Dominic Guerrini

Dominic Guerrini studied trial advocacy under Shanin Specter at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, earning an A+ in the course. After graduating with honors and working as an associate at Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, Specter hired his former student in 2003. Guerrini is now a partner at Kline & Specter and adjunct professor at Penn Law teaching medical malpractice. Guerrini has litigated numerous successful cases including multiple eight-figure verdicts. In September 2024, he won a $7.1 million verdict for a woman who became legally blind after a radiologist misread her CT scan. In July 2019, he achieved a nearly $10.6 million settlement for a truck driver whose legs were crushed by a steel pipe at a Duquesne, Pennsylvania facility. As lead counsel, he won a $47 million jury verdict for a child suffering disfiguring injuries after a doctor wrapped her head with elastic bandages post-premature birth—believed to be the largest medical malpractice verdict in federal court in Pennsylvania history. In 2017, Guerrini was lead counsel in a trial concluding with an $11 million verdict against the Devereux Foundation for a man shot and catastrophically injured by an escaped resident. Earlier that year, he worked with Tom Kline to negotiate a $4.4 million settlement for a pizza deliveryman shot by plainclothes Philadelphia police officers who mistakenly believed he was a criminal suspect. The case also resulted in the police department revamping its regulations and training protocols for plainclothes officers. In another Johnstown trial, Guerrini was lead counsel resulting in a nearly $14.5 million jury award for a child with severe cerebral palsy due to medical malpractice during delivery—a record for federal court in western Pennsylvania at that time. In 2015, he was co-counsel in a trial ending with verdicts totaling $46.5 million against a security company for families of two women killed at a Kraft Foods plant by a disgruntled employee; Philadelphia juries awarded $8 million in compensatory damages and $38.5 million in punitive damages. Also in 2015, Guerrini worked on the "House of Horrors" case resulting in a $3.5 million settlement with the City of Philadelphia and other defendants responsible for a decade of torture endured by Beatrice Weston. Previously, he was co-counsel achieving an $11.6 million settlement for a former University of Pennsylvania student rendered paraplegic after falling 20 feet through a raised skylight at an off-campus residence. Guerrini worked with Shanin Specter in a trial resulting in a $109 million verdict for the family of a woman struck and killed by a fallen power line—the largest personal injury award in Pennsylvania history (decided December 2012 by an Allegheny County jury). The case settled for $105 million. His efforts have contributed to safety improvements beyond monetary recovery. After a fourth-floor fire escape landing collapsed in Philadelphia killing one person and injuring two others, Guerrini testified before a City Council committee on the need for regular independent inspections. In June 2016, the city enacted an ordinance mandating structural engineer inspections of all fire escapes for the first time. Guerrini was lead counsel in a trial resulting in a $15 million verdict for the family of a West Chester teenager who died falling into a mine shaft during a Mexico trip (June 2011). In early 2014, he filed suit in a highly publicized case with Shanin Specter against owners and landlords of a Center City apartment building where a fire escape landing collapsed. He later testified before a City Council committee advocating for mandatory regular fire escape inspections. In 2009, Guerrini was co-counsel with Shanin Specter in the case of Joseph Blumer, a 43-year-old tow truck driver killed when his Ford truck's parking brake spontaneously disengaged; an Allegheny County jury awarded his family $8.75 million. Earlier in 2009, he won a $3 million settlement for an iron worker who fell from a steel beam at a Philadelphia construction site when his lifeline retractable device malfunctioned. Months earlier, Guerrini was co-counsel with Tom Kline in a Philadelphia trial resulting in a $5.5 million jury verdict for the family of an 18-year-old man fatally shot while working as a parking lot attendant at Hahnemann University Hospital. In 2007, Guerrini was co-counsel in a highly publicized civil rights case of a man beaten to death while in a Camden County prison (The Seidel Case), which settled for $4 million, one of the largest-ever settlements in such cases. Earlier, he was co-counsel achieving an $8.3 million federal jury award for a woman sexually abused by two Philadelphia police officers. In May 2006, Guerrini was co-counsel in a case resulting in a $5 million judgment for a Philadelphia police officer severely injured when a drunken driver struck his police car. Before joining Kline & Specter in 2003, Guerrini worked as an associate at Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, where his practice involved broad civil litigation. He is a member of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey bar associations and the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association.