Leigh J. Bechtle has enjoyed a long career defending companies and individuals who have been sued for negligence, malpractice or breach of other duty.
Mr. Bechtle was a senior trial attorney for AIG Insurance Companies, counsel at Travelers Insurance Group and a partner at Bechtle & Ryan. For ten years he served as Judge Pro Tem/Settlement Master for medical malpractice cases for the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia. Mr. Bechtle has been a frequent speaker on Advanced Trial Advocacy, including the Intensive Trial Advocay Program at the Widener University School of Law.
Education:
Ohio University BA 1975
Widener University School of Law JD 1978
Professional Affiliations:
Delaware County Bar Assn.
Judicial Retention Committee, Delaware County
Pennsylvania Bar Association
American Bar Association
Kimberly Rapp, Executrix of the Estate of Edwin Rapp, et al v. Gurdev Singh, Pablo Molino, Gilbert Express, Inc., et al U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania - C.A. No. 002741 (05.09.01)
The plaintiff, Kimberly Rapp, lost her husband, Edwin Rapp, and five-year old son when they were both decapitated in their car as it went under our clients' stopped tractor-trailer after the Rapp car was struck by another tractor trailer. Mrs. Rapp suffered internal injuries but she and her daughter did not die as Mrs. Rapp had bent down to get her daughter as she had slipped out of her car seat. Mr. Rapp was 50 and a New York bank executive; wage loss proven to the jury was 10.6 million dollars. Because of Pennsylvania law on Joint and Several Liability, even a finding of 1% of liability would result in payment of the verdict - that was coverage of 26 million dollars. The striking tractor-trailer had 35 thousand dollars in coverage. The jury found that there was negligence on the part of our driver, Pablo Molino and the company and found violations of both State and Federal laws in failing to activate the emergency flashers while stopped. The jury did not find causation, and accordingly, a defense verdict for the clients was rendered along with a 27.7 million dollar verdict against the co-defendant. At the time, it was the highest verdict in the history of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
In Re; Asbestos School Litigation, 46 F.3d 1284, C.A.3 (Pa.) (1990) [clients: Asbestospray Corporation, Asbestos Products Manufacturing Corp., H & A Construction Company, Inc.]
A national class-action for asbestos in public schools. As the sole remaining not-settled defendants and after preparing for trial and cross-examination of approximately seventy listed experts, the case settled within a favorable range.
Albert and Margaret DiSantis v. Abex Corporation, et al, 908 F.2d 962 (C.A.3 1990) [client: Grumman-Ohio Corporation]
A case, along with many others involving 735 busses sold to SEPTA by the Grumman-Ohio Corporation which allegedly had asbestos in the brake shoes and other components; successfully defended.
Downing v. Philadelphia Housing Authority, 610 A.2d 535 (Pa. Commwlth. 1992), appeal denied 615 A.2d 1314 (Pa. 1992) [client: Philadelphia Housing Authority]
A case involving the scalding from a pot of boiling water to a little girl; the lawsuit was based on a defect of lack of heat in the unit requiring the stove to be on, and the door open during winter months. An Immunity and causation was argued in that that there was not a sufficient causal tie between the lack of heat and the actual instrumentality of the harm - the pot of boiling water. The trial court's decision on a successful Motion for Summary Judgment based on immunity and was upheld.
Leonard v. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, et al, 771 A.2d 487 (Pa. 1991) [client: Urban Engineers, Inc.]
Mr. Leonard, an ironworker, fell from high up in a bridge he was working on. This case went to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Our client, the CMC on the job (the Blue Route), was dismissed on summary judgment prior to trial. As counsel (after dismissal of Urban) LJB was called as a witness at trial to authenticate the photos he took of his shoes on the I-beam on the bridge in the area where the plaintiff fell.
