Catherine Slavin

Catherine Slavin is a partner in the firm’s Philadelphia office and a member of the Insurance, Product & General Liability, and Commercial Litigation Groups.  Catherine handles products liability, complex commercial and general litigation, and toxic tort matters and focuses her practice on aviation litigation defense, representing aircraft and aircraft component manufacturers, aircraft operators, FBOs, and aviation insurers.

Catherine has handled a wide variety of general aviation and airline cases, in state and federal courts nationwide, at both the trial court and appellate levels. She has argued appeals in aviation cases before the Second, Third, Fifth, and Tenth Circuits, the Delaware Supreme Court, and the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Admissions

• Pennsylvania
• U.S. District Court, Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Second, Third, Fifth, and Tenth Circuits
• U.S. Supreme Court

• Sikkelee v. Precision Airmotive Corp., 268 F. Supp. 3d 660 (M.D. Pa. 2017), aff’d in part, rev’d in part, F.3d (3d Cir. 2018), petition for cert. filed, No. 18-1140 (U.S. Mar. 1, 2019)
• Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. v. Arteaga, 113 A.3d 1045 (Del. 2015) (en banc)
•  Sikkelee v. Precision Airmotive Corp., 45 F. Supp. 3d 431 (M.D. Pa. 2014), rev’d, 822 F.3d 680 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 137 S. Ct. 495 (2016)
• Pease v. Lycoming Engines, No. 10-843, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 145344 (M.D. Pa. Dec. 19, 2011)
• Powers v. Lycoming Engines, 272 F.R.D. 414 (E.D. Pa. 2011)
• Powers v. Lycoming Engines, 328 Fed. App’x 121 (3d Cir. 2009)

Publications

• Author, John D. Goetz, Denny Shupe, Catherine Slavin, and Stephanie D. Taylor, Hot Topics in Aviation Law in Pennsylvania and the United States, Pennsylvania Bar Institute Transportation Law Update, April 2016

Presentations

• Speaker, Federal Preemption: Conflict in the Field?, ABA 25th Annual National Institute on Aviation Litigation, June 13, 2019
• Speaker, Cyber Risk, Emerging Technologies, and Traditional Aviation: Implications for the Future of the Aviation Industry and Aviation Litigation, ABA 24th Annual National Institute on Aviation Litigation, June 14, 2018
• Speaker, Federal Preemption in Aviation and Transportation, IATSBA Air & Transport Law Conference, May 17, 2018
• Speaker, Moderator, The Jury Deselection Process in the Catastrophic Case, ABA Tort, Trial & Insurance (TIPS) Aviation and Space Law Committee, October 19, 2017
• Speaker, Conflict in the Field: Federal Preemption After Sikkelee, DRI Product Liability Conference, February 2017
• Speaker, Conflict in the Field: Federal Preemption After Sikkelee, DRI Product Liability Conference, February 8, 2017
• Speaker, Federal Preemption for FAA Certified Products Post Sikkelee, ABA Aviation and Space Law Committee, November 3, 2016
• Speaker, Preemption in Aviation Cases, Presented via a Mock Motions Hearing and Oral Arguments, AViCON 2016, September 29, 2016
• Speaker, Anatomy of an Airport Claim, American Conference Institute, 8th National Forum on Aviation, June 27, 2016
• Speaker, Defending Military Contractors Against War Zone Tort Actions, ABA Aviation Litigation National Institute, June 1, 2016
• Speaker, Aviation Law Update (Personal Jurisdiction), Transportation Law Update, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, April 25, 2016
• Speaker, Aviation Law Update (Federal Preemption), Transportation Law Update, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, April 6, 2016
• Speaker, Best Practices for Drafting an Effective Joint Defense Agreement for Multiple Defendants in Aviation Litigation Cases, American Conference Institute, 7th National Forum on Aviation, June 1, 2015
• Speaker, Federal Preemption in Aviation Product Liability Cases—Seeking an Effective Strategy to the Diverging Approaches Among the Federal Circuits and States, DRI Product Liability Conference, February 5, 2015

Education

J.D., Temple University, James E. Beasley School of Law

• Law Review, Research Editor

B.A., The George Washington University

Honors

Who’s Who Legal Thought Leader: USA, Transport - Aviation Contentious, 2023