Marc Penchansky

Marc Penchansky is a seasoned appellate advocate and strategic advisor trusted by clients and litigation teams to manage high‑stakes appeals and decisive motion practice.  With deep experience at both the trial and appellate levels, Marc helps clients shape outcomes early, preserve critical issues, and defend victories through appeal.

Marc regularly represents clients before the New Jersey and Pennsylvania appellate courts and the United States Courts of Appeals.  He is known for tackling complex and novel legal issues, including jurisdictional disputes, interlocutory and expedited appeals, and matters with significant industry impact. His appellate successes include persuading the New Jersey appellate court to adopt a narrow definition of “ensuing loss,” a question that had divided courts nationwide; successfully defending the first insurance broker accused of failing to secure pandemic coverage during COVID‑19; and overturning a defense verdict in favor of a court‑appointed receiver seeking to recover funds from a bank alleged to have hosted accounts used in a Ponzi scheme.

• Successfully defended insurance broker in an appeal affirming summary judgment following a catastrophic fire loss at a manufacturing facility. The New Jersey Appellate Division rejected claims that the brokers failed to procure adequate coverage, holding that absent a special relationship brokers have no duty to advise insureds regarding the sufficiency of policy limits. The court further found no evidence of detrimental reliance sufficient to impose a heightened advisory duty even when predecessor broker assumed such a duty.  The decision provides important guidance for brokers and insurers defending negligence and underinsurance claims.
• Secured an appellate decision affirming dismissal of all claims against a pediatric hospital based on judicial estoppel in a high‑exposure medical negligence case. The Pennsylvania Superior Court held that the plaintiff’s pursuit of irreconcilable causation theories in parallel Ohio and Pennsylvania actions, following resolution of the Ohio case, barred further recovery in Pennsylvania. The ruling brought final resolution to years of litigation and reinforces the use of judicial estoppel to defeat duplicative and inconsistent medical malpractice claims.
• Obtained summary judgment, and affirmed result on appeal, in favor of insurer sued for first-party and third-party insurance coverage arising out of severe water infiltration to New Jersey seaside condominium due to various construction defects, convincing both courts to conclude that the water losses were the natural and foreseeable result of the construction defects and not covered ensuing losses.
• On behalf of an insurer, secured multi-million dollar recovery against another insurer under the Utah Condominium Ownership Act for reimbursement of an insurance payout for catastrophic first-party water losses sustained at a luxury ski resort. 
• In a case involving a catastrophic accident against a logistics company, retained as embedded appellate counsel for trial to help secure a modest verdict that was a small fraction of the pre-trial demand, and affirmed that result on appeal.

• Retained following the entry of an adverse summary judgment ruling finding that a contractor had a duty to indemnify a condominium association and its management company for injuries sustained by the contractor’s employee and for the contractor’s alleged failure to procure insurance that met the requirements in a service agreement between the association and contractor, and promptly reversed that decision through an interlocutory appeal in the New Jersey Appellate Division. 

• Obtained summary judgment, and defeated class certification, on behalf of an event security company in Maryland class action consisting of hundreds of young female dancers who were spied upon by a convention center public safety officer who inappropriately used the facility’s surveillance cameras to view and record the dancers’ dressing area

• Litigation counsel to various insurers for COVID-19 insurance claims

• Successfully obtained declaratory relief extricating insurer from liability for defense and indemnification for a California class action against manufacturer of non-stick copper pans that failed to perform as advertised, as such faulty workmanship claims failed to constitute an “occurrence” under the manufacturer’s commercial general liability insurance policy
• Reversed on appeal a jury’s defense verdict for a bank in a suit brought by a federal receiver for the bank’s participation in a Ponzi scheme on grounds that trial court erroneously concluded that Pennsylvania did not recognize a cause of action for aiding and abetting fraud and for other errors concerning the erroneous admission of evidence, resulting in exposure to the bank on retrial well in excess of $20 million
• Drafted successful summary judgment motion on behalf of insurance broker in a multi-million-dollar litigation where the broker was alleged to have violated its duty to provide insurance quotes to its client; successfully defended the entry of summary judgment on appeal
• Successfully defended on appeal before the Pennsylvania Superior Court a negligence action filed by a subcontractor’s employee against the general contractor