TERRIANNE BENEDETTO
TerriAnne Benedetto is a highly accomplished class action and complex litigation attorney. She has 30 years of experience representing clients in jury and non-jury trials and on appeals in state and federal courts.
Ms. Benedetto has been involved in numerous prominent cases wherein she represented those who alleged corporate negligence or outright deliberate wrongdoing, including fraud. Many of these have resulted in multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements.
Of particular note, Ms. Benedetto participated on the negotiating team on behalf of retired professional football players who developed serious cognitive impairment and other life-altering conditions, like ALS and Parkinson’s Disease, or became at risk for contracting such conditions, as a result of years of concussive and sub-concussive blows to the head in In re National Football League Players’ Concussion Injury Litig., MDL No. 2323 (E.D. Pa.). She took the lead role on drafting briefs in federal district and circuit courts on a variety of issues related to court approval and affirmance of the uncapped class action settlement, valued at over $1 billion. She also spearheaded the efforts to protect class members from deceptive practices by certain lenders and others.
In U.S. ex rel. Miller v. CareCore National LLC et al, 1:13-cv-01177-RJS (S.D.N.Y.), Ms. Benedetto represented a qui tam relator, a licensed practical nurse in Colorado, in a whistleblower action against his former employer, alleging that this provider of utilization review services directed its nursing staff to “rubber-stamp” pre-authorization requests for diagnostic testing, rather than performing the contracted-for analyses, thus defrauding federal and state governments of tens of millions of Medicare and Medicaid dollars. A $54 million settlement was jointly announced by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and several states’ Attorneys’ General Medicaid Fraud Units, out of which $10.5 million plus interest (20% of the governments’ combined federal and state recoveries) were awarded to the relator.
Representing numerous plaintiffs involved in a multi-fatality bus accident in an action against an international bus company and a corporate trucking defendant, in Edwards v. Erie Coach Lines Co., 17 N.Y.3d 306 (2011), Ms. Benedetto handled all of the briefing and oral arguments in the appellate courts on an international choice of law issue. Ultimately, the favorable opinion she obtained from New York’s highest appellate court paved the way to the $36 million global settlement for all of the victims, including those whose claims would otherwise have been severely limited by a Canadian cap on non-economic damages.
Other matters in which Ms. Benedetto was involved, include the following:
In re Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Marketing, Sales Practices and Prods. Liab. Litig., MDL No. 2672 (N.D. Ca.) (Hon. Charles R. Breyer).
In re Polyurethane Foam Antitrust Litig., MDL No. 2196 (N.D. Oh.) (Hon. Jack Zouhary).
In re Lupron Marketing and Sales Practices Litig., MDL No. 1430 (D. Mass.) (Hon. Richard R. Stearns).
In re Pharma. Industry Average Wholesale Price Litig., MDL No. 1456 (D. Mass.) (Hon. Patti R. Saris).
In re Bridgeport Fire Litig. (Mont. Co., Pa.) (Hon. Joseph O’Neill)
Levine v. Ha Ra Corporation, 1997-cv-1639 (M.D. Pa.) (Hon. Thomas Vanaskie)
Areas of Practice
Antitrust
Appellate Advocacy
Class Actions
Consumer Protection
Defective Products
Personal Injury
Securities
Toxic Exposure
Whistleblower/Qui Tam Claims
Bar Admissions
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Supreme Court of New Jersey
New York Court of Appeals
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
U.S. District Courts of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, District of New Jersey, Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, and Western District of Wisconsin
Education
J.D., Villanova University School of Law, 1990
B.A. (Mathematics), Franklin & Marshall College, 1986
Honors
Villanova University, Villanova Law Review, Staff Member
Memberships & Associations
Philadelphia Bar Association
Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association
The Justinian Society of Philadelphia, Board Member 2016-2019
Publications
“Database Technology: A Valuable Tool for Defeating Class Action Certification,” Published in Mealey’s Litigation Report: Lead, Vol. 7, #14 (Apr. 24, 1998), and Pennsylvania Law Weekly, Vol. XX, No. 47, p.13 (Nov. 24, 1997).