Marino Associates

This is not the first time Marino has represented a client in a legal dispute with Penn State. He previously earned a $5.25 million jury award in Dauphin County on behalf of Dr. Scott Lynch, the former lead doctor for the Penn State football team. Lynch claimed his employer, Penn State Health, fired him in retaliation for his complaints about former head coach James Franklin’s alleged interference with his medical decisions regarding the players.

In July, Marino represented Lynch in a new complaint filed against Penn State University in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Lynch claimed the school and former Athletics Integrity Officer Bob Boland concealed complaints from the team’s medical staff about Franklin’s alleged interference in their treatment of injured players. Franklin was fired by Penn State in October and was introduced last week as the new head coach for Virginia Tech’s football team.

Marino brings nearly 40 years of litigation experience to the courtroom. He earned his law degree from Penn State Dickinson Law in 1988 and started his legal career as an associate with Katz Murphy Daniello & Farrel.

In February 1989, Marino joined the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office where his assignments included the economic crimes, juvenile court and major trials units. During his time at the DA’s office, he met fellow prosecutor Kevin Dougherty, who now sits on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and the two eventually teamed up in 1994 to launch their own private plaintiffs’ firm, Marino & Dougherty LLP.

Justice Dougherty left the firm in 2000 ahead of his 2001 appointment to the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas bench, kicking off a judicial career that ultimately led to his election to the state’s Supreme Court in 2015. After Justice Dougherty’s departure, Marino renamed the firm to Marino Associates.

Marino Associates

Auddino has served as the second principal for Marino Associates since 2016. He previously assisted in a 2020 lawsuit filed against Penn State by a former football player who accused the school and Franklin of failing to stop his former teammates from sexually hazing him. The complaint was dismissed in September 2021.

Auddino also joined Marino in representing the family of a woman who was struck and killed by a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority bus in September 2014. In June, a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court panel reduced a $4.65 million verdict awarded to the family down to $500,000, saying the verdict is limited by the state’s sovereign immunity law.

After earning his law degree from Widener University Delaware Law School in Wilmington, Delaware, Auddino clerked for Judge Paul Panepinto in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. In 2014, Auddino joined the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and then moved to Marino Associates in 2016.

Jones Day

Stanton has practiced as a partner in Jones Day’s Pittsburgh office for more than 10 years as a member of the firm’s financial markets, business and torts litigation and insurance recovery practice groups.

His clients include Everest Infrastructure Partners Inc., a cell tower company currently facing claims of unfair competition, tortuous interference and unjust enrichment by rival company Vertical Bridge REIT LLC. Everest is accused of inducing Vertical’s landlords to share confidential financial information on their ground leases. Stanton’s team had part of the lawsuit tossed by a Pennsylvania federal judge in February.

Stanton represented U.S. Steel in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania when it faced a claim of unfair competition filed by the U.S. subsidiaries of a Russian steel company. The complaint claimed U.S. Steel misled the U.S. Department of Commerce into denying the Russian steel company’s request to be excluded from a steel tariff. The case was dismissed in March 2022.

After earning his law degree from Stanford Law School in 2004, Stanton started his legal career with K&L Gates LLP’s Pittsburgh office. He moved to Jones Day in September 2015.

Jones Day

Kessler started her legal career in October 2016 as an associate with Jones Day after earning her law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. She is a member of the firm’s financial markets practice and frequently partners with Stanton on high-profile disputes.

She worked with Stanton as part of a team that represented CNX Resources Corp. in an indemnification dispute with Consol Energy Inc. over alleged violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

After CNX inked a $75 million settlement to resolve claims from a mine worker’s union that its sale of coal subsidies in 2013 violated ERISA, CNX filed suit seeking indemnification from Consol. Consol spun off CNX as a separate entity in 2017, with CNX focused on natural gas production and Consol concentrated on coal production. In support of its claim, CNX pointed to language in the separation agreement between the two companies that CNX said indemnified it from coal-related liabilities. A Delaware Superior Court judge found in favor of CNX in November 2024.

–Additional reporting by Matthew Santoni, Mike Curley and Andrea Keckley. Editing by Dave Trumbore.