Philadelphia Court Dismisses Silica Widow’s Post-Settlement Suit Against Counsel

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania trial court has dismissed a widow’s claim against the law firms that represented her husband and herself in a silica lawsuit and settlement, saying the allegations based on a failure to bring a survivor action would not support a malpractice claim.

Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Allan L. Tereshko held Oct. 1 that Dorothy Palmer’s assertion that she could have recovered more from a survivor action than she received by agreeing to the silica settlement was “specious.”

Judge Tereshko said the circumstances were analogous to a case in which the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said, …