Christopher J. Boyle

Christopher J. Boyle joined McBreen & Kopko in 2004. He is a partner in the Philadelphia office of the firm and is engaged in a civil litigation trial practice with a focus on transportation liability, premises liability, construction accident, products liability, aviation liability actions and commercial litigation. Mr. Boyle, along with Thomas J. Bradley, manages the firm’s emergency response accident team and can mobilize experts and investigators in situations where the firm’s trucking clients are involved in major accidents requiring immediate response. During his career, Mr. Boyle has been asked to represent clients in a variety of jurisdictions throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States and has been an advocate for those clients in state and federal appellate courts.

Mr. Boyle graduated from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia in 1993 with a degree in food marketing and was employed for a number of years as a sales representative in the food and pharmaceutical industries. He received his law degree from Temple University School of Law in 2001. Before joining McBreen & Kopko, Mr. Boyle worked as a trial lawyer in a litigation practice group at an AM LAW 100 firm headquartered in Philadelphia, where he tried cases for major insurance carriers, individuals and businesses in a wide variety of matters.

In the field of medical malpractice, Mr. Boyle has defended hospitals, surgical centers and outpatient physical therapy practices in a wide variety of cases including, allegations of nursing malpractice, podiatric malpractice, orthopedic malpractice and pressure ulcer cases.

Mr. Boyle is licensed to practice in the state and federal courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He has also been admitted, on a case-by-case basis, to handle cases for clients in a variety of other state and federal jurisdictions.

Representative Matters:

• Achieved positive results following numerous jury trials, bench trials and arbitrations on behalf of Philadelphia area retail grocery supermarket operators in premises liability, battery and false imprisonment matters; including the successful defense on appeal of favorable trial results.
• Convinced a Philadelphia jury to award minimal damages in a damages-only premises liability case that came to the firm after the client, a gas station owner, suffered a default judgment on liability because it did not forward the Complaint in a timely manner to be assigned to counsel. Plaintiff sustained a severe ankle fracture requiring ORIF surgical repair and claimed permanent physical limitation, pain and discomfort. The lowest demand was $800,000.00. After a three day trial on damages only, the jury awarded a minimal amount. Our investigation revealed that Plaintiff was embellishing the nature and extent of her injuries. Plaintiff and her family members who testified at trial were caught on cross-examination making one false statement after another. On appeal, we were successful at convincing the Superior Court to affirm the result and the Supreme Court to deny review.
• Attained a defense verdict in favor of an airline and its disabled passenger services contractor after a five day jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in a case where the plaintiff, a paraplegic, alleged that she sustained severe neck injuries when she was dropped while being disembarked from an airplane by two employees.
• Obtained summary judgment in favor of a Wisconsin based international food-grade bulk liquid distribution corporation under the New Jersey Product Liability Act in a negligent design products liability case. Plaintiff suffered a spinal cord injury leaving her totally disabled, in constant pain and permanently incontinent after she fell from the top of a liquid bulk tanker.
• Attained summary judgment dismissal in Philadelphia County case on behalf of related corporate entities in a construction accident case involving a fall from scaffolding. Plaintiff sustained a traumatic brain injury in addition to severe physical injuries and will require full-time nursing care for the remainder of his life and his demand was $35 million.
• Successfully defended a national over-the-road moving company, its agent and driver in a fatal trucking accident case where the decedent was a thirty-eight year old father who earned a substantial yearly income. This matter also involved the successful appeal of an Administrative year-long suspension of our driver’s operator’s license as well as the retention and supervision of criminal defense counsel to defend against traffic citations issued following the accident.
• Obtained a jury verdict in favor of Baltimore area retail business and its property insurer against an electrical contractor following a week-long jury trial in a case that arose out of a fire that destroyed the client’s retail store and property.
• Recovered a substantial payment owed to an international group of travel agencies headquartered in Germany in a breach of contract action in the United States District Court of the District of New Jersey arising out of the attempt by the defendant corporation to avoid its obligations under a Preferred Hotel Program Use Agreement between the parties.
• Obtained a favorable settlement on behalf of a hot air balloon manufacturer in a multi-plaintiff and multi-defendant case arising out of the emergency crash landing of a hot air balloon which resulted in a fuel fed fire that killed the pilot and burned several passengers. After developing evidence that the crash was not the result of any error by the balloon manufacturer, the client was able to pay "nuisance value" to end the litigation and avoid accruing extensive trial costs.