Noteworthy Cases
Peirce and his firm are currently pursuing a civil rights class action against the Allegheny County Jail alleging that the jail's practice of conducting blanket strip searches of misdemeanor detainees before they go to trial is unconstitutional. Although the case is ongoing, Peirce's firm has obtained class certification and a preliminary injunction, which prohibits the jail from continuing this practice until the case is resolved.
Peirce's firm recently established new law in a case in Western Pennsylvania out of the Federal District Court. The court held that the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare did not have the right to assert a lien against the personal injury recoveries of Medicaid beneficiaries to recovery for benefits provided to those individuals. The impact of this case is far reaching, as this practice has generated millions of dollars annually for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. If the trial court's opinion is upheld on appeal, it may prohibit other states from engaging in similar practices.
In 2007, Peirce’s firm filed a joint lawsuit against online fan club MileyWorld, on behalf of fan club members who claimed they were misled by the website’s promise to provide preferred access to concert tickets. By paying the membership fee, fans were told they would have priority access to the much sought-after tickets through a special presale. When shows sold out instantaneously and left many members empty-handed, disgruntled fans joined forces to file an official complaint. “They deceptively lured thousands of individuals into purchasing memberships into the Miley Cyrus Fan Club,” Peirce explained in an article in USA Today.” The case was settled for a confidential amount.
Also in 2007, Robert Peirce & Associates won a class action lawsuit against CUNA medical group on behalf of 3,000 people who were denied credit disability insurance. When Peirce's firm demonstrated that CUNA policies contained an ambiguous definition of disability, all of the people previously denied coverage were given the right to credit disability payments for as long as they remained disabled.
In 2003, when a hepatitis A outbreak at a Chi-Chi’s restaurant chain sickened more than 600 people, Peirce filed two suits on behalf of clients who had fallen ill from the contamination. He sought compensation for his clients to cover doctor’s bills and lost time at work. The case was resolved for an undisclosed amount.
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“The world men inhabit ... is rather bleak. It is a world full of doubt and confusion, where vulnerability must be hidden, not shared; where competition, not co-operation, is the order of the day; where men sacrifice the possibility of knowing their own children and sharing in their upbringing, for the sake of a job they may have chosen by chance, which may not suit them and which in many cases dominates their lives to the exclusion of much else.”
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