Anthony J. Williott, Attorney

Since 1985, Tony Williott has devoted his practice to the defense of insurance companies (and their insureds), hospitals, physicians, manufacturers, and extended care facilities in civil litigation. After a successful 25-year career with the prominent Pittsburgh insurance defense firm Dickie McCamey and Chilcote, Tony joined Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin in January, 2010. At Marshall Dennehey, he focuses his practice on the defense of physicians, hospitals and extended care facilities, while continuing his representation of insurance carriers and their insureds, as well as automobile and RV manufacturers.

Tony has handled several hundred medical liability claims over the years and nearly 1000 civil claims overall. He takes pride in being a trial lawyer, including his ability to try cases where there is probable liability, but an unreasonable settlement demand.

Tony's first jury trial was in 1987 and he has been steadily trying cases since then. He has handled over 50 jury trials, approximately 10 non-jury trials, close to 100 Common Pleas and District Court arbitrations and approximately 15 UM/UIM arbitrations. While approximately 85% of Tony's trials have resulted in defense verdicts or favorable Plaintiff's verdicts, perhaps his most significant victory started out as a disappointing loss. In Griffin v. UPMC-Braddock, the Plaintiff suffered a severe fracture/dislocation of her shoulder while recuperating from abdominal surgery for Crohn's disease. The cause of the injury was a mystery, as it occurred in the middle of the night and Plaintiff had no recollection. Plaintiff contended at trial that a hospital employee caused the injury by forcibly restraining her during a period of agitation. The defense expert testified that the injury was a classic seizure-induced fracture/dislocation. Plaintiff's expert was somewhat equivocal in his expert reports, citing forcible restraint as the cause but conceding that seizure was a possibility. Tony aggressively cross-examined him on the issue of reasonable medical certainty and the expert testified that he held his opinion with 51% certainty. The trial court allowed the case to go to the jury, denying defendant's motion for directed verdict and the jury returned a verdict just over $2.2M. On appeal, the Superior Court agreed with Defendant that Plaintiff's expert did not testify with reasonable medical certainty, overturning the verdict and granting judgment nov in favor of the defendant hospital.

In recognition of his work as a trial lawyer, Tony was inducted into the prestigious Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County in 2003, his first year of nomination. The Academy of Trial Lawyers consists of the best 125 Plaintiff lawyers and the best 125 defense lawyers out of more than 8,000 lawyers in Allegheny County.

Tony received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Penn State in 1978. He was a scholarship member of the football team at Penn State, earning letters in 1976 and 1977. Tony graduated from the Duquesne University School of Law - Night Division in 1985. He was a part of the winning team and was runner-up Best Advocate at the Gourley Cup Trial Moot Court competition in 1985.

Tony resides in Mount Lebanon with his wife Dana, a Penn State grad who was once one of a handful of female Labor Studies majors at Penn State. Their son, Carl, a Yale graduate, is a writer/producer for CNN/HLN in New York City, and their daughter, Alex, also a Penn Stater, works in New York City for an advertising agency, Zenith Optimedia. Their youngest daughter, Gabrielle, is a Penn State Junior majoring in Broadcast Journalism.

Outside of work, Tony devotes much of his time to his family. Penn State football is also very important to him. He has been a trustee of the Parents Athletic Council of Mount Lebanon since 2008. He served as a Board member at The Center for Theater Arts for approximately 10 years and was Chairman of the Board from 2003-05. He was a member of the Mount Lebanon School District Strategic Planning Team in 2000.

Significant Representative Matters:

• Received jury verdicts in favor of automobile manufacturers in Lemon Law claims in Flanders v. Ford Motor Co. and Iskoe v. Subaru.

• Secured a defense verdict in Lapinsky v. Goldberg, et al, a medical malpractice claim arising out of a laceration of the common iliac artery and vein during a laparoscopic procedure.

• Successfully defended a hospital in a jury trial involving an elderly patient who fell out of bed, fracturing her nose and eye orbit, in Bennett v. UPMC.

• Received a defense verdict in Casey v. Seski, a medical malpractice case in which the plaintiff alleged that the surgeon failed to properly get surgical clearance and plaintiff suffered a stroke immediately prior to surgery.

• Was defense counsel in the seminal case under the Pennsylvania remittitur rule (Vogelsberger v. Magee, et al), persuading both the Trial Court and Superior Court that the verdict was excessive.

• Was trial counsel in the landmark case of Griffin v. UPMC Braddock, a case where a jury verdict of $2.2 M was overturned and judgment nov was granted in favor of the defendant based on cross-examination of plaintiff's expert that revealed that his testimony was not given with reasonable medical certainty.

• Successfully defended Allstate (April, 2000) in a Bad Faith case tried before a jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania. (Ward v. Allstate) Case arose out of the denial of a UIM claim resulting from a triple fatality accident.

• Secured a defense verdict in a jury trial in the Western District of Pa. (Erie Division) (Feb. 1995) in Pearson v. Sears, a product liability case involving a propane torch, persuading the jury that the incident occurred because the plaintiff altered the orifice of the torch.
  
  
• Secured Summary Judgment in Pounds v. Morrow Motors, where plaintiff claimed that the defendant car dealer negligently permitted plaintiff's brother to test drive a car while drunk, resulting in an accident that left plaintiff a quadriplegic.