Selected Significant Reported Cases
N/AOUTCOME: Precedent Setters
High Concrete Structures, Inc. v. New Enterprise Stone and Lime Co., Inc., 377 F.3d 1379 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Obtained reversal in the Court of Appeals of a summary judgment order holding the plaintiff’s ... patent invalid for alleged non-compliance with § 112 of the Patent Act. In re Berger, 279 F.3d 975 (Fed. Cir. 2002). Briefed and won affirmance of a decision by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences declining the patent applicant’s request to declare an interference with an issued patent, and sustaining examiner’s rejections under §§ 112 and 102. E.I. DuPont De Nemours and Company v. Train, 383 F.Supp. 1244 (W.D. Va. 1974), affirmed, 528 F.2d 1136 (4th Cir. 1975), affirmed, 430 U.S. 112 (1977). Won a motion to dismiss for the EPA on chemical manufacturers’ challenge to effluent regulations under the Clean Water Act. The district court held it did not have jurisdiction, and this was affirmed in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. Seminal construction of the Clean Water Act. United States v. Frezzo Brothers, Inc., 461 F.Supp. 266 (E.D. Pa. 1978), affirmed, 602 F.2d 1123 (3d Cir. 1979) (argued), cert. den., 444 U.S. 1074 (1980). Obtained convictions of industrial polluters, including officers, in a jury trial in one the earliest criminal prosecutions under the Clean Water Act. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a precedent-setting opinion affirming the convictions and defining the reach of criminal conduct in prosecutions under the Clean Water Act. Subsequently I defeated post-conviction proceedings in which the defendants sought to overturn their convictions. Melso v. Sun Pipe Line Company, 576 A.2d 999 (Pa.Super. 1990) (argued), alloc. den., 593 A.2d 842 (Pa. 1991). Was first chair at the jury trial and obtained affirmance of a defense verdict where plaintiffs claimed personal injuries from exposure to benzene stemming from the rupture of the defendant’s petroleum pipeline, which was transporting unleaded gasoline at the time of the accident. Also obtained reversal of the trial court’s holding that Sun Pipe Line Company was strictly liable for all damages.
