Frank A. Luchak

Of Counsel

  • Frank A. Luchak
  • Phone: +1 856 874 4244

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  • Duane Morris LLP
    1940 Route 70 East, Suite 100
    Cherry Hill, NJ 08003-2171
    USA

Frank A. Luchak has served as lead trial counsel in state and federal courts in numerous jurisdictions in the United States. He concentrates his practice in the areas of complex commercial, class action, antitrust, shareholder disputes, intellectual property, insurance and securities broker liability, architects, contractor and engineer liability, construction and insurance coverage disputes.

He advises clients on a broad range of commercial and intellectual property issues from a business law and litigation perspective on various topics, including advising corporate and professional clients on contractual duties and obligations, Uniform Commercial Code issues, fiduciary duties and obligations, insurance coverage issues, corporate governance issues, antitrust, patents and intellectual property, technology and government contract matters.

Mr. Luchak has handled cases in numerous jurisdictions in state, federal and appellate courts and has participated in numerous civil and administrative trials and appeals at all levels of state and federal courts.

He has worked with researchers, entrepreneurs and universities to form technology startup entities, negotiate shareholder agreements, patent and technology acquisitions and licenses. 

Admitted to practice in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in both state and federal courts and before the U.S. Supreme Court, he is a member of the Litigation, Intellectual Property Law and Tort and Insurance Practice sections of the American Bar Association and the New Jersey State, Mercer and Camden County bar associations. Mr. Luchak is also a member of the Life, Health, Accident and Disability Insurance Committee of the Defense Research Institute. He is a graduate of Princeton University.

Representative Matters

  • Represented pharmaceutical company as a plaintiff in a major antitrust class action against U.S. manufacturers and a Japanese manufacturer of a key ingredient of all drugs in pill or capsule form, who conspired to fix the price of the ingredient over a 10-year period and obtain monopoly profits. The case settled on terms the client found very favorable after defendants' motions for summary judgment had been defeated.

  • Trial counsel to a large Asian office products company sued by its independent U.S. distributor for breaches of contract, warranty and fraud arising out of ten-year relationship. The trial involved complex issues concerning obsoleting technologies, and expert testimony thereon.

  • Represented a hospital network in which we sued a national HMO provider for specific performance and breach of contact based upon a memorandum of understanding with the national HMO to sell its local HMO , the parties' subsequent course of conduct in performance of its terms and the network's detrimental reliance thereon. The national HMO breached the agreement and sold the HMO to Blue Cross/Blue Shield instead. Obtained a case settlement that recompensed the network for all damages, attorneys fees, consultant fees and costs, as well as other reliance damages. The case involved novel contract formation issues and substantial e-discovery in which "smoking gun" documents were obtained and compelled settlement.

  • Counsel in a major breach of contract jury trial in New Jersey Superior court representing a client in a "bet the company" lawsuit brought by a major defense contractor arising out of its acquisition of a client's subsidiary and its contract to manufacture military lasers for the U.S. army's main battle tank. The case involved complex issues of government contract law and was tried under Texas law, as required by the 70-page Purchase and Sale Agreement, which was the governing contract. The client's potential exposure was $100 million, including punitive damages. After a more than 10-week trial the jury awarded $2 million on a small portion of the total claim, a very favorable outcome.

  • Represented a major foreign consumer electronics corporation sued under anti-trust and anti-dumping laws to successful conclusion before United States Supreme Court.

  • Represented numerous insurance agents and brokers primarily in health, disability and life fields before state and federal courts and state insurance departments.

  • Successfully obtained full contractual indemnification and reimbursement of attorney's fees of an engineer from a general contractor in a suit involving an injured worker who subsequently settled for over $4 million.

  • Represented a state water authority as lead counsel on claims against the general contractor, engineer, surety and others on a major reservoir project arising out of the catastrophic failure of a release pipeline. The representation achieved a multimillion-dollar recovery for the client. This vigorously-asserted case involved complex legal issues and highly technical engineering concepts and resulted in two published opinions favorable to the client. The technical experts worked with were world leaders in their respective fields.

  • Represented a large law firm in defending a claim of malpractice allegedly arising out of the failure of the law firm to provide, in a licensing agreement it drafted, for the retention of the rights to assigned patent in the event of bankruptcy of the licensee. The case was settled on terms favorable to the law firm.

  • Lead trial counsel for the estate and heirs of a young woman in a nationally-reported case against a municipality to recover wrongful death and survival action damages arising from the drowning of the mother in the course of saving her son's life in flooding conditions at an unprotected drilling site due to municipality's "palpably unreasonable" failure to protect the public from the hazard. The jury awarded substantial damages after a two-week trial.

Admissions

  • New Jersey
  • Pennsylvania
  • Supreme Court of the United States
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
  • Supreme Court of New Jersey
  • Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Education

  • State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law, J.D.
  • Princeton University, B.A. Economics

Experience

  • Duane Morris LLP
    - Term Member, Partners Board, 1998-2016
    - Partner in Charge, Princeton, New Jersey Office, 2004-2011
    - Partner in Charge, Cherry Hill, New Jersey Office, 1992-2004
    - Partner, 1986-present
    - Associate, 1981-1986
  • Harvey, Pennington, Herting & Renneisen, Ltd, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    - Associate, 1978-1981
  • International Division of the Bank of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, In Charge of Profit Planning and Forecasting, 1972-1975

Professional Activities

  • American Bar Association
    - Tort and Insurance Practice Section
    - Section of Litigation
    - Section of Intellectual Property Law
  • New Jersey State Bar Association
  • Mercer County Bar Association
  • Camden County Bar Association
  • Burlington County Bar Association
  • Defense Research Institute
    - Life, Health, Accident and Disability Insurance Committee
  • Participant in mock trial of Sexual Harassment/Wrongful Termination lawsuit, presented by the Philadelphia Affiliate of the National Human Resource Association

Honors and Awards

  • Listed in Super Lawyers, Corporate Counsel Edition, 2010
  • Named a New Jersey Super Lawyer, 2005 through 2009. Super Lawyers are selected in a state-wide peer review process. Only 5 percent of lawyers in New Jersey are eligible to become Super Lawyers.
  • AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell®

No aspect of these rankings has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Further information on methodologies is available via these links.

Selected Publications

Selected Speaking Engagements

  • Panelist, "Marcellus Shale and Supply Chain 101," Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, May 17, 2013
  • Presenter, CLE Seminar on Jury Selection, New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education, Spring 2005
  • Speaker, "Prelitigation Considerations" and "Litigation," Procuring and Litigating U.S. Patents seminar, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, December 4, 2002