Attorney Kelsey K. Black's Legal Cases

Transportation

Plaintiff v. Major Railway Company

Nov 30, 2012

OUTCOME: Trial Verdict - Jury

Ken Waterway and Kelsey Black obtained a favorable outcome on behalf of our client, a major railway company, in a jury trial heard in Florida state court. The plaintiff, a conductor, sued for $1.5 mill ... ion after he suffered allegedly career-ending injuries in a car derailment in 2010. The case was aggressively litigated for nearly two years. The plaintiff at one point filed a motion to strike our client’s defenses for alleged discovery violations, which we defeated only after a lengthy evidentiary hearing. Our client proceeded to trial having admitted liability for the derailment but contesting damages. After a four-day trial, the jury returned a verdict in the low six figures, corresponding relatively closely to what Sedgwick presented as reasonable damages. Within a week after the verdict, we settled the case on favorable terms, precluding any appeal by the plaintiff.

Commercial real estate

Plaintiff v. Heavy Equipment Manufacturer

Apr 06, 2012

OUTCOME: Summary Judgment

Kelsey Black and Ken Waterway obtained summary judgment on behalf of our client, a heavy equipment manufacturer, in federal court in Virginia. The plaintiff, an owner of a medium-duty commercial truck, ... sued our client and an automaker under the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act (MMWA) and the automaker under the Virginia Lemon Law in state court. Sedgwick removed the case to federal court. After discovery concluded, Sedgwick moved for summary judgment arguing that the MMWA was inapplicable because the vehicle was not a consumer vehicle. The automaker filed its motion for summary judgment on the same grounds and on the lemon law statute a few weeks later. The court dismissed the entire case, noting that the record established that our client had complied with its warranty obligations and was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on any breach of warranty theory.

Class action

Plaintiff v. Heavy Equipment Manufacturer

Mar 26, 2012

OUTCOME: Defeat of Class Action

Kelsey Black and Ken Waterway successfully defeated a motion to certify a class action filed against our client, a heavy equipment manufacturer, in federal court in South Carolina. The plaintiff, a tru ... cking company, purchased a truck containing our client’s heavy duty diesel engine, and allegedly experienced substantial problems that could not be repaired satisfactorily. The plaintiff then filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of all South Carolinians who purchased or operated in the past five years machines containing one of two engines manufactured by our client. According to the plaintiff, the engines’ emissions systems were defective. Subject to the definition of the putative class, the claim potentially implicated more than 1,000 engines and an eight-figure damages exposure. Sedgwick and its South Carolina local counsel aggressively responded to the lawsuit from its inception by removing the case to federal court, pushing for a scheduling order that bifurcated discovery, accelerating the presentation of the class certification issue to the court, and then delivering compelling briefing in opposition to class certification. The court held a hearing on class certification and on the same day issued an order denying class certification.

Kelsey K. Black's Legal Cases (3)

Plaintiff v. Major Railway Company

Plaintiff v. Heavy Equipment Manufacturer

Plaintiff v. Heavy Equipment Manufacturer