Phinney, Nicholas L.

Ronald J. Fonner is a partner at the firm and concentrates his practice in the areas of workers' compensation, exclusively representing injured workers, and corporate business law.

Mr. Fonner is a member of the Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania and American Bar Associations and the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. Fonner is a member of the Workers' Compensation Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. He serves as province president for Phi Delta Phi in Western and Central Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Phi Delta Phi is an international legal fraternity that promotes professional ethics in the field of law. Mr. Fonner is a member of the American Inns of Court.

Mr. Fonner is admitted to practice law in front of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, as well as the Federal District Courts for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the Eastern District of Michigan.

Within one year of admission to the Pennsylvania Bar, Mr. Fonner prepared the brief, argued and won the Pennsylvania Supreme Court case of Lumax Industries v. Aultman. The case involved corporate issues and "piercing the corporate veil". The plaintiff had entered into a business agreement with a corporation of which Mr. Fonner's client was the sole shareholder. Although the agreement was with the corporation, the plaintiff attempted to hold our client personally liable for debts of the corporation. The lower courts held that the plaintiff could hold our client liable for the debts of corporation. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed the decision, holding that our client was entitled to immunity from liability since the agreement was with the corporation, and the client was merely a shareholder of the corporation. Mr. Fonner convinced the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to reverse the lower courts' decisions involving shareholder liability of a corporation's debts.

Mr. Fonner received his B.A., in economics, magna cum laude, from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1989 and his J.D. from Duquesne University in 1994, where he was a contributor to the Duquesne Law Review. Born in Greensburg, Mr. Fonner currently resides in Penn Township.