Gardner, David P.

Ronald M. Puntil Jr. joined Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin as a shareholder in 2005 after practicing with his own firm for 19 years. He focuses his practice on the defense of physicians, nursing homes and other healthcare providers, as well as representing employers and insurance carriers in workers' compensation claims.

Ron has represented a large number of physicians and long term care facilities. He has also defended employers in several hundred workers' compensation cases. He has taken approximately 70 trials to verdict, obtaining at least 64 defense verdicts, while five of his cases ended in a verdict or settlement significantly below the settlement demands. He has also tried several products liability cases to verdict, as well as several premises liability cases to verdict.
 
In workers' compensation matters, Ron has represented the manufacturer of rail cars in hundreds of cases.

He successfully obtained summary judgment on behalf of a methadone clinic in two cases involving death and significant injuries sustained by a patient of the clinic who struck another vehicle after receiving treatment at the methadone clinic. This is believed to be a case of first impression in Pennsylvania.

Ron attended Villanova University and graduated cum laude with a degree in Economics. He received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1984 and has been in the active practice of defense litigation since that time.

Ron has been named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for 2006, 2009 and 2010 in the area of Medical Malpractice Personal Injury Defense.

He is involved in coaching Little League baseball and youth basketball, while also devoting time to Troop 36 of the Boy Scouts.

Significant Representative Matters

• Defended a neurologist in Allegheny County in a case in which the plaintiff, a registered nurse,  sustained an anoxic brain injury after experiencing a seizure in the hospital. All other co-defendants entered into a joint tortfeasor settlement prior to trial. We argued that the brain injury was due to the seizure as opposed to failure to properly treat the patient. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the neurologist after a six-day trial.
  
  
• Represented an Emergency Room physician in a case in Washington County in which a 45-year-old woman died as a result of an aortic dissection. We argued that the patient had symptoms that were not consistent with that diagnosis, which is rare in younger women. The jury returned a defense verdict after a nine-day trial.