CONCANNON & CHARLES, P.C.
A different kind of law firm
Personal Injury
Aggressively Achieving Results
Concannon & Charles has a successful track record representing clients in a variety of personal injury actions, including wrongful death and survival actions, sports injuries, scuba diving accidents, product liability and premises liability matters, in state and federal courts throughout the United States. Each case is aggressively investigated and the firm explores every aspect of the facts and law, often months before a case is ever initiated. We expect and maintain close client involvement throughout the litigation process. Our practice is not based on volume; it is based on results. Consequently, the firm has earned a reputation for achieving excellent outcomes for its clients in all aspects of personal injury law.
Representative Cases
The following is a partial listing of some of the firm’s personal injury cases:
Court v. Loews Philadelphia Hotel, Inc., et al. and Thorne v. Loews Philadelphia Hotel, Inc., et al. - The firm represented two women that were sexual assaulted during massages at the 12Fit Spa in the Loews Philadelphia Hotel. Loews and the 12th Street Gym, the operators of the 12Fit Spa inside the hotel, failed to perform a background check on their massage therapist, Jerome McNeill, when he was hired in July 2014, even though a prior sexual assault had occurred in the 12Fit Spa just two months earlier. McNeill had an extensive criminal record, including a prior arrest for allegedly kidnapping and raping a 12-year-old girl, a conviction for reckless endangerment, and a recent arrest for sexual assaulting a customer at another area spa. After his hiring, the defendants failed to supervise McNeill and, as customers reported being sexually assaulted by McNeill, the defendants buried these claims and mistreated the victims. McNeill was eventually arrested and convicted of sexual assault. The Court and Thorne cases have generated considerable local and national media attention, with the Court case being featured on Inside Edition. The Court case goes to trial in federal court in 2019.
DeWolf v. Kohler, et al. - The firm defended Richie Kohler, ITI Holdings, Inc. and Lamartek, Inc. (d/b/a Dive Rite) in this personal injury and product liability action involving the death of Terry DeWolf on an expedition to the wreck of the Andrea Doria in 2008. Lamartek and International Training were dismissed from the case on summary judgment, and all claims against Kohler were dismissed after the firm achieved a defense verdict at the end of a two week trial in June 2013. The Texas Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's entry of judgment in November 2014, and the appellate court denied the plaintiff's motion for rehearing en banc in January 2015.
Osterhoudt v. Regional Scuba, Inc. - The firm defended a dive shop, its owner, several employees and a scuba instructor in this personal injury lawsuit brought by the widow of an entry level scuba diver who died during an Open Water checkout dive in the frozen Delaware River in the middle of December. The New York Supreme Court, Duchess County, upheld the liability waiver signed by the plaintiff and her husband, dismissed all claims against the dive shop employees and instructor, and allowed only the plaintiff's punitive damage claims to go to trial against the dive shop and its owner. The case settled for a nominal amount on the eve of trial.
Bratcher v. Sosumeaso, Intl., et al. – The firm represented Capt. Robert Bratcher, a retiree who was injured when he was ejected from the basket of a hot air balloon operated by the United States Hot Air Balloon Team during a crash in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Capt. Bratcher sued the balloon’s operators, owner and pilot to recover compensatory and punitive damages for massive injuries he sustained as a result of the crash. The case settled shortly after a complaint was filed in federal court.
Raimo v. Uwatec – The firm represented Robert Raimo in litigation against Johnson Outdoors, Inc. and its subsidiaries, Uwatec and Scubapro, for knowingly concealing a dangerous defect in the company’s flagship product, the Aladin Air X Nitrox dive computer, for more than seven years. Raimo was the seventh diver injured by the defect, which the defendants discovered nearly seven years before Raimo was injured. However, Johnson Outdoors, Uwatec and Scubapro never warned divers about the defect or issued a public recall. Consequently, Raimo suffered from serious decompression sickness when he relied on his Air X Nitrox to dive safely, without knowing that a defect in the computer’s software was causing it to underestimate his no decompression limits and display false information to him during his dives. Uwatec issued a public recall of the Aladin Air X Nitrox the day after Raimo filed a class action lawsuit demanding a recall. The case settled on the eve of trial.
Barrett v. Ambient Pressure Diving, Ltd., et al. – The wife of a scuba instructor who died while wearing an Inspiration closed circuit rebreather, filed this wrongful death case against a dozen defendants represented by the firm, alleging that the defendants provided faulty scuba instruction and a defective product to her husband more than five months before his death. The case was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction by the federal court in Pennsylvania and transferred to New Hampshire. Shortly thereafter, the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed her defective training allegations against all of the defendants, and all of her claims against all but one of the firm’s clients. A two week jury trial was held on the plaintiff’s remaining products liability claims against the firm’s client, Ambient Pressure Diving, Ltd., in Concord, New Hampshire in November 2008. The jury deliberated for approximately one hour before entering a defense verdict.
