MAKING THE CASE with Munley Law

In 1973, Lackawanna County, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, was the epitome of family-friendly.  People would leave their doors unlocked, and kids were allowed to play outside. That changed suddenly and drastically one November afternoon when two teenage boys, Edmund Keen and Paul Freach, never came home from school. The brutal murders of these two boys altered the way people in Scranton, PA and beyond thought of this region, and the safety they had come to take for granted.    In this episode, Bernie is joined by the authors of the book, “The Freach and Keen Murders: The True Story of the Crime That Shocked and Changed a Community Forever”, Paul Mazzoni and Kathlene Munley. Paul Mazzoni was the District Attorney at the time of the murders and the lead prosecutor in the murder case, Commonwealth vs. William J. Wright. Kathlene Munley is a local historian and history professor.   To learn more about Munley Law and Commonwealth v. William J. Wright, please visit www.munley.com

One of the most meaningful cases that we have had at Munley Law  involved a tragic single car accident that took place on March 6th 1981.  Eight teenagers were killed when the car they were riding in swerved into a guardrail and sailed 190ft in the air before landing on its roof in a 30ft embankment. The victims all attended Mid Valley High School and have become known as the Mid Valley 8. This accident forever changed the lives of the families of the victims, the students at Mid Valley High School, the people in the region and the lawyers and staff at Munley Law (which was then known as Robert W. Munley P.C.) As a result of the accident, seven families filed a lawsuit known as Mecca v. Lukasik. The case went to trial and a jury awarded a total verdict of $17.5M – at that time one of the largest verdicts ever for a single vehicle accident. This case made important changes to the law in the areas of Bad Faith litigation, helped to change the law that determines pain and suffering in anticipation of death and the future earning potential of minors. In Part 2 Bernie is joined by Larry Holeva who is a 1983 Mid Valley High School graduate and is currently the Executive Editor of Times Tribune. She is also joined by Gilda Runco, author of “Legacy of the PURPOSE Stone”,Gil’s sister Lisa was tragically one of the Mid Valley 8. To learn about the Munley Law Mid Valley 8 scholorship, please visit www.munley.com

One of the most meaningful cases that we have had at Munley Law  involved a tragic single car accident that took place on March 6th 1981.  Eight teenagers were killed when the car they were riding in swerved into a guardrail and sailed 190ft in the air before landing on its roof in a 30ft embankment. The victims all attended Mid Valley High School and have become known as the Mid Valley 8. This accident forever changed the lives of the families of the victims, the students at Mid Valley High School, the people in the region and the lawyers and staff at Munley Law (which was then known as Robert W. Munley P.C.)  As a result of the accident, seven families filed a lawsuit known as Mecca v. Lukasik.  The case went to trial and a jury awarded a total verdict of $17.5M – at that time one of the largest verdicts ever for a single vehicle accident. This case made important changes to the law in the areas of Bad Faith litigation, helped to change the law that determines pain and suffering in anticipation of death and the future earning potential of minors.   In Part 1 of this two part episode, Bernie talks to Robert Munley, who was the trial attorney for this case in 1985. To learn more about Munley Law and Mecca v. Lukasik, please visit www.munley.com

Corporate Social Responsibility is something Munley Law takes seriously and is very passionate about.  Joining Bernie in this episode is Charisse Lillie, CEO of Charisse R. Lillie (CRL) Consulting, who has made it her mission to educate companies on the importance of corporate social responsibility. To learn more about Charisse, please visit CharisseLillie.com And to find out more about Munley Law, please visit www.munley.com

In this episode, Bernie is joined by Susan Vivian Mangold Executive Director of the Juvenile Law Center to talk about the juvenile justice system. Founded in 1975, the Juvenile Law Center was the first non-profit, public interest law firm for children in the country.Today, the Juvenile Law Center advocates rights, dignity, equity and opportunity for youth in the child welfare and justice systems. To find out more about the amazing work that Susan and the Juvenile Law Center are doing right, please visit www.jlc.org And to find out more about Munley Law please visit www.munley.com

Making The Case with Munley Law hosted by Bernie Munley takes you behind the scenes of some of the biggest cases handled at Munley Law and how they relate to important issues facing Americans today. You'll also meet influential Pennsylvanians, people working in and outside of law who have advocated on behalf of their fellow Pennsylvanians in ways that have had national impact.