 5:30 to 6:30PM. Mr. McCumber’s presentation is titled, “obtaining agreements to arbitrate Claims arising from long Term Care: Can we or Can’t we.”

For more information about registration, please visit the conference website: http://www.fhcaconference.org/.

sPeaKing evenTs

in THe CourTsstarlett M. Miller is now admitted to practice in the Bankruptcy Courts of the northern and Middle districts of Florida

Lawrence M. Silverman has joined the firm of McCumber, Daniels, Buntz, Hartig & Puig, P.A., as a Shareholder in the Philadelphia office. Lawrence Silverman focuses his practice on long-term care litigation, malpractice litigation, trucking and transportation litigation, construction litigation, insurance coverage, and professional liability.

Joel I. Fishbein has joined the firm of McCumber, Daniels, Buntz, Hartig & Puig, P.A., as a Shareholder in the Philadelphia office. Mr. Fishbein dedicates his practice on long-term care litigation, including arbitration law and agreements, medical malpractice litigation, shareholder disputes, employment litigation, commercial litigation, drafting arbitration agreements, and appeals.

McCumber daniels is a full service, Martindale-Hubbell “av-rated” civil litigation and appellate firm with offices in Florida and Pennsylvania. McCumber daniels offers a wide variety of litigation services for insurers, health care facilities, businesses, financial institutions and licensed professionals. with years of legal, corporate, medical, administrative and legislative experience, we are able to provide full-service representation for all of our clients in all types of disputes or litigation.

McCumber daniels attorneys are well versed in applicable law, procedure, courtroom tactics, legal and evidentiary rules, as well as the analysis and application of medical or financial information. our attorneys provide thorough investigation, negotiation, trial, and appellate services our clients expect and deserve.

McCumber daniels employs full time nurses as part of its permanent staff to support our medical and personal injury defense practice. The nurses quickly provide organization of medical documents and a preliminary analysis of the medical issues involved in each case. Their contributions are a value added asset to the attorney assessing and defending the case.

Mccumber Daniels’ team

Please visit our website to find out the latest legal news, seminars, speaking opportunities and firm news.

For more information on anything that you have read today, please contact Andrew McCumber at amccumber@mccumberdaniels.com

shareholdersandrew r. McCumber

derek M. danielse. Patrick BuntzMark B. Hartig

Kenneth a. PuigJoel i. Fishbein

lawrence M. silverman

PartnersJudd w. goodall

Fred J. Hughesrobert w. Pyles

associatesChristopher T. Borzell

Mary Beth davisMichael P. gouldPatrick J. Healey

Kyleen a. HudsonJohn F. Mcgreevey

amy l. Miles, esq., Editorstarlett M. Miller

Marc l. PenchanskyKimberly a. Potter

albert M. rodriguezKaren l. Tucci

Marketing Departmentstephanie Hedrick

www.MCCuMBerdaniels.CoM

Florida oFFiCe:4830 wesT Kennedy BoulevardsuiTe 300TaMPa, Florida 33609813-287-2822

Pennsylvania oFFiCe:1400 souTH TrooPer roadsuiTe 102eagleville, Pennsylvania 19403610-650-0871

seCond quarTer, 2012