News & Articles

---

THE LEGAL INTELLIGENCER, APRIL 17, 2017

Montgomery County lawyer Nancy Raynor was fined $1,000,000 by a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge for contempt of court which the Pennsylvania Superior Court concluded was an unsubstantiated claim. To make matters worse, before the ink was dry on the contempt citation, the lawyers who sought the sanction in the first place, seized all of her personal and business assets so that she had to borrow from family and friends to buy groceries and put gas in her car. Haines & Associates has brought suit against those lawyers, under the provisions of Pennsylvania law that allow suits for abuse of process (known as the Dragonetti Act) on behalf of Ms. Raynor. The goal is to seek monetary compensation for financial losses an emotional distress, but also to restore Ms. Raynor's good name. The case is expected to go to trial in the spring of 2018. 

ELECTRICAL WORKERS UNION & JOHN DOUGHERTY SUIT FILED.

On October 17, 2016 the Haines firm filed suit against the infamous Electrical Workers Union and its president John Dougherty alleging a pattern of racketeering arising out of a series of assaults of non-union electricians who were working in Philadelphia. The case arose out of a well-publicized attack of Joshua Keene while he was working in South Philadelphia for a contractor who had hired him to do electrical work in a housing development there. The electricians have been long known for aggressive attacks on any non-union worker in Philadelpia. Periodically their big gray rat pops up at construction sites in center city. The case has been temporarily withdrawn with the expectation it will be refiled by summer of 2017.

Philadelphia, PA (Law Firm Newswire) - Can Doctors Be Silenced? Philadelphia Jury Verdict Says No. Philadelphia-based lawyer Clifford E. Haines, president of the litigation firm, Haines & Associates, won an important victory in federal court on Friday, April 27th. The jury awarded $380,000 to Dr. Stephen Graboff, a board certified orthopedic surgeon and well known expert witness, who brought a defamation claim against the American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons and the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (together, the AAOS). The jury also returned a verdict against the Colleran law firm, which had hired Dr. Graboff, because it turned over Dr.Graboff’s draft report to the defendants in the underlying case, after “whiting out” the word DRAFT from the report.

The verdict is significant because Mr. Haines argued that the expert witness program developed by the AAOS was intended to silence doctors who testify against other doctors as a way to deal with the medical malpractice insurance crisis, and the jury apparently agreed with that assessment.

Dr. Graboff was retained by the Colleran law firm to provide expert witness testimony for one of their clients. Graboff prepared a draft report, but the firm whited-out the draft title and submitted Graboff's report as final. After the law firm submitted his preliminary report as final, Graboff was suspended from the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), in June 2009. The Association then publicly listed Dr. Graboff's suspension on their website and their internet newsletter, AAOS NOW. The exposure resulted in significant questioning of Graboff's reputation and a loss of income.

"This case was really about standing up for the rights of medical expert witnesses and the patients for whom they testify. I believe that medical associations like The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (the AAOS) are going after doctors who help prosecute a patient’s claim of medical malpractice. The principle we're fighting against -- the silencing of doctors – is why we took on this case."

Haines has a long career in medical malpractice and legal malpractice litigation and is past-president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association "Medical organizations are trying to deal with medical malpractice not by making sure their surgeons are doing top-notch work, but by going after the guys acting as expert witnesses," says Haines.

In addition to awarding Dr. Graboff $380,000 the verdict gives him license to testify that he had won a lawsuit against the AAOS for falsely portraying him in their publication “AAOS Now” on the Internet.

ABOUT HAINES & ASSOCIATES

Philadelphia firmHaines & Associates (http://www.haines-law.com) is a Philadelphia boutique litigation firm uniquely positioned to meet the needs of both individuals and businesses in the PA-NJ-DE tri-state area. The firm’s areas of practice include legal malpractice, medical malpractice, commercial, professional negligence, intellectual property, and personal injury litigation. Because we have remained small, we creatively tailor our services to the individual needs and objectives of our clients. Haines & Associates was founded by nationally recognized litigator Clifford Haines, consistently voted by his peers to be one of the top 100 Pennsylvania lawyers. A leader in the legal community, Mr. Haines is the immediate past president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. He’s also a former Chancellor of the 13,000- member Philadelphia Bar Association and belongs to the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.

HIGH PROFILE TRIAL IN PHILADELPHIA PUTS THE SPOTLIGHT ON THE LAW FIRM OF CLIFFORD E. HAINES & ASSOCIATES: CARL GREENE VS. THE PHILADELPHIA HOUSING AUTHORITY

As the City of Philadelphia prepares for the next chapter in the series of trials related to the dismissal of former Philadelphia Housing Authority Executive Director, Carl Greene, his legal representation - the law firm of Clifford E. Haines & Associates - is looking to make the case that the beleaguered former executive got a raw deal.

PHILADELPHIA, PA (PRWEB) FEBRUARY 05

Haines & Associates is no stranger to high profile legal work. The firm - well known for its medical malpractice, personal injury and business litigation work - has most recently represented one of the city’s most high profile individuals and former city official, Carl Greene. Greene, a past Executive Director of the Philadelphia Housing Authority, was relieved of his duties in September. Haines & Associates’ history with Mr. Greene is longstanding. As news of several employment-related lawsuits having been filed against Mr. Greene and PHA surfaced, the troubled executive reached out to Clifford Haines, whose reputation as a hard-hitting litigator is well-known regionally and nationally. From that first meeting, Haines, with his colleagues Lauren Warner and Hollie Knox, filed suit in federal court against PHA (Civil Action #2:10-cv-04529-RB). In addition, Haines & Associates successfully defended Greene in a series of lawsuits filed against him in the wake of the media frenzy surrounding his termination. (See case references below.)

The trial began on January 29 (with opening statements at 2:00 PM) at the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, located at 601 Market St., Philadelphia, in Courtroom 14(a) before the Honorable Ronald Buckwalter.

(Founded in 2004 by one of the region’s best known litigators, the Law Firm of Clifford Haines & Associates is a boutique law firm in Philadelphia specializing in issues related to personal injury, employment, professional negligence and commercial litigation.)

1. Case attribution: Civil Action Numbers: 10-cv-04954-CDJ; 10-cv-05412-BMS; 2:10-CV-05431-MMB; 2:10-CV-06185-RLB; 11-cv-00224-CMR. 

Aspiring to remind lawyers of the values and ideals that brought them into the profession. The PBA is a vehicle to help lawyers fulfill those aspirations they believe in.