Gaetan J. Alfano

GAETAN J. ALFANO is a partner of Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP, where he serves as Co-Chair of the Commercial Litigation Practice Group.

Mr. Alfano is consistently recognized as a top commercial litigator by his peers.  He has extensive experience in commercial and employment disputes, insurance insolvency, receivership law, as well as complex white collar criminal defense and affirmative civil litigation.

As an insurance insolvency practitioner, Mr. Alfano tried a reinsurance recovery case against GTE Reinsurance Company, Limited on behalf of the Pennsylvania Insurance Department as Rehabilitator for the Mutual Fire, Marine and Inland Insurance Company.  This case resulted in a settlement of $44.9 million from GTE Re, which at the time, in 1993, was the largest reinsurance recovery in Pennsylvania history.  Mr. Alfano also represented Mutual Fire in a recovery of $12 million from Chesapeake Insurance Company, formerly a subsidiary of Victor Posner’s network of companies.  He also litigated an action involving Mutual Fire’s receiver in a massive professional liability case against Shand, Morahan & Company, Inc. and its former parent, Alexander & Alexander, Inc.  That matter was resolved in the receiver’s favor for a total settlement of $51.6 million. 

Mr. Alfano represented the Delaware Insurance Commissioner as Receiver for National Heritage Life Insurance Company (in Liquidation), where he was responsible for prosecuting a variety of professional liability and asset recovery actions.  He presently works with the Pennsylvania Insurance Department as Liquidator for both Legion Insurance and Villanova Insurance Companies, a $3 billion insolvency.  In Legion, Mr. Alfano serves as chief counsel in liquidation proceedings and represents the estate in a variety of legal matters. Specifically, he handles actions brought before the Commonwealth Court by claimants seeking immediate access to Legion’s assets.  In February 2006, Mr. Alfano obtained court approval for Legion’s proposed distribution of approximately $150 million to state guaranty associations.  Since then, he has successfully defended the Liquidator against various challenges to this approved distribution.  In May 2007, Mr. Alfano defeated Oregon Insurance Guaranty Association’s claims that the early distribution of Legion’s assets violated state law.  In October, 2009, he defeated claims by the Mississippi Insurance Guaranty Association for direct access to reinsurance. 

In September 2010, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania appointed Mr. Alfano as counsel for a Securities Exchange Commission Receiver in a matter concerning the recovery of investor funds, SEC v. Robert Stinson, Jr., et al.  This case involves a $17 million nationwide Ponzi scheme which was perpetrated by Mr. Stinson and his entities operating under the name Life's Good. Mr. Alfano was selected as counsel to the Court-appointed Receiver and was tasked with assisting the Receiver in marshaling and collecting assets for the Receivership Estate in hopes of making an eventual payout to the defrauded investors. To this end, Mr. Alfano and his colleagues have investigated and located the tangible assets of the defendants, seized those assets, negotiated settlements with third parties that received funds from the Ponzi scheme, and filed ancillary actions to collect funds fraudulently transferred to third parties.  Mr. Alfano, in another federal receivership matter, Harmelin v. Man Financial, Inc., 2007 WL 2702638 (E.D. PA 2007), served as co-counsel to an international bank sued over  investor losses estimated at almost $200 million. 

Among the various commercial, employment and professional liability disputes, Mr. Alfano has defended major corporations in a variety of commercial matters.  He represented a contractor in a construction dispute involving renovations to several New York State bridges and secured a dismissal with prejudice of an international telecommunications company from a $5 million dollar commercial dispute in State Court in Philadelphia.  He recently defended a manufacturing company in federal court over allegations that it breached an equipment lease with the case ultimately settling for a fraction of the damages claimed by the leasing company. 

In the area of health care fraud, Mr. Alfano represented the qui tam relator in the government’s $12 million settlement with the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania over allegations of Medicare billing fraud in 2000.  In terms of individual representation, Mr. Alfano represented a local official who filed a civil rights suit for wrongful discharge involving a local township; the suit resulted in an $880,000 settlement in favor of his client.

In August 2005, Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell appointed Mr. Alfano to the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.  In 2006, he was elected the Commission’s Secretary/Treasurer and in 2007 he was elected the Commission’s Vice Chairman.  The commission, composed of five members from Pennsylvania and five members from New Jersey, oversees the acquisition, construction, maintenance and operation of the 7 toll bridges and 13 toll supported bridges that span the Delaware River.

Prior to entering civil practice, Mr. Alfano served as Assistant District Attorney for 5 years under then District Attorney Edward G. Rendell.  While an Assistant District Attorney in the Motions & Major Crimes Unit, Mr. Alfano tried cases on a nearly daily basis.  Mr. Alfano has served as a Senior Member of the hearing committee of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.  He has extensive experience as an arbitrator in Pennsylvania state court and in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Alfano is heavily involved in community service.  As a member of the Justinian Society, a group of Italian American lawyers and judges, he has held a number of offices and currently serves as Treasurer of the Justinian Foundation, the charitable arm of the Society.  In that capacity, Mr. Alfano supervises the awarding of the Foundation’s scholarships to law students.  In 2009, Mr. Alfano was the recipient of the Cesare Beccaria Award.  This award, in honor of the 18th century Italian scholar, is to recognize distinguished achievement of a member of the Philadelphia Bar in the field of education in criminal justice.

Mr. Alfano also has acted as Judge Pro Tem in the City of Philadelphia’s award winning Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention Program.  In that capacity, Mr. Alfano conducted conciliation conferences between mortgage brokers and homeowners to avoid foreclosure proceedings of their properties.  Approximately 5,500 homeowners participated in this program.

Mr. Alfano is a member of the:

• American Bar Association
• Pennsylvania Bar Association
• New Jersey Bar Association
• Philadelphia Bar Association, (served on the Board of Governors from 2007-2010; Chair of the Board in 2009)
• Philadelphia Bar Association Judicial Commission (Vice-Chair in 2011; Chair of the Board in 2012)
• International Association of Insurance Receivers
• American Arbitration Association (Contributing member)
• American Arbitration Association – Panel of Neutrals
• Supreme Court Historical Society

Mr. Alfano has been nominated and selected by his peers as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for every year from 2004 through 2011, an honor reserved for 5% of the Pennsylvania Bar.  He received his J.D. from the Villanova University School of Law.  He earned his B.A. magna cum laude, from Villanova University.

He is licensed to practice in state and federal court in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 

Representative Cases, Publications and Speaking Engagements