Firm News

RMI is pleased to announce that Jason Pickell has joined the firm. Attorney Pickell, licensed in both Ohio and Indiana, is the sixth attorney to join the firm’s dedicated subrogation practice.

 “Jason is a natural fit for RMI, with a background in subrogation and experience working at an insurer. It is an added benefit given his licensing in two states,” noted RMI managing partner Glenna Roberts.

“He has excellent communication skills, and our firm has been impressed with the rapport he establishes with our client’s insureds in obtaining initial information on a loss, and explaining the subrogation process,” noted Roberts.

 Jason hit the ground running at RMI working property files in both Indiana and Ohio. He has attended multiple scene exams with RMI attorneys since joining the firm. He also has past experience working automobile subrogation assignments at an Indiana law firm. At RMI, Jason will be working both property and automobile assignments.

UPCOMING WEBINAR:

     RMI Partner David Matejczyk and Jerry Tindal, M.S.M.E., P.E., C.F.E.I. of SAFE Laboratories and Engineering, in conjunction with the National Association of Subrogation Professionals (NASP) and the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI) will be presenting a joint webinar on propane explosions on June 14, 2022 at 2:00 pm. 

     Investigating and subrogating propane explosions differs in many respects from other gas explosions. Subrogation fact patterns on propane supplied by a piping system, to losses involving portable cylinders will be explored.

Ohio’s “sudden-medical emergency” doctrine has long been utilized by defense insurers and counsel to defeat subrogation cases. The defense is often used by insurers who claim a sudden medical or other emergency resulted in a driver losing control of a vehicle and colliding with a building.

In three recent cases, RMI has successfully challenged the defense resulting in $350,000.00 in aggregate subrogated recoveries by way of a verdict and two settlements.

All three cases involved property losses to buildings sharing a common denominator of a complete denial of liability by the vehicle insurer based on the sudden emergency doctrine. Two of the cases involved alleged medical emergencies.

Tim Ita tried a case to verdict in Hamilton County with a 100% liability finding in his client’s favor, an insurer of a retail store. The defendant driver claimed a sudden emergency resulted in his swerving onto the sidewalk and crashing into the storefront. Tim Ita also litigated and settled a claim for $146,000 involving a residential loss where the defense was that the commercial operator of a heavy equipment truck had lost consciousness from choking and collided with the insured’s home.

David Matejczyk recently litigated and resolved a “sudden-medical emergency” case in the sum of $180,000 for a subrogated insurer. The defense insurer maintained its driver collided with a commercial building because she allegedly lost consciousness. In that case, RMI immediately visited the loss site and matched witness statements as to specific locations along the route of travel. It was successfully argued that there was nothing “sudden” about the driver’s loss of consciousness, and that she continued driving despite warning signs of her condition.

Dustin Smith has joined Roberts, Matejczyk & Ita Co. as an associate attorney.

“Dustin brings an engineering background that makes him a natural fit to the property section of our subrogation practice,” noted partner Glenna Roberts.

He will primarily work on subrogation assignments from insurers involving commercial and residential fires, cases involving electrical and mechanical failures, water losses, construction defects, structure failures and product liability claims.

Dustin is a 2014 graduate of Cleveland Marshall College of Law and a 2010 graduate of the engineering program at the Ohio State University. At Ohio State he obtained his bachelor degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. He was a member of the university’s freshman Engineering Honors Program.

His engineering studies included extensive course work in electrical circuits, structural stress analysis, fluid dynamics and thermodynamics. While in college, Dustin also worked for a construction company in Columbus, Ohio.