Complex Commercial & Class Action Litigation

Stradley Ronon’s trial team won a nonsuit for client Phoenix French Creek Manor in litigation involving the termination of purchase and option agreements for commercial real estate in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The plaintiff initially filed a $26 million claim against PFCM; however, prior to trial, Stradley’s litigation team secured a partial summary judgment dismissing the claims related to the option agreement, significantly reducing the amount in controversy. Two claims related to the purchase agreement proceeded to trial. Following the testimony of the plaintiff’s first witness, the Stradley team moved for dismissal based on the witnesses’ judicial admissions, but Judge William Mahon reserved his decision until after the close of plaintiff’s case- in-chief. After four days of testimony from six witnesses, the judge granted a nonsuit and brought the matter to a successful end for PFCM. 

Stradley Ronon obtained a mandatory injunction from the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas that requires a reassessment of all property in Delaware County. The Stradley Litigation team represented two families who had purchased new homes in the county in 2013 that were assessed at an extraordinarily high percentage of their fair market values. In consolidated appeals from the Delaware County Board of Assessment Appeals, the Stradley team won not only a significantly reduced assessment for the families, but also a decision acknowledging the pervasive inequities in the taxation of properties due to the county’s failure to reassess properties since 1998. Expert testimony established that properties throughout the county have been assessed at markedly different percentages of their fair market value since 2004. The court determined that the necessary remedy was a countywide reassessment of all properties. The court directed the county to submit a plan and preliminary timetable to accomplish the reassessment by July 1, 2017, and ordered that the Pennsylvania Tax Equalization (formerly STEB) ratio be applied to all tax assessment appeals until the countywide reassessment is completed.

Stradley’s insurance practice secured the Commonwealth Court's approval for the sale of millions of dollars in financial assets owned by the estate of Reliance Insurance Company. The Pennsylvania Insurance Department, which is liquidating Reliance, decided to sell some financial interests belonging to the company. After identifying potential purchasers and inviting them to make purchase proposals, the department engaged in an auction process that yielded two final bidders. They each made final bids, with a real estate investment firm submitting the winning bid of $9.6 million.

In preparing its final bid, however, the winning firm had a paperwork problem that delayed completion of its bid. The department allowed the firm extra time to complete the paperwork – time that was not given to the second bidder. Anticipating that the second bidder would protest this as unfair when the department sought court approval of the sale, the department hired Stradley to file for approval and fight off any protest. Complicating matters further was the fact that the deal with the winning bidder had to close quickly, or else that firm could – and would – walk away.

Shortly after court approval was sought, the disappointed bidder did, in fact, intervene, and asked the court to block the sale. It proposed that the court conduct a final, court-supervised round of bidding, and also suddenly promised to pay $9.9 million for the assets ($300,000 more than the winning bidder’s final bid). In response, Stradley quickly prepared and filed an opposition, and also asked the court to expedite consideration so the deal with the winning bidder could close in time, if approved.

The Commonwealth Court granted the department’s request to expedite, rejected the disappointed bidder's request to block the sale, and approved the sale as proposed by the department. In reaching this decision, the Court agreed with all of the arguments put forward by Stradley. This decision represents an important precedent protecting the department’s ability to conduct asset sales in insurance company liquidations without interference from disappointed bidders. As a result of the Court's approval, the transaction with the winning bidder promptly closed.

Stradley Ronon secured a victory for a leading student loan servicer in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The plaintiff brought claims that the servicer violated the Federal Debt Collections Practice Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act, based on generalized allegations that his loans were not valid. Judge Gerald Austin McHugh dismissed the case with prejudice, finding that the plaintiff alleged no facts to suggest that his loans were invalid, or that the loan documents were unenforceable.

For more than two decades Stradley Ronon has served as UnitedHealth’s mid-Atlantic regional counsel, effectively and efficiently handling more than 400 cases and claims for UnitedHealth and its subsidiaries and affiliates throughout the mid-Atlantic region and in other states (e.g., Ohio, New York, Michigan and Florida). The majority of these cases are healthcare/ERISA litigation, and involve, ERISA benefit claims; non-ERISA claims; Medicare/Medicaid; provider disputes; prompt pay claims; stop loss claims; termination of contractual arrangements; coordination of benefits and care; third-party administration of benefits, life and disability benefit disputes; and counterclaims for fraud or overpayment. These cases range from single plaintiff claims to large, complex class actions.