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CWO News

Planning for the future

With Carrie A.S. Kennedy Esq.
Please Join us Via Zoom on January 18th at 6pm

Carrie is the head of the Estate and Trust department in the CWO Paoli Law office. Carrie focuses her practice on these areas, and will cover topics including:

POA vs. Guardianship

Estate Planning

Special Needs Trusts

Maria Iuanow joins Connor, Weber & Oberlies

Maria Iuanow joined Connor, Weber & Oberlies in 2022. Prior to joining Connor, Weber & Oberlies, Maria practiced medical malpractice defense litigation, defending individual doctors and nurses along with hospitals at Westermann, Sheehy, Keenan, Samaan & Aydelott in White Plains, New York and Martin, Clearwater & Bell, in New York City, New York.

Noelle Connor joins Connor, Weber & Oberlies

Noelle Connor joined Connor, Weber & Oberlies this year, and works out of the Moorestown, NJ office. Noelle focuses her practice in the areas of insurance defense, general negligence, school law, personal injury, and premises liability. Noelle is licensed to practice in the State of New Jersey, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Is the Regular Use Exclusion in Vehicle Coverage Becoming a Relic of the Past?

By Jason G. Bates, Esquire

Recent decisions in Pennsylvania appear to be eroding the Regular Use Exclusion in Pennsylvania. Most automobile insurance policies in Pennsylvania contain a “regular use” exclusion to insurance coverage whenever an injured individual was in a vehicle that was regularly available for that individual’s use but was not covered by the insurance policy at issue. The rationale for this exclusion is to prevent an insurance carrier from providing coverage to an injured party where, unbeknownst to the carrier, the injured party regularly used another vehicle which was not covered under the carrier’s policy because the carrier has not been paid a premium by the injured party to cover that risk.

Historically, this exclusion to coverage has survived challenges to its validity in Pennsylvania courts and recently has continued to do so. (See Williams v. Geico Government Employees Insurance, 32 A.3d 1195 (Pa. 2011); and more recently in two unpublished Pennsylvania Superior Court cases: Rawl v. Geico, No. 1086 WDA 2019, 237 A.3d 1042 (Pa. Super. 2020)(unpublished) and Eckert v. Unitrin Auto Home Insurance, No. 1013 EDA 2019 (Pa. Super. 2020)(published)).

This seemingly secure footing for the “regular use” exclusion, came under attack by the recent case of Rush v. Erie Insurance Exchange which is currently making its way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

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Paul J. Smyth Joins Connor, Weber & Oberlies

Paul J. Smyth joined Connor, Weber & Oberlies in 2021 and works out of the Moorestown, New Jersey office.  Paul focuses his practice in the areas of general liability, premises liability and personal injury.  Paul also has vast experience in mass tort defense in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Jason G. Bates joins Connor, Weber & Oberlies

Jason G. Bates joined Connor, Weber & Oberlies in 2021 and works out of the Paoli, Pennsylvania office.

Jason brings his extensive experience in handling various litigation matters at all levels of the State and Federal Court systems, including general defense litigation, municipal law, civil rights litigation, premises liability and automobile negligence litigation.  He has state and federal jury trial experience and has experience trying cases at the arbitration level.  Mr. Bates has been a presenter in several continuing legal education seminars and paralegal seminars.  He also has authored articles on subrogation and social host liability issues. 

Guardians, Parents and COVID-19 Vaccination

Carrie A.S. Kennedy of Connor, Weber & Oberlies recently argued successfully in the area of guardianship and COVID-19 Vaccination, as the Chester County Judge concluded that he agreed with the opinion of an expert witness in the case, “The science is clear … ‘this is not a difficult call. Vaccination against COVID-19 saves lives.’”

This legal case involved a disagreement between a mother and father over the vaccination of their adult daughter, with Down syndrome, who lives in a local group home. Her parents are long-divorced and are court appointed as co-guardians of their daughter. After making no progress in resolving the issue, the father petitioned for vaccination of his daughter.

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Robert E. Lavoie III joins Connor, Weber & Oberlies

Robert E. Lavoie III joined Connor, Weber & Oberlies in 2020 and works out of the Paoli, Pennsylvania office. Robert focuses his practice in the areas of general liability, products liability, and professional liability litigation. Robert is licensed to practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the State of New Jersey, and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.