Mark Kenneth Altemose

Mark Altemose is a native of Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania.   

1990 – Pennsylvania

United States District Court for the Eastern District of PennsylvaniNew Jersey

1991-    New Jersey

Third Circuit Court of Appeals

            United States District Court for the District of New Jersey

2002-United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Mark Altemose graduated from Pen Argyl High School in 1983.  He is a 1987 graduate of Lafayette College, Easton, PA  where he graduated Cum Laude with Honors in Economics . He is a 1990 graduate of Villanova University School of Law. 

1990 – Korn, Kline and Kutner, Philadelphia, PA

 

*Associate

*Areas of practice included Plaintiffs’ and Defense personal injury and construction litigation

 

1991-1994            Brown, Brown, Solt & Ferretti, Allentown, PA

 

*Associate

*Areas of practice included Plaintiffs’ and Defense personal    injury and general civil litigation

 

 

1994-2006            Knafo Law Offices, Allentown, PA

 

*Associate (1994-2003); Junior Partner (2004-2006)

*Practice devoted to civil trial advocacy

*Lead trial counsel in serious injury and death cases including medical malpractice, products liability, auto negligence, Dram Shop, dog bites, pharmaceutical negligence, construction accidents

*Lead trial counsel in commercial litigation including construction contract and general commercial contract disputes, commercial landlord-tenant disputes

 

 

2006-Present            Cohen, Feeley, Altemose & Rambo, P.C., Bethlehem, PA

*Shareholder

*Practice devoted to civil trial advocacy

*Lead trial counsel in serious injury and death cases including medical malpractice, products liability, auto negligence, Dram Shop, premises accidents, pharmaceutical negligence, construction accidents, gas and chemical exposure and explosions and sexual abuse

*Lead trial counsel in commercial litigation including construction contract and general commercial contract disputes, commercial landlord-tenant disputes

 

BOARD CERTIFICATION

2004                     Board Certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Accredited Agency

2008                     Re-Certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Accredited Agency

2012                     Board Certified in Civil Pre-Trial Practice by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Accredited Agency

2014                     Re-Certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Accredited Agency

AWARDS AND HONORS

 

1994-2004            Co-Chairman, Law Day Committee of the Lehigh County Bar Association

1995-2000           Member of Hearing Committee 2.04 of the Disciplinary Board of the

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

1998-2008            Member, Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association

1998-Present       Elected to Who’s Who in American Law

1998                      Recipient of Service Award from Lehigh County Bar Association

1999-2000            Chairman, Hearing Committee 2.04 of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

1999-2002            Member, Leadership Counsel of the Young Lawyer’s Committee of the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyer’s Association

2000-2008            Member, Education Committee of the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association

2001-2005            Board of Directors of the Lehigh County Bar Association

2001-2005            Co-chairman, Programs Committee of the Board of Directors of the Lehigh County Bar Association

2001-Present       America’s Registry of Outstanding Professionals

2002-Present       Elected to Who’s Who in America

2003-Present       Elected to Million Dollar Advocates Forum

2005-Present       Elected as a Team Leader, Donald E. Wieand Baristers’ Inn

2005-2010            Civil Rules Committee, Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas

2005-2007            Pennsylvania Super Lawyers-Rising Stars

2007-2011            Elected Secretary/Treasurer of the Donald E. Wieand Barristers’ Inn

2008-Present       Elected by Peers as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer

2009-Present       Elected as a Top 100 Trial Lawyer in Pennsylvania by the American Trial Lawyers Association

2010-Present       Selected as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Pennsylvania by The American Trial Lawyers Association

2010                      Recognized by the National Law Journal and VerdictSearch as recovering the 20^th largest verdict in the United States in 2010

2011-Present       Appointed Chairman, Bench/Bar Laison Committee, Lehigh County Bar Association

2011-2013            Elected Counselor of the Donald E. Wieand Barristers’ Inn

2013-2015            Elected President of the Donald E. Wieand Barristers’ Inn

2013-Present       Member of the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Club of Bethlehem

2014                      Elected Lehigh Valley “Select Lawyer”

2014                      Elected by Peers as a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Lawyer

2015-                     Appointed Chairman, Medical/Legal Committee, Northampton County Bar Association

 

2015-                     Elected by Peers to National Association of Distinguished Counsel –Nation’s Top One Percent of Attorneys

 

 

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

1991-Present       Lehigh County Bar Association

1991-Present       Northampton County Bar Association

1991-Present       American Bar Association

1994-Present       Pennsylvania  Association for Justice

1994-Present       American Association for Justice

1997-Present       Donald E. Wieand Barristers’ Inn

Mark Altemose is a native of Pen Argyl where he attended Pen Argyl High School. He attended college at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he graduated Cum Laude with Honors in Economics. He attended Villanova University School of Law. He is a Partner with Cohen, Feeley, Altemose & Rambo, P.C., 2851 Baglyos Circle, Bethlehem, PA  18020; phone:  (610) 625-2100; email: maltemose@cohenfeeley.com.

During his legal career, Mark has limited his practice to personal injury and construction litigation. He has extensive expertise handling serious injury and death cases involving automobile, trucking and motorcycle negligence; medical malpractice; pharmaceutical malpractice; construction accidents; gas and chemical exposure and explosion accidents; product liability; dog bites; and slips and falls. He has acted as a lead counsel in many well known Lehigh Valley catastrophic injury and death cases including most recently the Charles Cullen serial murder cases, the DePUY ASR defective hip implant litigation, the Allentown natural gas explosion and the underground propane tank explosion in Bushkill Township. He has achieved many multi-million dollar results for his clients, several exceeding $10 million, including verdicts of $95 million, $4.36 million and $1.5 million.

Mark has been an invited lecturer to Bar Associations and other lawyers groups to discuss the trial strategy and tactics that have enabled him to win large verdicts and settlements for his clients. He also regularly teaches continuing legal education courses to fellow attorneys regarding personal injury litigation and is often selected by Plaintiff and Defense attorneys as an independent mediator and arbitrator in complex personal injury cases.

Mark is Board Certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Accredited Agency.   He has been recognized by his peers with a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Rating, the highest rating available for attorneys.  He has been elected by his peers Statewide as a Pennsylvania Superlawyer since 2008 and as of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Pennsylvania since 2009.  In 2014, his peers in the Lehigh Valley elected him as a “Select Lawyer”, recognizing him as a premier Lehigh Valley attorney in the areas of general civil litigation, medical malpractice law and personal injury and auto accidents. 

In 1998, he was elected to Who’s Who in American Law. Also in 1998, he was elected to the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice and served on the Board until 2007. In 1999 he was appointed to the Leadership Council of the New Lawyer Committee of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice; in 2000 he was appointed to Education Committee and in 2001 he was one of only 10 attorneys in the State asked to serve as a founding member and director of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice Auto Negligence Section. Also, in 2001 Mark was elected as a member of America’s Registry of Outstanding Professionals. He was elected to Who’s Who in America in 2002.

Mark served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Lehigh County Bar Association from 2001 to 2006 and spent many years as Co-chairman of the Lehigh County Bar Association Law Day Committee. He received the Association’s Service Award in 1998.

Mark is admitted to practice law in the Courts of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, State of New Jersey, the United States District Court for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mark is an active member of the American Bar Association, Lehigh County Bar Association, Northampton County Bar Association, American Association for Justice, Pennsylvania Association for Justice, and the Donald E. Wieand Barristers’ Inn, an organization dedicated to professionalism in law and comprised of a select group of attorneys and judges. He was elected Secretary/Treasurer of the Inn in 2007 and Counselor to the Inn in 2011. He was elected President of the Inn in 2013.

VERDICTS

 

Combined jury verdict of $95 million, including the following individual verdicts for eight individuals killed by serial killer nurse, Charles Cullen, at St. Luke’s Hospital:   $18 million, including $5 million in punitive damages and $13 million in compensatory damages for the Estate, husband and three daughters of a 41 year old woman;  $16 million, $11 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, for the Estate and wife of a 73 year old man;  $15 million, including $5 million in punitive damages and $10 million in compensatory damages, for the Estate of a 67 year old woman;  $10 million, including $5 million in punitive damages and $5 million in compensatory damages, for the Estate and wife of a 79 year old man;  $10 million, including $5 million in punitive damages and $5 million in compensatory damages, for the Estate and daughter of a 83 year old man; $9 million, including $5 million in punitive damages and $4 million in compensatory damages, for the Estate of a 90 year old man;  $8 million, including $5 million in punitive damages and $3 million in compensatory damages, for the Estate of an 83 year old man.

 

Jury Verdict of $4.36 million for a 47 year old man who suffered an above-the-knee amputation of his left leg as a result of a construction accident where 20 sheets of drywall fell upon him as a result of the negligent stacking of the drywall by a contractor.  Highest settlement offer was $350,000.

 

Jury Verdict of $1.5 million for a 36 year old man who suffered a post-traumatic concussion syndrome with vestibulopathy and loss of sense of smell as a result of being struck by concrete escaping from a burst defective concrete pump truck hose.  Pre-trial settlement offer was $300,000.

 

Underinsured Motorists Arbitration Verdict of $1.124 million for a 22 year old woman who suffered two lumbar herniated discs as a result of a car accident.  Pre-trial settlement offer was $275,000.

 

Underinsured Motorists Arbitration Verdict of $825,000 for a 23 year old woman who suffered labral tears and a lesion to the head of her femur as a result of a bus accident.  Pre-trial settlement offer was $400,000.

 

Arbitration Verdict of $697,000 for a 46 year old man who suffered lumbar disc injuries as a result of medical malpractice.  Pre-trial offer was $0.

 

Underinsured Motorists Arbitration Verdict of $500,000 for a 51 year old woman who suffered an aggravation of knee arthritis resulting in severe degeneration of the knee and the likely need for 1 and possibly 2 knee replacement surgeries.  Pre-trial settlement offer was $9,000.

 

Arbitration Verdict of $450,000 for a 53 year old woman who suffered an aggravation of pre-existing degenerative spinal and disc disease as a result of a car accident.

 

Jury Verdict of $300,000 for a 36 year old woman who suffered an aggravation of pre-existing degenerative disc disease, herniated disc and lumbar radiculopathy as a result of a motor vehicle accident.  Pre-trial offer of settlement was $0.

 

Jury Verdict of $300,000 for a 28 year old woman who suffered a punctured bladder during laporoscopic surgery as a result of medical malpractice.  Pre-trial settlement offer was $0.

 

Arbitration verdict resulting in a payment of $300,000 to a 20 year old woman and an 18 year old woman who suffered multiple fractures in an automobile accident.   Pre-trial settlement offer was $0.

 

Summary Jury Verdict of $285,000 for a 46 year old woman who suffered a non-displaced vertebrae fracture and a herniated disc as a result of a motor vehicle accident.  Pre-trial settlement offer was $20,000.

 

 

 

SETTLEMENTS

 

Combined settlement exceeding $16 million for 54 clients who were implanted with defective DePUY metal-on-metal hip implants and who need to have the implants removed and replaced because of the defect.

 

Settlement of $2 million for a 59 year old man who suffered third degree burns to his face and blindness in his left eye when a commercial drain cleaning product exploded out of a sewer line.

 

Settlement of $1.661 million for the Estate of a woman killed when a container being transported on a flat bed tractor trailer struck the bottom of an overpass, falling to the road and causing a crash with her vehicle.

 

Settlement of $1.4 million for a 67 year old woman who suffered a stroke and lost partial vision in both eyes as a result of pharmacy malpractice.

 

Settlement of $1.375 million for a 45 year old man who suffered a dislocated knee, tort patellar tendon and ankle fracture with ligament tears as a result of a fall off a defective step.

 

Settlement of $1.1 million for a 21 year old man who suffered facial fractures, loss of teeth and fractures of the arm and leg as a result of a motor vehicle accident.

 

Settlement of $950,000 for a 24 year old man who suffered the amputation of two toes as a result of the defective design of a rigging system for a fire truck water tank.

 

Settlement of $875,000 for 52 year old man who suffered a herniated lumbar disc as a result of a slip and fall on a wet floor.

 

Settlement of $850,000 for a 48 year old man who suffered bilateral carotid aneurysms as a result of a car accident.

 

Settlement of $855,575 for a 46 year old man who suffered complex fractures of the tibia and fibula as a result of a motorcycle accident.

 

Settlement of $800,000 for a 33 year old man who suffered a broken leg in a construction accident where steel beams being unloaded from a truck slid from their rigging and struck his leg.

 

Settlement of $775,000 for a 52 year old man who suffered an aggravation of pre-existing spondylolisthesis and a herniated disc when a tractor trailer hit his truck during road construction.

 

Settlement of $750,000 for a 67 year old woman who was struck by a vehicle as a pedestrian and suffered numerous serious injuries.

 

Settlement of $750,000 for a 44 year old man who suffered nerve and ligament injuries to his left elbow and wrist as a result of a defective access/egress system on a fire truck.

 

Settlement of $750,000 for a 45 year old man who suffered a herniated disc and aggravation of pre-existing neck and lower back conditions as a result of stepping into an open manhole.

 

Settlement of $700,000 for a 41 year old man who suffered a herniated disc as a result of medical malpractice.

 

Settlement of $600,000 for a 24 year old man who suffered amputations of most of the middle three fingers on his left non-dominant hand as a result of a defective plate bending roll machine.

 

Settlement of $600,000 for a 42 year old woman who suffered a hemorrhagic contusion and shear injury of the brain as a result of a car accident.

 

Settlement of $500,000 for 44 year old man who suffered severe complications from an infection that was not diagnosed as a result of medical malpractice

 

Settlement of $472,500 for a 46 year old woman who suffered complex left femur fractures as a result of a motor vehicle accident.

 

Settlement of $450,000 for a 51 year old woman who suffered a herniated disc in her neck and a torn rotator cuff as a result of being pulled into a defective machine.

 

Settlement of $450,000 to the wife and child of a 47 year old man who was killed in a car accident after being served while visibly intoxicated at a bar.

 

Settlement of $425,000 for a 23 year old man who suffered fractures to his face, arm and leg as a result of a motor vehicle accident.

 

Settlement of $385,000 for a 43 year old woman who suffered a herniated disc in her neck as a result of a car accident.

 

Settlement of $350,000 for a 47 year old man who suffered a herniated disc in his neck and an aggravation of degenerative disease of the neck as a result of a car accident.

 

Settlement of $350,000 for a 44 year old man who suffered degloving injuries to his right hand as a result of his hand becoming entrapped in the rollers of a defective printing press.

 

Settlement of $350,000 for a 13 year old boy who suffered a subdural hygroma when he struck his head on the springs of a trampoline

PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS

 

March 10, 1999      CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Lehigh County Bar Association:  “’I’ve

Fallen and I Can’t Get Up’:  The Status of the Assumption of the Risk

Defense in Pennsylvania”

 

June 15, 2000        CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Lehigh County Bar Association:  “Hot

Topics in Auto Negligence Law”

 

December 6, 2000  CLE Seminar, 4 CLE Credits, Radisson Hotel, Bethlehem, PA,

Pennsylvania Trial Lawyer’s Association:  “Auto Law Strategies to

Win:  Bringing Subrogation Defenses into Focus”

 

February 9, 2001    Organizer and Participant in Mock Trial “Have a Heart” at Sacred

Heart School, Bethlehem, PA on behalf of the American Heart

Association, Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers’ Association and the

Pennsylvania State Police

 

June 6, 2001            CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Lehigh County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Auto Negligence Law”

 

December 13, 2001 CLE Seminar, 4 CLE Credits, Holiday Inn, Bethlehem, PA,

Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association:  “Auto Law Practice Tips:

How to Recognize the Bad Case and How to Increase the Bottom

Line”

 

July 10, 2002            Seminar, Bucks County Bar Association Litigation Section, “Analysis of the Swahl v. Biehl case:  How I obtained a $300,000 verdict for a case involving injuries consisting of an aggravation of degenerative disc disease where client had history of 8 motor vehicle accidents”

 

August 14, 2002       CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Lehigh County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Auto Negligence Law: Third Annual

Update”

 

December 18, 2002  CLE Seminar, 4 CLE Credits, Holiday Inn, Bethlehem, PA, Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association:  “Auto Law Practice Tips:    Subrogation in Auto Cases”

 

August 13, 2003       CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Lehigh County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Auto Negligence Law:  Fourth

Annual Update”

 

 

December 9, 2003    CLE Seminar, 4 CLE Credits, Holiday Inn, Bethlehem, PA,

Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association:  “New Twists in Preparing,

Settling and Trying the Auto Case”

 

July 10, 2004            CLE Seminar 2 CLE Credits, Hershey Hotel, Hershey, PA,

Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association:  “Hot Issues in UM and UIM

• Start to Finish: The Trial of the UM/UIM Case”

 

August 18, 2004       CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Lehigh County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Auto Negligence Law: Fifth Annual

Update”

 

December 14, 2004 CLE Seminar, 4 CLE Credits, Holiday Inn, Bethlehem, PA,

Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association:  “Auto Law Strategies:

Subrogation in Auto Cases”

 

December 8, 2005   CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Lehigh County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Auto Negligence Law: Sixth Annual

Update”

 

December 13, 2005 CLE Seminar, 4 CLE Credits, Holiday Inn, Bethlehem, PA,

Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association:  “Auto Law Practice Tips”

 

August 9, 2006         CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Lehigh County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Auto Negligence law: Seventh

Annual Update”

 

December 7, 2006   CLE Seminar, 4 CLE Credits, Best Western Hotel, Bethlehem, PA,

Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association:  “Auto Law Strategies”

 

December 20, 2006 CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Northampton County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Auto Negligence Law:  First Annual

Update”

 

April 12, 2007           CLE Seminar, 4 CLE Credits, Monroe County Bar Association,

Stroudsburg, PA, Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association:  “Premises

Liability”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 16, 2007       CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Northampton County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Auto Negligence Law:  Second

Annual  Update”

 

August 28, 2007       CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Lehigh County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Auto Negligence Law:  Ninth

Annual  Update”

 

August 18, 2008       CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Northampton County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Auto Negligence Law:  Third

Annual  Update”

 

August 19, 2008       CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Lehigh County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Auto Negligence Law:  Tenth

Annual  Update”

 

May 7, 2009              CME Seminar, Grand Rounds, Emergency Room Residents

at St. Luke’s Hospital:  “Medical Malpractice:  The Perspective of the

Plaintiff’s Bench”

 

August 14, 2009       CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Northampton County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Auto Negligence Law:  Yearly

Update”

 

August 28, 2009       CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Lehigh County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Auto Negligence Law:  Yearly

Update”

 

August 29, 2009      CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Monroe County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Auto Negligence Law:  Yearly

Update”

 

December 22, 2010 CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Lehigh County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Auto Negligence Law:  Yearly

Update”

 

May 11, 2011            CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Bucks County Bar Association:

“Navigating Through the Medicare Lien Maze:  A Lawyer’s

Practical Guide to Understanding, Processing, Calculating

And Limiting Medicare Liens for Past and Future Medical

Expenses”

 

 

November 3, 2011   CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Northampton County Bar Association:

“Navigating Through the Medicare Lien Maze: A Lawyer’s

Practical Guide to Understanding, Processing, Calculating

And Limiting Medicare Liens for Past and Future Medical

Expenses”

 

January 9, 2013       CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Bucks County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Personal Injury Law”

 

April 9, 2013              CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Bucks County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Personal Injury Law”

 

April 12, 2013           CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Bucks County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Personal Injury Law”

 

April 14, 2014          CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Northampton County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Personal Injury Law:  Second

Annual Update”

 

April 22, 2014           CLE Seminar, 1 CLE Credit, Lehigh County Bar Association:

“Important New Developments in Personal Injury Law:  Second

Annual Update”