Michael Trunk

Michael Trunk discusses PHA settlement on Fox TV

Michael A. Trunk joined Kline & Specter in 2006 after successfully representing both plaintiffs and defendants at one of the country’s largest firms. In just several years he has won a number of major cases on behalf of catastrophically injured clients.

Trunk was lead counsel in a case that resulted in a settlement of $11.9 million for a girl left brain damaged after she suffered an asthma attack caused by mold in a government-subsidized house. The Philadelphia Housing Authority, through its insurance carrier, paid the bulk of the settlement in the civil rights case for approving the home and then delaying the family’s move to a safe location. Trunk, who worked on the case for more than three years, reached the settlement on May 3, 2010, the day the trial was to begin in federal court. (See news coverage.)

In May 2011, he was co-counsel in a case that resulted in a $1.87 million verdict for the estate of a woman who died after an emergency room doctor failed to diagnose her symptoms as carbon monoxide poisoning. Days after her discharge she was found unconscious in her Cheltenham home, where two other people were found dead. (See story)

Also in May 2010, Trunk and Tom Kline won a $3.75 million settlement paid by a toy manufacturer and others for a 10-year-old girl who was blinded in one eye after being struck by a “Toypedo” swimming pool toy. The plaintiffs claimed that the toy, made of a hard plastic and able to travel up to 40 feet underwater, posed a danger to children.

In a case that drew national attention, Trunk, with Shanin Specter, in November 2009 won a $7.5 million settlement against La Salle University on behalf of a former football player who suffered profound brain injury after being allowed to play in a game before a prior concussion had fully resolved. (See The Plevretes Case)

Also in 2009, Trunk was co-counsel in a case that resulted in a $7.3 million settlement on behalf of a seriously injured worker at a construction site.  In that case, the worker was rendered a paraplegic after falling 20 feet from negligently constructed scaffolding.

In his most recent courtroom victory, Trunk in December 2011 was lead counsel in a case that resulted in an $805,000 verdict in Chester County for a West Goshen man who died in Chester County Hospital after being admitted with complaints of stomach pain only to be given an overdose of pain medication. The drug exacerbated his existing sleep apnea, eventually sending him into respiratory arrest. (See McGinley)

Trunk also focuses his legal practice on product liability and medical malpractice. His work in those areas includes representing children severely injured by dangerous toys as well as medical malpractice cases involving babies who were brain damaged during birth.

At the Dechert Law Firm, where he practiced for seven years prior to joining Kline & Specter, Trunk was lead counsel in a case in which he represented a man who suffered nerve damage after he was beaten by a bouncer at a city tavern. The jury returned a verdict of $688,500 for the plaintiff.  In another trial, he was lead plaintiff’s counsel in a civil rights case in which a prison inmate filed a lawsuit alleging he was beaten by a prison guard. Trunk argued the case ultimately before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  Trunk also was co-counsel in successfully mediating 175 cases in federal court in New Jersey on behalf of a manufacturer of ephedra, the herbal supplement and stimulant that was withdrawn from the market due to potential heart problems.

Trunk also had a stellar academic career.  He received his bachelor’s degree from Temple University, where he graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy.  He graduated from the Temple University School of Law in 1999, where he was a member of the Temple Law Review and attained the highest grade-point average in his graduating class.  Trunk also received a master’s of law in trial advocacy from the Temple University School of Law in 2008.

He has lectured on “Medical Monitoring Claims Under Pennsylvania Law” for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s forum Hot Topics in Products Liability.

Trunk is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and is admitted to practice before the federal district courts in both states as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

He is a member of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania bar associations, the American Association for Justice, the Pennsylvania Association for Justice, and the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association.

Email Michael Trunk

News

• Trunk, Zakeosian win Chester County medical malpractice verdict , Daily Local News 12/25/11
• Nightline interview on PHA settlement, 1/27/11
• Pennsylvania Jury Verdict: The McKinney Case, July 2010
• Eight-Figure Accord in Mold Contamination Suit, The Legal Intelligencer 5/5/10
• Others settle mold-related claims for $11.78 million, Mealey's Litigation Report 5/5/2010
• Trunk, Zakeosian and Smith win $11.7 million against PHA and property manager, Fox 29 5/3/10 (Watch Video)
• PHA to pay $9.8 million for brain damage, The Philadelphia Inquirer 5/3/10
• Lawsuit Over Mold in Public Housing Headed to Trial, The Legal Intelligencer 4/29/10