Stephen Trzcinski
Of Counsel
Mail: trzcinski@bbs-law.com
Phone|Fax|Text: 215.665.3372
Office: Philadelphia, PA
Education
State University of New York at Binghamton, B.S.
Syracuse University College of Law, J.D.
Admissions
Bar Admissions
New Jersey
New York
Pennsylvania
West Virginia
Court Admissions
United States Supreme Court
United StatesCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
United States District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Pennsylvania
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
United States District Court for the Northern, Western and Southern Districts of New York
United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia
Hobbies/Interests
Spending quality time with his wife and two daughters
Watching college basketball
Stephen Trzcinski is Of Counsel in the firm’s Philadelphia office. He is a member of the Special Investigations & Fraud Unit and the Appellate Advocate Practice Group. With over 25 years of appellate and post-trial experience, Stephen is regularly called upon to handle and oversee complex, high-stakes cases.
Stephen began his legal career in New York, where he represented businesses and professionals in all phases of litigation from 1995 to 2001. After doing a mix of trial and appellate work, he joined a large civil defense firm in Philadelphia to focus on appeals. As a member of that firm’s Appellate Practice Group from 2001 to 2006, Stephen prepared and argued appeals on a wide range of topics, including commercial litigation and professional liability defense.
After establishing his defense credentials, Stephen joined a national plaintiffs’ firm specializing in cases involving long-term care litigation, catastrophic injuries, and corporate fraud. During his 12-year tenure, Stephen managed hundreds of appeals and won many cases, including a trio of precedential decisions known as Scampone I, II and III—a seminal nursing home neglect and abuse case. See Scampone v. Grane Healthcare Co., 11 A.3d 967 (Pa. Super. 2010) (“Scampone I”); Scampone v. Highland Park Care Ctr., LLC, 57 A.3d 582 (Pa. 2012) (“Scampone II”); and Scampone v. Grane Healthcare Co., 169 A.3d 600 (Pa. Super. 2017) (“Scampone III”).
During its proceedings, Scampone garnered national media attention. See, e.g., Emily Sachar, “The Law,” AARP Bulletin (Mar. 2013) (discussing Scampone and its potential nationwide impact); Robert L. Sachs, Jr., “From the Operating Room to the Boardroom,” Trial (Oct. 2013) (same). As one defense commentator explained, Scampone “opened the door to punitive damages, admissibility of Department of Health surveys and exposure for parent companies that ‘manage’ nursing homes.” Joan Orsini Ford, “Long-Term Health Care Dealt Another Blow,” Defense Digest, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Dec. 2017). After 15 years of hard-fought litigation, that case finally settled shortly after the trial court held a sanctions hearing against the defendant nursing home, as required by Scampone III. See Matthew Santoni, “Sanctions Sought Over Disclosure In Pa. Nursing Home Row,” Law360 (Aug. 20, 2019).
Since joining Bennett, Bricklin & Saltzburg LLC in January 2020, Stephen has secured many important victories for his clients and the defense bar, including Dailey v. Smith, __ A.3d __, 2024 Pa. Super. LEXIS 442 (Pa. Super. Oct. 10, 2024) (reversal of $300,000 jury verdict); Bell v. O’Neill, 2023 Pa. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 2861 (Pa. Super. Nov. 16, 2023) (reversal of $1 million jury verdict); Grady v. Nelson, 286 A.3d 259, 265 (Pa. Super. 2022) (“Grady I”) (reversal of $1 million default judgment); Grady v. Nelson, 2023 Pa. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 2882 (Pa. Super. Nov. 20, 2023) (“Grady II”) (cautioning plaintiff’s counsel and inviting motion for sanctions and/or attorneys’ fees); Grady v. Nelson, 2023 Pa. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 3256 (Pa. Super. Dec. 28, 2023) (“Grady III”) (same); and Grady v. Nelson, 2023 Pa. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 3257 (Pa. Super. Dec. 28, 2023) (“Grady IV”) (requiring the trial court to strike plaintiff’s pre-trial filings).
Having handled many high-profile appeals, Stephen’s cases are often reported on by local and national media, including Law360, The Legal Intelligencer, and Pennsylvania Law Weekly. Recent articles include: “New Trial Ordered In $1M ‘Eggshell Skull’ Crash Suit,” Law360 (Nov. 16, 2023); “Pa. Appeals Court Nixes $1M Rear-End Collision Verdict Over Improperly Excluded Experts,” The Legal Intelligencer (Nov. 17, 2023); “Pa. Superior Court Scolds Counsel for ‘Steamrolling Rules,’ Simultaneously Pursuing Case in Common Pleas and Appellate Systems,” The Legal Intelligencer (Nov. 20, 2023); “Atty Scolded For ‘Scorched Earth’ Tactics In Shooting Row,” Law306 (Nov. 20, 2023); and “‘Even More Troubling’: Citing Criticism From Superior Court, Landlord Facing Negligence Suit Files Abuse-of-Process Claim Against Plaintiff,” The Legal Intelligencer (Feb. 2, 2024).
Stephen’s work product was also featured in SCOTUSblog, a top news source for Supreme Court coverage. See, Kate Howard, Petition of the day, SCOTUSblog (Feb. 24, 2017, 11:23 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2017/02/petition-of-the-day-1100/. In his Petition to the United States Supreme Court, Stephen argued the Federal Arbitration Act does not require courts to discriminate in favor of arbitration agreements—a position ultimately accepted by the Court in Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., 596 U.S. 411 (2022).
Stephen received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1991, and his Juris Doctor from the Syracuse University College of Law in 1994. While in law school, he served as Associate Editor of the Syracuse Law Review and was honored with the Robert M. Anderson Publication Award for authoring “The Economics of Redlining: A Classical Liberal Approach,” 44 Syracuse L. Rev. 1197 (1993). Stephen’s law review article has been favorably cited by numerous sources, including the NAACP. See, e.g., Brief of Amicus Curiae NAACP, in support of Respondents, Bank of Am. Corp. v. City of Miami, 137 S. Ct. 1296 (2017).
In his free time, Stephen enjoys watching college hoops, rooting for his alma mater, the Syracuse Orange, and spending time with his family.
