Notable Case Results in Pennsylvania

1. $3.25 Million Settlement (Indiana County) – Our client was a 50 year old husband and father who suffered a preventable death as a result of doctors failing to diagnosis an abdominal abscess. The defendant physicians ignored signs and symptoms of our client’s burgeoning infection and confused his lethal abscess with a hematoma, or collection of blood. The delay in diagnosis allows the infection to spread and fatally attack our client’s heart. (Est. of John Aloi, settled in 2022)
2. 1.9 Million Settlement (Allegheny County) – Our client was 70 years old when she underwent a coronary artery bypass surgery at a Pittsburgh hospital. Hours after surgery, an EKG is interpreted as “Acute MI / STEMI”. Our client is suffering a heart attack. Despite being admitted on a cardiac floor, our client’s heart attack is unrecognized by her heart doctors and she receives no treatment for nearly three days. The heart injury she suffers is too much for our client to overcome. She never leaves the hospital and dies two weeks later. (Est. of JoAnn Kastronis, settled in 2021)
3. $1 Million Settlement (Erie County) – Our client was 71 years old when she was admitted into a hospital for an elective shoulder surgery. During her hospitalization, she develops a pressure ulcer on her backside which the hospital allows to progress to a Stage IV pressure ulcer – as bad as it gets. The wound requires multiple surgeries and becomes infected. After battling the infection for many months, our client succumbs to it and dies prematurely. (Est. of Evelyn Myers, settled in 2021)
4. 2.4 Million Trial Settlement (Mercer County) – This was a birth injury case involving a brachial plexus injury which will impair our minor client’s function ability for the rest of her life. We settled claims against the involved hospital immediately prior to trial for $500,000.00, however, the defendant physician refused to authorize her insurance company to participate in the settlement. No offer was ever made. Victor and Ernest Pribanic, along with Phil Chapman try the case against the defendant delivery doctor in Mercer County for two weeks. The defense first makes an offer to settle the case the night before closing arguments. The offer is declined. After Victor Pribanic gives closing argument and the jury is charged by the judge, a substantially better offer to settle was received - $1.9 million, and the case settles. (Kenna Hennegan, tried in 2022)
5. $950,000 Settlement (Butler County) – Our client was an 89 year old resident of a personal care home who fell down a fire stairwell in her wheelchair resulting in catastrophic injuries and her death, shortly thereafter. Mr. Chapman proved during discovery that the facility was perpetually understaffed and that the staff member responsible for monitoring our client at the time of her fall was outside on a smoke break. Our client’s fall and death would’ve been avoided entirely if the facility had not illegally left the fire door leading to the staircase propped open with a wooden stopper. (Est. of Helen Pringle, settled in 2022)
6. $2.495 Million Settlement (Allegheny County) – Our client was an elderly passenger in a car involved in a motor vehicle collision caused primarily by a flagger. The flagger instructed vehicles to operate against the traffic signals controlling an intersection. The discrepancy causes a predictable high-speed collision between two vehicles. Our client suffers a spinal cord injury requiring him to spend the final 18 months of his life in a nursing home. (John Farrell, settled in 2023)
7. 1.25 Million Settlement (Westmoreland County) – Our client is diagnosed with a urologic emergency, obstructive pyelonephritis (kidney infection) at a hospital that does not have an on-call urologist. She is transferred to another hospital for the specific reason of receiving the necessary urologic intervention. The receiving hospital incorrectly changes our client’s diagnosis to a far less urgent condition and she dies of sepsis shock secondary to pyelonephritis prior to receiving medical treatment from a urologist. (Est. of Sundin, settled in 2024).

1. $7,750,000.00 Medical Malpractice Victim 2025
2. $1,250,000.00 Medical Malpractice Victim 2025
3. $1,200,000.00 Motor Vehicle Crash 2025
4. $152,000.00 Motor Vehicle Crash 2025
5. $2,350,000.00 Medical Malpractice Victim 2024
6. $325,000.00 Motor Vehicle Crash 2024
7. $500,000.00 Product Liability Victim 2024
8. $425,000.00 Medical Malpractice Victim 2024
9. $12,800,000.00 Medical Malpractice Victim 2023
10. $375,000.00 Premises Liability Victim 2023
11. $948,000.00 Motor Vehicle / Tractor Trailer Crash, 2023
12. $1,700,000.00 Medical Malpractice Victim 2022
13. $1,600,000.00 Medical Malpractice victim 2022
14. $400,000.00 Motor Vehicle Crash 2022
15. $1,500,000.00 Medical Malpractice victim 2022
16. $650,000.00 Motor Vehicle Crash 2021
17. $337,000.00 Premises Liability Victim 2021
18. $550,000.00 Medical Malpractice victim 2021

Additional Representative Cases:

1. $10,000,000.00 Medical Malpractice Victim
2. $2,900,000.00 Product Liability Victim
3. $2,400,000.00 General Negligence Victim
4. $1,330,000.00 Motor Vehicle / Tractor Trailer Crash
5. $900,000.00 Motor Vehicle Crash

2. $900,000.00 UIM Settlement (Allegheny County) – Our 43 year old client was traveling for work in Arizona when her vehicle rear-ended. As a result, she suffers a traumatic brain injury that while invisible to doctors, alters her quality of life and her ability to perform her job functions. Our client first hired an out-of-state lawyer who was only able to recover $38,000.00, or less than half of the available insurance money from the at-fault driver. However, when our client hired Ernest Pribanic to pursue an underinsured motor vehicle claim against her insurance carrier, the result differed dramatically. Ernest worked tirelessly with our client’s treating neurologists and co-workers to illustrate the severity of her injury and how it impacted her candidacy for raises and promotions at her high-pressure job. The result was a policy limits recovery of $900,000.00. (Keri Jacko, settled in 2019)
3. $650,000.00 Settlement (Allegheny County) – Our 38 year old client was riding home from the casino in a ride sharing vehicle when it struck a deer resulting in his suffering a traumatic brain injury. Prior to Pribanic & Pribanic’s involvement the ride-sharing company denied any liability for the crash and described it as an unfortunate act of god. Ernest Pribanic used GPS data and the driver’s history to establish that the ride-sharing company should have known that this driver was a habitual speeder and that the company failed to monitor his driving habits. The case settled prior to trial for $650,000.00. (Bradford Martin, settled in 2021)
4. $1.5 Million Settlement (Allegheny County) – A 38 year old wife and mother of two tells her primary care physician that she’s experiencing new onset chest pain, heart palpitations and episodes of syncope. At first glance, her medical records show the PCP does what she should – order a stress test, holter monitor and echocardiogram – and provide a referral to a cardiologist. Through deposition testimony and audit trails, however, Ernest Pribanic proves that the PCP did not actually instruct our client to see a cardiologist and that the doctor did not place the order until after our client’s death. The doctor is held accountable as the case settles shortly after Ernest’s discovery of the manipulated medical records. (Est. of Julie Harrison, settled in 2023)

1. $4.1 Million Settlement (Allegheny County) – A 41 year old father of four young children is struck and killed by an inattentive school bus driver while on his way to work. Jeffrey Pribanic worked tirelessly to achieve this recovery from the bus company and secure the financial future for the victim’s family. (Est. of Huston, settled in 2019)
2. $175,000.00 Verdict (Allegheny County) – Our client was a 58 year old Optometrist who suffered disc herniation as a result of a read-end motor vehicle collision. When the defendant’s top offer of settlement was only $70,000.00, Jeff Pribanic advised our client to put his case in front of a jury. It was the right decision, with the jurying returning a $175,000.00 verdict after 3 days of trial. (Marc Werksman, tried in 2019)

1. $9 Million Settlement (Allegheny County) – Over a period of 5 days, a healthy college aged woman presents to multiple medical providers, including a local emergency department, with sign and symptoms of infection. She meets SIRS or systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria, yet is discharged without proper medical workup or blood cultures. The delayed diagnosis and treatment of our client’s life threatening infection causes the amputation of each of her legs. Liability was hotly contested by the defense, but Pribanic & Pribanic was able to secure this substantial recovery, securing our client’s medical and financial future. (Jalissa Barnes, settled in 2023)
2. $3.5 Million Settlement (Allegheny County) – A 20 week gestational ultrasound was incorrectly interpreted and the location of our client’s placenta incorrectly measured. As a result of these mistakes, our client’s vasa previa, a dangerous but imminently treatable complication of pregnancy went unrecognized. Rather than performing a planned cesarean section as required, doctors attempted to induce a vaginal delivery. Our infant client suffered devastating hypoxic injuries during birth and was able to sustain life for only a few days. This result was achieved very early in the litigation avoiding the infant’s devastated parents from having to relive this nightmare at deposition and while still achieving some measure of accountability. (Est. of Keller, settled in 2024)
3. $8 Million Settlement (Allegheny County) – When our 38 week pregnant client arrived at the hospital reporting contractions while diagnosed with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR – small baby) and other congenital abnormalities, she should have been admitted and labor induced. Unfortunately, she was sent home and told to return when contractions were more frequent. When our client returned to the hospital 2 days later she delivered a baby suffering from hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). After a month in the NICU, Our client brought her son with diagnosis of cerebral palsy and global developmental delay. The recovery obtained by Pribanic & Pribanic will ensure that he can afford the care the medical care needed for the rest of his life. (Issac Lau, settled in 2024)
4. $8 Million Settlement (Allegheny County) A 5 level thoracic spinal fusion surgery destroys the life of our 52 year old client. The surgeon chooses not to use intraoperative neuromonitoring and several of the screws he places enter our client’s spinal canal. Our client is unable to move either of his legs when he wakes from surgery. He is paralyzed. This is substantial recovery ensures that our client will receive the assistance he requires moving forward and that he can modify his home to accommodate his needs. (Cedric Slaughter, settled in 2024)
5. $3.25 Million Verdict (McKean County) – Our client, Randy Wolfgang, filed a lawsuit against his PCP and an emergency doctor after their failing to properly diagnose and treat an infection on his right leg resulted in a below knee amputation. Mr. Wolfgang’s case went to trial in McKean County, a notoriously difficult Plaintiff’s venue, with defense having made only nominal offers of settlement. After 6 days of trial, Victor Pribanic and Sherie Cannin obtained a just and fair verdict from the jury of $3.25 million. This was the first plaintiff’s verdict in a medical malpractice case that McKean County had seen in the 21st It was also the largest verdict that the McKean trial judge had seen in his career. (Randy Wolfgang, tried in 2023)
6. $8.8 Million Settlement (Berks County) – Our client’s delivery of her son was mismanaged by inexperienced resident doctors and her concerning fetal monitoring strips ignored. As a result, her baby suffers perinatal asphyxia and is diagnosed with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). The result of this birth injury is the baby living his life a spastic quadriplegic with severe cognitive deficits. This pre-litigation recovery will help our clients provide their son the 24-hour assistance he requires for the rest of his life. (Angel Rivera, settled in 2023)
7. $4.5 Million Settlement (Allegheny County) – In this case, our client was only days old when a pediatric surgeon’s errors changed his life forever. The defendant surgeon mistakenly attaches our client’s left pulmonary artery into an attempted aortic arch repair. As a result, he suffers severe lung and brain injuries which will disable him for the rest of his life. (Talon Adams, settled in 2023)