Jill Johnston

In July 1999, a Philadelphia jury awarded $907 million against Ira Einhorn for the 1977 killing of his girlfriend, Helen 'Holly' Maddux, in a civil wrongful death and survival action filed by her family. Einhorn was a fugitive living in France at the time and sent no attorney, so the court directed a verdict for the family on liability and left the six-member jury to decide damages alone. The jury deliberated a little over an hour before returning $752 million in punitive damages and $155 million in compensatory damages. Firm founder James E. Beasley represented the Maddux family. The suit was never intended to collect money from a fugitive with no assets; it was filed to stop Einhorn from profiting off book or movie deals about the case.

In an opinion dated May 7, 2003, Judge Harold Baer of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a default judgment of approximately $104 million against the Republic of Iraq, al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in consolidated wrongful death suits brought for two men killed in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. James E. Beasley of The Beasley Firm represented the estates of George Eric Smith, who worked in the South Tower, and Timothy Soulas, who worked in the North Tower; the Second Circuit's opinion in the collection appeal names him as counsel of record. None of the defendants appeared, so the court held a two day inquest on damages, found on expert testimony that Iraq had provided material support to al Qaeda, and held Iraq responsible for approximately $63.5 million of the total. The opinion itemizes the award by estate, by component and by defendant, and no source states a single total for either estate. Two collection efforts have failed, the last of them in the Second Circuit in August 2025, and no source found shows the judgment was ever paid.

A Philadelphia jury awarded former Philadelphia Eagles special teams captain Chris Maragos $43.5 million after finding that orthopedic surgeon James Bradley and Rothman Orthopaedics were negligent in treating and rehabilitating the knee injury that ended his NFL career. The Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed the verdict in September 2024, rejecting Rothman's argument that the award was excessive.

Amy Fledderman, an 18-year-old Penn State freshman, died in 2001 from a fat embolism two days after plastic surgeon Richard Glunk performed liposuction on her in his King of Prussia office and, her family alleged, kept her there for roughly two and a half hours as she struggled to breathe instead of calling an ambulance. Her parents sued Glunk and his nurse anesthetist, Edward DeStefano, for medical malpractice and wrongful death in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. In May 2008 a jury awarded the Fleddermans $5.5 million in compensatory damages, split 75 percent to Glunk and 25 percent to DeStefano, plus $15 million in punitive damages against Glunk, for a verdict of $20,525,000. The Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed the verdict, including the punitive award, in November 2010, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied further review on June 2, 2011.