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Personal Injury Litigation Example | Philadelphia

| 1147 Views | 07/16/2015

Shareif Hall vs. SEPTA

I represented a little boy whose name was Shareif Hall. Shareif is now a young man who still keeps in touch with me. Shareif became a well-known person in Philadelphia in 1999 when I tried his case against SEPTA, the Southeast Transportation Authority. SEPTA had a decrepit escalator system. That escalator system was in complete and utter disrepair. That wasn’t known to the public. Little Shareif was with his mom at the Cecil B. Moore station when his foot, literally, as a tiny youngster, was ripped apart. His mom stood there in horror and watched. I took that case – what seemed to be an ordinary, for us, case involving a terrible set of circumstances – and we were able to capture the attention of the public and have the entire region understand that this never should have happened to this little boy, that SEPTA was wrong.

As the general manager of SEPTA stood outside the courtroom with me the day that SEPTA had been fined by a judge $1 million dollars, which followed a $51 million dollar jury verdict, and he repeated the words that I said to him in the courtroom, “Something good can come out of something bad. Isn’t that correct, sir?” And when he told the press corps that something good could come out of something bad, I knew we had accomplished something. I knew we got the attention of SEPTA, the attention of the region, a promise to fix the escalator system, and a promise to adjust claims in a fair and just manner every time that someone had a problem, every time someone had an injury. One little boy, with one lawyer, who was born and raised in a little town called Hazelton, made that difference. That, I believe, is symbolic of the kind of work that I have done over the years for Shareif Hall and many others.

By: Tom Kline

Personal Injury Litigation Example | Philadelphia

Shareif Hall vs. SEPTA

I represented a little boy whose name was Shareif Hall. Shareif is now a young man who still keeps in touch with me. Shareif became a well-known person in Philadelphia in 1999 when I tried his case against SEPTA, the Southeast Transportation Authority. SEPTA had a decrepit escalator system. That escalator system was in complete and utter disrepair. That wasn’t known to the public. Little Shareif was with his mom at the Cecil B. Moore station when his foot, literally, as a tiny youngster, was ripped apart. His mom stood there in horror and watched. I took that case – what seemed to be an ordinary, for us, case involving a terrible set of circumstances – and we were able to capture the attention of the public and have the entire region understand that this never should have happened to this little boy, that SEPTA was wrong.

As the general manager of SEPTA stood outside the courtroom with me the day that SEPTA had been fined by a judge $1 million dollars, which followed a $51 million dollar jury verdict, and he repeated the words that I said to him in the courtroom, “Something good can come out of something bad. Isn’t that correct, sir?” And when he told the press corps that something good could come out of something bad, I knew we had accomplished something. I knew we got the attention of SEPTA, the attention of the region, a promise to fix the escalator system, and a promise to adjust claims in a fair and just manner every time that someone had a problem, every time someone had an injury. One little boy, with one lawyer, who was born and raised in a little town called Hazelton, made that difference. That, I believe, is symbolic of the kind of work that I have done over the years for Shareif Hall and many others.

By: Tom Kline