Firm News
Congratulations to Jeff Witschey for being selected as a Super Lawyer and Rising Star respectively by SuperLawers.com. Jeff has the honor of being the first WWF attorney selected as a Super Lawyer. Superlawers.com is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process is multi-phased and includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations. This designation puts Jeff in the top 5% of all attorneys in the State! Way to go!
WWF attorneys Jeff Witschey and Betsy Hartschuh battled through a six-week jury trial to secure a judgment for WWF client Phoenix Lighting Group, LLC against a Philips Electronics subsidiary. The Judgment for various business torts included $1.7 million of compensatory damages and $7.0 million of punitive damages. The verdict is reportedly the largest jury verdict in Summit County history. Separately, the Court awarded an additional $600,000 in punitive damages for trade secret violations and $325,000 of prejudgment interest. Also, after a day-long hearing on attorney fees, the Court awarded WWF $4.0 million in attorney fees and reimbursement of litigation expenses enhancing WWF’s $2 million of billed attorney fees by a multiple of two because of the complexity of the case and the success WWF achieved. Post judgement interest continues to accrue while the case is pending on Philips Electronics’ appeal. For more read the Akron Beacon Journal article on Ohio.com.
WWF Attorneys Secure Multi-Million Dollar Settlement and Return of Hospital Campus to Wadsworth-Rittman Community.
After two and a half years of intense litigation with Summa Health System, WWF attorneys Jeff Witschey, Frank Witschey and Betsy Hartschuh secured a multi-million dollar settlement for their client, the Wadsworth Rittman Area Joint Township Hospital District. The District commenced litigation against Summa in 2014 after Summa closed inpatient services at the Wadsworth-Rittman hospital facility and refused to reopen inpatient services or return the hospital assets to the Joint District. The case involved complicated, unique and hotly contested legal issues including contract law and charitable trust concepts. In February 2017, just days before the trial date, the parties negotiated a multifaceted settlement agreement which secured for the Wadsworth Rittman Community the return of the 33 acre campus property to the Joint District, a window of opportunity for the community to find a full service hospital operator, and a multi-million dollar lease arrangement which also requires Summa’s investment in the hospital facilities of $750,000 per year in the event a full service hospital operator is not secured.
NETTING SUBSTANTIAL RETURNS FOR CLIENTS
Attorneys Frank Witschey successfully drafted and negotiated complex multi-million dollar financing transactions involving oil and gas interests. The transactions netted substantial short term and long term returns worth tens of millions of dollars for our clients through various financing tools and oil and gas industry mechanisms. WWF facilitated memorializing these transactions in various counties in Ohio and Pennsylvania. They also conducted pinpoint auditing of owner/operator records to verify appropriate payments related to these oil and gas interests. Along with the transactional returns, WWF integrated multidimensional estate and business succession planning to net additional tax savings and long term planning for the clients’ personal and business interests.