Geoffrey F. Sasso

How Geoff Helps Clients

Geoff has extensive experience providing counsel on sensitive, high-profile, and high-exposure commercial litigation matters for clients in the healthcare, construction, manufacturing, higher education, non-profit and financial industries. Specifically, Geoff has guided clients through catastrophic product liability and personal injury lawsuits, civil rights actions, healthcare matters, and various business and commercial disputes.

In addition to advising clients through active litigation, Geoff serves as a trusted advisor on all pre-litigation aspects and provides his clients with a roadmap on how to minimize future risks. As an extension of the in-house legal team, he frequently conducts internal investigations for pre-litigation and litigation avoidance reasons. Beyond his litigation practice, Geoff also serves as the lead attorney of a multi-disciplinary team that handles real estate acquisitions – and the attendant environmental, tax, and litigation issues - across the country for a group of private investors.

When it comes to healthcare specifically, Geoff represents providers and institutions in a variety of litigation and non-litigation matters. Geoff is also frequently retained to advise authors and institutions in matters relating to disclosure and ethics requirements for peer-reviewed, medical journals. In addition, Geoff is one of the attorneys on the forefront of the emerging area of civil rights liability for medical providers and, over the past several years, has successfully defended numerous lawsuits involving § 1983 claims against physicians and hospitals, frequently obtaining dismissals of such claims outright.

What Clients Can Expect

Geoff immerses himself in his clients’ businesses and is truly invested in their success, beyond the legal counsel he provides. Because of this interest in their business, clients often view Geoff as a valuable business partner who is also able to provide legal advice. He believes in a holistic approach by connecting the desired legal outcomes to his clients’ brands and values and ensuring that his work furthers their business goals.

Outside the Office

Geoff is an Eagle Scout and is involved with both the Greater Philadelphia National Eagle Scout Association (NESA) and the Philadelphia area’s local Boy Scout council, the Cradle of Liberty Council. Outside of the office, Geoff is a longtime practitioner of martial arts, and he holds a black belt in ju-jitsu and is working his way through the ranks of krav maga. Geoff also enjoys reading, sharing his encyclopedic knowledge of horror movies, cooking, and tagging along on various adventures with his wife and two daughters.

Proof Points

• Obtained the complete dismissal of all claims in a lawsuit brought by a student in a professional program alleging a failure to accommodate under the ADA, breach of contract, and a First Amendment claim.

• Obtained a defense verdict in a two-week jury trial in Philadelphia County involving a wrongful death claim against a university arising from underage drinking.
• Obtained a complete dismissal for lack of prosecution after four years of litigation in an ADA/breach of contract matter brought by a former student in a professional program. (Cohn v. The Pennsylvania State University, 2022 WL 2231826 (E.D. Pa. 2022)).
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of three medical providers in a complex civil rights lawsuit alleging a § 1983 claim arising from medical testing performed to investigate potential child abuse and successfully opposed plaintiffs’ appeal to the Third Circuit (Billups v. Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 163473 (M.D. Pa. 2017), aff'd, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 25800 (3d Cir. 2018))

• Secured the complete dismissal – and denial of leave to amend – of various § 1983 claims asserted against two medical providers arising from a child abuse evaluation (K.S. v. O’Dell, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55957 (M.D. Pa. 2018))

• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of three medical providers in a complex civil rights action arising from a report of suspected child neglect prompted by the parents’ refusal to consent to necessary medical treatment for their newborn and refusal to cooperate with the provision of care and successfully opposed plaintiffs’ appeal to the Third Circuit (Ferris v. Milton S. Hershey Med. Ctr., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133927 (M.D. Pa. 2016) aff’d 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 12448 (3d Cir. 2017))

• Obtained permissive intervention in a two-year old, concluded class action alleging thousands of aggregated Telephone Consumer Protection Act violations and succeeded in decertifying the class action and voiding a preexisting $15,000,000 judgment (Local Baking v. Westfield Rental Mart, 2014 WL 2807536 (App. Div. 2014))

• Successfully argued that a bankruptcy debtor is required to list as an asset of the bankruptcy estate a personal injury claim which arises post confirmation but prior to dismissal of the bankruptcy action or risk being estopped from pursuing that claim in a later lawsuit (In re Cibelli, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 1933 (Bankr. D.N.J. 2016))

• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a maintenance company on statute of limitations grounds despite plaintiff naming fictitious defendants prior to expiration of the statute (Beam v. Transportation and Security Administration, et al., 2013 WL 1903306 (D.N.J.))

• Successfully opposed four Rule 72 appeals addressing the scope of discovery to an insurer in a declaratory judgment action arising from underlying trademark/trade dress infringement claims (Katiroll Co. v. Kati Roll & Platters Inc., 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158234 (D.N.J. 2014))

• Briefed and argued the first matter before the Pennsylvania Superior Court raising an issue of forum non conveniens after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s holding in Bratic v. Rubendall (Lee v. Bower Lewis Thrower, 102 A.3d 1018 (Pa. Super. 2014))