Being Alert in Discovery for the Fraudulent Inducement Case

The article is reprinted with permission from American Trial Lawyers Association (ATLA). The article originally appeared in the Fall 2004 edition of the Business Torts Newsletter published by the ATLA.

Often, at the outset of a business dispute, it is nearly impossible to determine what claims a particular dispute will involve. A simple refusal to ship an order, after thorough discovery by trial-focused lawyers, can result in more than anyone expected.

The article chronicles the way that a simple case can develop into an odyssey lasting several years but resulting in a phenomenal recovery. It follows the sequence of events that Howard Scher encountered when he agreed to prosecute a case for Ebeling & Reuss, a small Philadelphia gift and glassware wholesaler. The result was one of the largest verdicts ever handed down by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.