Paige Macdonald-Matthes Secures a Default Judgment in Favor of Her Clients

After a two-day hearing before President Judge Michael A. George in Adams County, Pennsylvania, Paige Macdonald-Matthes recently secured a default judgment in favor of her clients. The default judgment was issued by the Court against all of the Defendants as a direct result of the defendants’ flagrant discovery violations during the course of the 3-year litigation of this matter. The default judgment was also entered in her clients’ favor on all remaining counterclaims that had been brought against the plaintiffs by all of the defendants.

Briefly, this action arose out of a family-owned and operated business that went into bankruptcy. Paige Macdonald-Matthes represented the plaintiffs, who were creditors to the business. The litigation ensued when it was uncovered that defendants, some of whom are Pennsylvania licensed attorneys, had engaged in various types of unlawful acts including commingling of assets, breaches of fiduciary duty, fraudulent property transfers, and professional negligence.

In April of 2023, at a two-day bench trial, Paige Macdonald-Matthes secured a favorable judgment on 4 of the 10 counts regarding fraudulent transfers of property in the Third Amended Complaint. In prevailing on the merits at the bench trial, Paige Macdonald-Matthes established that the defendants acted with the common purpose of doing the unlawful act of defrauding creditors, her clients. The judgment secured at the bench trial, along with the default judgment issued on February 8, 2024, provides her clients with a complete victory.

A hearing on damages, as well as the assessment of attorney’s fees and imposition of punitive damages as a result of the defendants’ discovery violations that led to the default judgment, will be held on May 22, 2024.  Plaintiffs’ unopposed expert witness had calculated her clients’ damages on their claims against the Defendants to be at least $4,376,207.64.

Jennifer Bruce, an associate in Obermayer’s litigation department, was vital to the victory.