PRACTICES
OVERVIEW
For over 30 years, Andy Susko has focused his practice on providing cost effective representation in complex litigation matters to a wide variety of businesses, including leading healthcare institutions, public electrical and natural gas utilities, equipment and tool manufacturers, and life, health and disability insurers. Andy has substantial courtroom experience, trying cases to jury verdict and through appeal in state and federal court. He concentrates his defense trial practice in health care and medical malpractice liability claims, utility catastrophic loss and contractual indemnity actions, construction accident claims, product liability actions, and life and disability claims, including cases where punitive damages and bad faith are pursued.
In addition to his active trial practice, Andy has spoken extensively on topics of importance to the businesses he serves, including insurance fraud, punitive damages and the trial of civil cases, and has provided in-house training to clients litigation holds, legal loss notices, preservation of evidence, presenting the company executive and corporate designee witness for deposition and trial and presentation and cross-examination of experts at deposition and trial.
Recognition and Involvement
Recognition & Involvement
From 2004 - 2024, Andy was selected in a survey of his peers as a Pennsylvania "Super Lawyer" by Super Lawyers. He has been rated AV® Preeminent by the Martindale-Hubbell peer review rating system, and was recognized as a 2013 "Top Rated Lawyer" in Healthcare based on his AV® Preeminent™ rating. He was also rated by the Judiciary as AV® Preeminent. He has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® list since 2019 in the practice area of Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants.
Andy is a highly active member of the legal profession and has a longtime commitment to the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Bar Associations, as well as the Philadelphia area pro bono community. He served as President of the 29,000-member Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) in 2007 - 2008. In addition, Andy is a current member of the PBA's House of Delegates (1992 - present) and a former Chair of the House, a past member of the Board of Governors (1991 - 94, 1998 - 99, 2006 - 09) and Chair of the Young Lawyers Division (1992 - 93). He also served as Chair and then member of Project PEACE, a dispute resolution initiative for elementary and middle school students (1999 - 2006).
Andy has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Legal Clinic for the Disabled since 1990, a Board Member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Judicial Independence Commission since 2009, and served as Chair of the Pennsylvania IOLTA Board. He is a member and past president (2004 - 05) of the Pennsylvania Defense Institute. Andy is also a former member of the Philadelphia Bar Association's Board of Governors (1990 - 94) and a past Chair of its Young Lawyers Division (1990).
Andy is is also a member of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel (FDCC), whose members are dedicated to promoting knowledge, fellowship and professionalism as they pursue the course of a balanced justice system and represent those in need of a defense in civil lawsuits.
Credentials
Bar and Court Admissions
Pennsylvania
Massachusetts
New Jersey
Florida
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District Pennsylvania
U.S. District Court for the Middle District Pennsylvania
U.S. District Court for the Western District Pennsylvania
U.S. Supreme Court
Education
Villanova University School of Law, JD, 1981
Florida State University, BS, summa cum laude, 1978
News & Insights
Memberships
The Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel
Pennsylvania Bar Association
Pennsylvania Defense Institute
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Judicial Independence Commission
Philadelphia Bar Association
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
- Has successfully tried over 100 cases to jury verdict and bench trial
- Tried to defense verdicts and extensive experience in handling claims of professional liability against physicians and hospitals including, claims involving failure to diagnose and timely treat meningitis, claims of lack of informed consent and birth injury cases involving claims of brain damage and physical injury
- Tried to defense verdicts product liability claims arising out of industrial accidents including overhead bridge cranes, mobile cranes, tip overs, high speed rotational equipment of grinders, drills, pneumatic tools, compressors, electrical and hydraulic hoists, rollers, front-end loaders and earth moving equipment
- Tried defense verdicts cases of electrical injuries, line contacts, gas explosions, electrical switch failures and power plant construction accidents
- Represented electric utility companies in accidents involving electrocutions, downed electrical conductors, wave trap replacements, pole hits, improper relay setting claims, power plant construction accidents, and indemnity disputes between utilities and their contractors
- Successfully represented insurance companies and public electric utilities in declaratory judgment actions
- Tried cases to verdict involving claims by professionals seeking disability benefits and bad faith punitive damages