Attorney Biographies

Kelly A. Williams 
Four Gateway Center
444 Liberty Avenue, Suite 1105
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222-1220

Communication Center 
Phone: (412) 288-4005 (Direct Dial)
Fax: 412-288-2405
E-mail: kwilliams@psmn.com
Web site: http://www.psmn.com

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Position	Areas of Practice	Education
Honors	Published Works	Affiliations

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Kelly Williams' practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, insurance coverage and intellectual property law. Ms. Williams handles all phases of litigation in state and federal courts. Ms. Williams represents national insurance companies involving coverage claims by policy holders and has experience overseeing large scale e-discovery in federal court. In addition, Ms. Williams has defended corporations against trademark infringement claims and has acted as local patent infringement counsel. Ms. Williams' experience also includes representing corporations in product liability litigation. Before joining Picadio Sneath Miller & Norton, Ms. Williams practiced law at McGuireWoods LLP and has practiced in both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Ms. Williams is a member of the Allegheny Bar Association and, its, Public Service Committee and Executive Council of the Women in the Law Division. She also serves as the Chair of the Public Service Committee's Volunteer Recognition Event, which honors Allegheny County volunteer attorneys. Moreover, Ms. Williams is a volunteer for Allegheny County's child custody conciliation program, mortgage foreclosure conciliation program and serves on the Allegheny County Judiciary Committee. Ms. Williams is also actively involved in DRI, the Voice of the Defense Bar as Chair of the Publication Subcommittee of the Women in the Law Committee and as a member of the Sharing Success Seminar Steering Committee.

SELECTED CASES PROSECUTED OR DEFENDED TO VERDICT, DISMISSAL OR SETTLEMENT

• Tenant v. Apartment Complex Owner and Leasing Agent (Allegheny County, PA) Lead trial counsel, defended property owner and elasing agent in civil suit brought by tenant for negligence in maintaining common area of apartment complex. Case settled before trial.
• Business v. General Contractor (Schuylkill County, PA) Assisted lead trial counsel  in defedning general contractor in complex multi-party litigation against breach of contract and warranty claims arising from concrete floor. Case settled before trial.
• Restaurant Group v. National Insurance Company Federal District Court ( Pittsburgh , Pa.) Assisted with drafting successful motion for summary judgment on behalf of insurer in civil suit brought by insured for insurance coverage for underlying class action based upon the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA).
• Smith v. National Life Insurance Company Federal District Court (Pittsburgh , Pa. ) Assisted lead trial counsel with obtaining defense verdict and winning counterclaim, including an award of attorneys' fees, in a jury trial on behalf of insurer.  Plaintiff brought a civil suit alleging wrongful denial of life insurance benefits.  Defended and countersued on the bases of fraud and breach of contract due to plaintiff's misrepresentations regarding the status of his health.  The decision was upheld on appeal.
• ABC Company v. XYZ Company Federal District Court ( Pittsburgh , Pa. ) Assisted with representation of defendant business in civil suit brought by business competitor for trademark infringement and unfair business competition.  Case settled shortly before trial.
• Manufacturer Corp. v. Distributor Corp Federal District Court ( Pittsburgh , Pa. )  Assisted lead trial counsel in obtaining verdict in favor of company against its former distributor for trademark infringement and unfair competition.
• Widow v. ABC Life Insurance Company Federal District Court (Pittsburgh , Pa. ) Obtained  summary judgment on behalf of insurance company.  Plaintiff filed suit claiming insurer had breached life insurance policy allegedly issued to her decedent husband.  Successfully argued that no policy of insurance was ever in force between insurer and decedent husband. 
• Jones v. ABC Manufacturing Company Federal District Court (Pittsburgh , Pa. ) Assisted lead trial counsel in obtaining verdict for plaintiff injured by defective machinery during the course of his employment.
• Father and Minor Son v. XYZ Manufacturing Company ( Allegheny County , Pa. ) Assisted in defending equipment manufacturer against strict product liability claims arising from injuries to four-year old child.  Case settled before trial.

Current Employment Position(s):

Partner

Areas of Practice:

Insurance Coverage

Trademark Infringement

Unfair Business Competition

Contract Disputes

Products Liability

Personal Injury Defense

Employment Discrimination

Bar Admissions:

Pennsylvania, 1994

New Jersey, 1994

U.S. District Court Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1994

U.S. Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit, 1995

U.S. District Court Western District of Pennsylvania, 1999

Education:

Temple University School of Law, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1994
J.D.
Honors: Dean's List
Law Review: Temple International & Comparative Law Journal, 1992 - 1994

The Ohio State University, 1991
B.A. with Honors
Honors: Dean's List
Major:  Political Science
Minor:  English

Published Works:

"United Nations Peacekeeping Forces in the Balkan Wars and the Changing Role of Peacekeeping Forces in the Post-Cold War World", Temple International and Comparative Law Journal, Volume 8, Number 1, 1994

Classes/Seminars Taught:

Speaker "Document Retention and E-Discovery: Current Perspectives from the Federal and State Courts, Litigators, Consultants and In-House Counsel", 2010

Speaker "Taking the Myth Out of E-Discovery and Practical Approaches to the E-Discovery Process", 2009

Honors and Awards:

2003 Outstanding Volunteer Service Award - Sojourner House, Pittsburgh, PA

Professional Associations and Memberships:

Allegheny County Bar Association, 1999 - Present

Member

Allegheny County Bar Association, 2010 - Present

Judiciary Committee

Allegheny County Bar Association, 2005 - Present

Public Service Committee

Allegheny County Bar Association, 2008 - Present

Chair, Volunteer Recognition Event

Allegheny County Bar Association, 2010 - Present

Women in the Law Division, Executive Council

Allegheny County Bar Association, 2010 - Present

Women in the Law Division, Chair, Program Committee

Allegheny County Bar Association, 2009 - Present

Women in the Law Division,Vice Chair, Blueprints for Balance Committee

Defense Research Institute, 2007 - Present

Member

Defense Research Institute, 2009 - Present

Commercial Lit; Third Circuit Law Editor for Business Suit Newsletter

Defense Research Institute, 2009 - Present

Electronic Discovery & Insurance Law Committees

Defense Research Institute, 2010 - Present

Sharing Success Seminar Steering Committee

Defense Research Institute, 2010 - Present

Women in the Law Committee, Chair, Publications Subcommittee

Past Employment Positions:

McGuire Woods LLP (Pittsburgh, PA), Associate, 2001 - 2004

Sable Pusateri Rosen Gordon & Adams, LLC (Pittsburgh, PA), Associate, 1998 - 2001

Tannenbaum & Channin (Philadelphia, PA), Associate, 1997 - 1998

Ellsworth Wiles & Chalphin (Philadelphia, PA), Associate, 1994 - 1997

Pro Bono Activities:

Allegheny County Mortgage Foreclosure Conciliation Program

Allegheny County Child Custody Conciliation Program

Fraternities/Sororities:

Alpha Delta Pi

Birth Information:

1968, Wilmington, Ohio, United States of America

 

 

Latest Business and Legal News

These news items and case summaries are a service provided by FindLaw. Picadio Sneath Miller & Norton, P.C. does not endorse any service or product advertised or discussed in any of these items.

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Case Summaries

Intellectual Property

[02/01] Thorner v. Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC
In a patent infringement action concerning a patent relating to a tactile feedback system for computer video games, the district court's judgment of noninfringement upon stipulation is vacated and the case remanded, where: 1) the district court improperly limited the term "attached to said pad" to mean attachment only to an external surface, and the parties based the stipulation of noninfringement on the district court's erroneous construction of this claim; and 2) the district court erred in its construction of the term "flexible."

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[01/27] Krippelz v. Ford Motor Co.
In a patent infringement case involving a vehicle-mounted lamp, the district court's denial of the defendant's motion for judgment as a matter of law on invalidity is reversed, its summary judgment of infringement is vacated, and the case is remanded for entry of judgment of nonliability for the defendant, where the district court committed reversible error in its holdings that: 1) a reasonable jury could find that a competing French patent failed to teach the required "conical beam of light;" and 2) the jury could have reasonably found the French patent to lack a lamp "adjacent to the window."

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Insurance Law

[02/03] Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co. v. Roberts
In a suit brought by an insurer seeking a declaratory judgment that it was required to indemnify its insured for no more than 40 percent of a state court judgment because it had covered its insured for no more than 40 percent of the time in which the state court plaintiff was exposed to lead poisoning, the district court's judgment is: 1) affirmed in part, where it was correct in allocating the insurer's liability using the pro-rata time on-the-risk, and its decision to use the plaintiff's date of birth as the starting point for the period in which she was exposed to lead poisoning was sound; and 2) reversed in part, where the district court erred in holding the insurer liable for 24 months of coverage rather than 22, since under the insurance contract, coverage ended when the property was sold.

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[02/03] Scandinavian Reinsurance Co. Ltd. v. Saint Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Co.
The district court's grant of a petition to vacate an arbitral award is reversed, and on remand the district court is instructed to grant a cross-petition to confirm the award, where there was insufficient evidence before the district court on which to base a finding of "evident partiality" within the meaning of the Federal Arbitration Act despite the failure of two arbitrators to disclose their concurrent service as arbitrators in another, arguably similar, arbitration.

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Environmental Law

[02/03] Pacific Rivers Council v. US Forest Service
In a suit challenging Forest Service amendments to the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan as inconsistent with the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act, the district court's grant of summary judgment to the Forest Service is: 1) reversed in part, where the plaintiff had Article III standing, and the failure of the environmental impact statement (EIS) to provide any analysis of the environmental consequences on individual fish species was a failure to comply with the hard look requirement of NEPA; and 2) affirmed in part, insofar as the Forest Service did take a hard look at environmental consequences on amphibians in the EIS, in compliance with NEPA.

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[01/26] Chevron Corp. v. Naranjo
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Commercial Law

[02/01] In re American Express Merchants' Litigation
In a class action asserting Sherman Act claims, brought against a charge card issuer whose card acceptance agreement purported to preclude a merchant from bringing a class action lawsuit, the district court's grant of the defendant's motion to compel arbitration and dismissal of the case is reversed, where the cost of plaintiffs' individually arbitrating their dispute with the defendant would be prohibitive, effectively depriving them of the statutory protections of the antitrust laws, and thus the class action waiver in the arbitration provision was unenforceable.

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[01/27] C9 Ventures v. SVC-West, L.P.
In a personal injury suit in which a lessor of helium-filled tanks used to inflate festive balloons cross-complained against the lessee to enforce an indemnification provision on the back of an unsigned invoice, the trial court's judgment in favor of the lessor and award of attorney fees to it is reversed, where: 1) the lessee did not manifest assent to the terms on the back of the unsigned invoice by course of dealing or course of performance, or under basic contract law; 2) the lessee did not sign the invoice or otherwise expressly agree to its terms; 3) an unsigned invoice itself is not a contract, and repeated delivery of a particular form does not make the form part of the parties' agreement; 4) payment of the invoice merely constituted the lessee's performance of the obligation under the oral contract to pay for the rental of the helium-filled tanks; and 5) assuming the transaction was a sale of goods covered by division 2 of the California Commercial Code, the indemnification provision was not an additional term of the contract under section 2207 of the Commercial Code.

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