An unwitnessed fall, a client with prior back problems, 10 years of unemployment, and over $5 million in disability benefits already paid – this case had every reason to fail. Yet trial partners Brendan Lupetin and Greg Unatin secured a record-setting $7.25 million verdict for the former chief of pain management at UPMC Hamot. In this case breakdown, Brendan and Greg reveal the strategies that shaped their victory: exposing UPMC's betrayal of their client through a series of emails, levering focus group insights to develop their winning liability theory, and highlighting their client’s loss of his passion in life: being a doctor.

☑️ Greg Unatin | LinkedIn

☑️ Brendan Lupetin | LinkedIn

☑️ Lupetin & Unatin, LLC

☑️ Connect: Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube

☑️ Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

1. Their client fell on snow-covered ice while exiting a UPMC surgery center through a required after-hours door, suffering severe back and shoulder injuries that ended his career as chief of pain management at UPMC Hamot.
2. The team strategically navigated the issue of their client’s prior back problems by explaining to the jury that he’d recovered from a spine surgery; the issue at trial was his shoulder injury: “I think that that ultimately played just fine, and we really made it all about the shoulder,” Brendan says.
3. The attorneys dropped their theory about a code violation relating to a defective step after focus groups showed that jurors cared more about the snow and ice issue.
4. Their winning liability theory became simple: When UPMC directed staff to exit a specific door, they had a duty to ensure that door was safely maintained.
5. A trail of emails revealed UPMC's corporate betrayal: praising their client as their "golden boy" when he was profitable, then ghosting him after his injuries...

Tim Wojton was prepared to tell jurors that a skilled nursing facility violated six different standards of care, leading to a patient’s death from hypovolemic shock. Then he realized that there was really just one. “I thought, wait a minute, understaffing isn't just another breach. Understaffing is the original sin.” In this case breakdown, Tim and trial partner Matt Scanlon describe to host Brendan Lupetin how they tracked down former employees, turned brutal cross-examination moments into powerful jury connections, and used a simple tree analogy to help jurors understand corporate negligence. Jurors awarded $750,000.

☑️ Matt Scanlon | LinkedIn

☑️ Tim Wojton | LinkedIn

☑️ Scanlon & Wojton Attorneys at Law on Facebook

☑️ Brendan Lupetin | LinkedIn

☑️ Lupetin & Unatin, LLC

☑️ Connect: Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube

☑️ Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

Ready to refer or collaborate on med mal, medical negligence, and catastrophic injury cases? Visit our attorney referral page at PAMedMal.com/Refer. We handle cases in Pennsylvania and across the United States.

Produced and Powered by LawPods

Did the primary care physician cause his patient’s death from an undiagnosed pulmonary embolism? A trial court said no, on summary judgment. In representing the patient’s widow on appeal, Patrick Sullivan realized that he had to “scrap everything and start from square one.” In this case breakdown with host Brendan Lupetin, Patrick describes how he reframed the case even as he faced hurdles: The patient never complained of chest pain (pulmonary embolism's key symptom) and the defense characterized him as an alcoholic. Patrick reveals how he exposed the PCP’s behavior – putting business interests above his patient’s care – and how he strategically ordered his witnesses for maximum impact. The jury responded, awarding $3.5 million.

☑️ Patrick Sullivan

☑️ Dallas Hartman on LinkedIn | Facebook

☑️ Brendan Lupetin | LinkedIn

☑️ Lupetin & Unatin, LLC

☑️ Connect: Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube

☑️ Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

• Patrick Sullivan represented a widow whose husband died from a pulmonary embolism after his primary care physician cleared him for surgery without discussing or noting his history of blood clots on the surgical clearance form.
• The trial court let the primary care physician out on causation at summary judgment; Patrick got that decision overturned on appeal and then sued the PCP again.
• The jury found the PCP negligent, awarding $3.5 million in wrongful death damages and assigning zero comparative negligence to the patient.
• Patrick emphasizes constant learning through reading trial strategy books, getting in the arena early and often, and maintaining genuine passion for clients.

Ready to refer or collaborate on med mal, medical negligence, and catastrophic injury cases? Visit our attorney referral page at PAMedMal.com/Refer. We handle cases in Pennsylvania and across the United States.