Joe Dougherty co-hosts The Law Firm of Saltz, Mongelluzi and Bendesky Show with lawyers from one of the most reputable personal injury law firms in the nation.
Since its founding in 1998, Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky has developed a national reputation as one of the country’s most successful personal injury law firms. Led by partner and founder Bob Mongeluzzi, SMB has built upon its initial foundation as the leading Philadelphia firm for worksite injuries and medical malpractice to become a national powerhouse in construction and transportation accidents.
SMB is widely considered to be the go-to law firm in the U.S. for catastrophic construction accidents—particularly those involving building and worksite collapses, and incidents involving cranes and aerial lifts.
Over the last decade, it has also successfully handled several mass casualty events involving transportation, including the 2015 Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia. Building on that experience, it is currently representing many of the plaintiffs in the 2018 Branson, Missouri duck boat disaster that claimed 17 lives.
With a roster of nationally-known practitioners and formidable financial resources, SMB has taken on some of the country’s most complex, technical, data, and document-intensive cases and won.
Kristen Gibbons Feden is a nationally renowned sex abuse attorney and one of the leading litigators of the #MeToo movement. She is obtained millions of dollars for survivors of sexual abuse.
While her now-famous closing argument in the second trial of Commonwealth v. William H. Cosby put her in the international spotlight, Kristen has always been dedicated to fighting for victims of sexual abuse both in and out of the courtroom.
Kristen began her work with victims as a prosecutor in Montgomery County, where she served as Captain of the Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse Units and member of the Sex Crimes Unit. In that role, she successfully litigated scores of cases to verdict, including trials involving sexual and physical abuse, domestic violence, and homicide. While a prosecutor, Kristen received multiple commendations for her courtroom successes and efforts on behalf of survivors. By taking many cases to trial that others would not, Kristen demonstrated her dedication to survivors, time and time again.
Outside of the courtroom, Kristen provides a powerful voice for victims nationwide. Kristen uses her experience and training in law enforcement to passionately fight for people and groups who have suffered unfair discrimination by police or government. She is regularly called upon for expert commentary on high-profile matters by attorneys and international and national media outlets, including CNN, CBS, ABC, Fox, NPR, and the BBC. Kristen serves as an MSNBC Legal Analyst, offering commentary about various trials and investigations.
Kristen has traveled internationally speaking out and fighting for changes in the law and in our societies’ understanding of the dynamics of sexual violence and the effects of sexual trauma on survivors. She has been recognized by numerous victim’s rights organizations around the country for this work.
Kristen is also a proud member of various Boards and Court Appointments, including being a Board Member of AEquitas, a national resource center for law enforcement investigating and prosecuting sex trafficking and other sex crimes; the Vice President of the Montgomery County’s Victim’s Services Center; and a Member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Criminal Procedural Rules Committee. Her expertise is also frequently called upon by various advocacy groups to present and provide keynote speeches. Kristen is also an adjunct professor at the Temple University Beasley School of Law and teaches in the top-ranked Temple LL.M. program in Trial Advocacy.
Marni Berger‘s practice focuses on consulting and securing recovery for innocent victims of abuse as well as those that have been wrongfully denied insurance coverage. She is passionate about helping the most vulnerable members of the population in matters involving sexual assault, domestic and child abuse, Title IX violations and civil rights violations.
She is a trial lawyer with broad and diverse general commercial litigation experience in both federal and state court actions throughout the country. She is accustomed to litigating matters against institutions of all shapes and sizes who have deprived her clients of their fundamental rights. Whether her clients need representation against a university, medical facility, insurance company, or another individual, she is a zealous advocate throughout all phases of litigation.
Marni routinely briefs and argues matters leading to favorable results. She has negotiated high value settlements and successfully arbitrated and mediated matters involving multiple defendants and insurers. Before joining the firm, Marni was a partner at a leading regional full-service law firm where she serviced clients in complex civil matters. She applies this knowledge base to her daily practice.
In recent years, Marni secured summary judgment on behalf of a transportation company who was seeking insured status under a commercial auto policy. As a result, the client was reimbursed a substantial sum of attorneys’ fees and costs related to the defense of an underlying fatal trucking accident. She also successfully litigated suits against insurance brokers for negligently failing to procure the appropriate insurance coverage. Likewise, she has won numerous dispositive motions in disputes involving allegations of bad faith and violations of claims handling regulations under commercial and personal line policies. When she is not actively litigating cases, Marni is issuing coverage opinions to clients so that they understand their rights and can proceed accordingly.
The consulting and litigation matters Marni regularly handles involve claims made pursuant to CGL policies (bodily injury and construction defect claims) as well as claims for property insurance, auto insurance, and claims for sexual abuse and molestation and intentional torts. She also engages in contract drafting and interpretation. Marni has experience practicing in the federal and district courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey as well as the state trial courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She has also served as national counsel for clients outside of these jurisdictions.
From 2014 to 2020, she was included on the list of “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer – Rising Stars.” This list is comprised of the top 2.5 percent of attorneys in the Commonwealth who are 40 or younger or have been practicing for less than 10 years.
She earned her J.D. from Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law in 2010 where she interned for the Honorable Richard B. Klein (Ret.) of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. She earned a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in Political Communication from The George Washington University in 2006. Marni frequently lectures on emerging coverage issues such as discovery and bad faith litigation. She is also conversational in Spanish.
Marni is a member of the National Trial Lawyers. She has been recognized for two consecutive years by the organization as one of the Top 40 Under 40 Civil Plaintiff Trial Lawyers in Pennsylvania. She is also an active member of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, Pennsylvania Association for Justice, and Montgomery County Bar Association, and American Association for Justice. The Montgomery County Bar Association recently selected Marni for the Montgomery County Bar Association Leadership Academy.