THE FOUNDATION FOR TAXPAYER AND CONSUMER RIGHTS False Accounting: How Medical Malpractice Insurance Companies Inflate Losses to Justify Sudden Surges in Rates and Tort Reform Executive Summary In this study, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR is a non-profit, non-partisan organization) reviews the loss projections of medical malpractice insurance companies, beginning with the [...]

by Kimberly Long, Staff Writer SUNBURY – The family of an Atlas teen who died in a stripping pit fall last year near Locust Summit has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Reading Anthracite Coal Co., owner of the property where he fell to his death. Deneen and Randall Zigarski, Sr., of 500 W. Girard [...]

by Shannon P. Duffy, U.S. Courthouse Correspondent A Lehigh County judge has ruled that a Philadelphia attorney representing two former heart surgery patients – who had sued a Bethlehem hospital after developing sternal infections – should be allowed to depose a nurse about the investigation he conducted into the possible cause of those infections. In [...]

Forrest v. St. Luke’s Hospital New opinion from Lehigh County that clarifies when peer review is valid under MCare and clarifies an important exception to the Peer Review Protection Act. Case involves two individuals who had devasting post-operative infections following triple bypass surgery at St. Luke’s Hospital.  The surgeries were identicial, one day apart, with [...]

Derek R. Layser was recently named a 2005 Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for Plaintiff’s Personal Injury – Medical Malpractice by the publishers of Law & Politics and Philadelphia Magazine. Lawyers included on the list were selected from more than 34,000 lawyers from across the state. Mr. Layser was also recently selected by the Outstanding Lawyers of [...]

by Shannon P. Duffy, U.S. Courthouse Correspondent When an insurer cashes a check for the first premium payment, the insured is entitled to interim coverage under Pennsylvania law unless the insurer can show by “clear and convincing evidence” that the consumer had no reasonable basis for expecting immediate coverage, a federal judge has ruled. In [...]

Eric H. Weitz of Layser and Freiwald, P.C. and Jerry A. Lindheim of the Locks Law Firm were participating authors of Avoiding Legal Pitfalls of Hysteroscopy recently published in the February 2005 edition of OBG Management.

On February 17, 2005, Derek R. Layser and Eric H. Weitz, of Layser and Freiwald, P.C., were presenters for the all day seminar entitled Keys to Successful Pre-Trial Preparation in New Jersey.  Mr. Layser and Mr. Weitz are trial attorneys representing clients in a wide variety of matters including catastrophic injuries, bad faith and commerical disputes.