Attorney Profile
George Stipanovich
Education: Duquesne University, J.D., 1976
Admissions: 1976, Pennsylvania and U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania; 1993, U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
Practice Areas: Workers' Compensation
George Stipanovich is Of Counsel and a litigator with the Pittsburgh Office of Strassburger McKenna Gutnick & Gefsky.
After his admission to practice in 1976, Mr. Stipanovich worked as an associate for two law firms - practicing in various and diverse areas of law including plaintiff-oriented personal injury litigation/workers' compensation - and then for Strassburger McKenna.
With this firm, he has focused on workers' compensation law, defending employers in proceedings arising out of the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act, the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, and the Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act. Over this time, he has done the following:
- Provided "hands-on" legal representation in hundreds of cases and at all levels of litigation - administrative proceedings before Workers' Compensation Judges and Administrative Law Judges, and appeals before the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Appeal Board, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the Benefits Review Board and the Third Circuit; and
- Represented such large and diverse self-insured employers as Allegheny Energy, Consol Energy, Consolidation Coal Company, Consol PA Coal Company, RAG Emerald Resources LLP, RAG Cumberland Resources LLP, Harmar Coal Company, Mathies Coal Company, Joy Technologies, Inc. and Health Center Hospital Service Corporation.
His efforts in this high-stakes litigation have resulted in outcomes that not only saved clients millions of dollars in payouts but also established or, in other instances, defined or refined the law in litigating issues presented by the law but not, to that time, addressed or adequately and clearly addressed by the courts.
For example, he represented the employer in the published and oft-cited cases of David Molnar v. Consolidation Coal Company - which further refined the concept of abnormal working conditions in a claim for an alleged work-related mental disability - and of Dolan Henry v. Mathies Coal Company - an unusual "loss of use case" establishing limits to an employer's liability for a permanent injury to an employee's thumb. In addition, he has:
- Been used as a consultant by individuals, by major third-party administrators (Wells Fargo Disability Management and General Recovery, Inc.), by small to medium-sized businesses and by other attorneys – within, as well as outside of, his firm handling personal injury cases - to address various situations, issues and concerns arising in connection with, and requiring an in-depth knowledge of, the law;
- Spoken to groups, including, most recently, upper management at Allegheny Energy, concerning such issues and concerns.
Mr. Stipanovich is a member of the Allegheny County and Pennsylvania Bar Associations and their Workers' Compensation subsections and has been honored by a confidential, peer-established rating of his legal ability and of his ethical standards – "AV" - by Martindale-Hubbell, the pre-eminent and nationally known source for legal referrals and ratings within the United States.
Mr. Stipanovich, a life-long western Pennsylvania resident, lives with his wife, Judy, in a North Hills suburb of the city of Pittsburgh. As past-times, he enjoys golfing, traveling and reading, particularly books and articles of historical interest.
