Attorney Profiles

Gary S. Nitsche is a partner of the law firm of Weik, Nitsche & Dougherty. He received his education at the University of Delaware (B.A., 1982), and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School (J.D., 1987). He is the immediate Past President of the Delaware Trial Lawyer's Association. Previously, he served as DTLA membership chair and legislative chair for several y ears. He also co-founded the Delaware Doctor/Lawyer Team Partnership against Drug and Alcohol Abuse, which received an AAJ's Board of Governor's Award in 1997. He is a sustaining member of the American Association for Justice and is a member of the Small Office Practice section and Motor Vehicle and Insurance Practice Section and is a member of the Workplace Injury Litigation Group. He also served as Delaware Governor of the New Lawyers Section of AAJ for two years. He is an AAJ "Eagle". He is a member of the Delaware State Bar Association, Torts and Insurance section, Worker's Compensation section and the ABA, Litigation section. He is also a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. Also, most recently he was selected to be included in the 2007 edition of Philadelphia Magazine, Super Lawyers section for Delaware. He has written and spoken numerous times regarding the field of personal injury, worker's compensation, and uninsured motorists coverage.

The following are some of Mr. Nitsche's notable cases:

Frank v. Horizon Assurance Co.
Del. Supr., 553 A.2d 1199 (1989)

This case struck down an Owned Motor Vehicle exclusion provision in automobile insurance policies which resulted in increased recovery for thousands of insured drivers in Delaware. 

Page v Hercules, Inc.
637A.2d 29 (1994)

This decision struck down the difficult causation standard for injuries claimants entitled the Unusual Exertion Rule and created a new standard for compensable repetitive stress injuries entitled the Substantial Causation Test which benefited injured workers in Delaware. 

Murray v Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co.
D. Del. 674F.Supp.154 (1987)

This decision clarified issues related to who can recover for uninsured motorists claims and who has a standing to pursue those claims. 

Lomax v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co.
D.Del. 776 F.Supp. 870 (1991) Rev'd 3rd Cir., 964 F.2d 1343 (1992)

Hurst v. Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co.
Del.Supp. 652 A.2d 10 (1995)

This landmark decision invalidated prior Delaware case law that determined that uninsured motorist claims which were previously limited by the amount of policy limits in terms of offsetting from what the tortfeasor's insurance coverage paid changed the ceiling of those recoveries to the amount of the injured party's damages.  This decision single handedly resulted in recovery hundreds of thousands of dollars for injured people in the State of Delaware. 

Redding v. Ortega
840 A.2d 1224 (del. 2003)

This case overturned a previous decision and permitted injured parties to recover the full amount of their medical bill damages and lost wage damages irrespective of whether or not they had insurance on the vehicle they were in at the time of the collision. 

Deptula V. Horace Mann
842 A.2d 1235 (Del. 2004)

This decision argued by Mr. Nitsche at the Delaware Supreme Court on behalf of the Delaware Trial lawyers Association allowed policyholders to stack uninsured motorist benefits in new ways to let them receive the full benefit of their coverage.

Grabowski v. Mangler, Smith & Ziemba
C.A. No.:  02C-10-118 PLA
Supreme Court #65, 2007 decided 7/9/07

This landmark decision created a new standard in on the job injuries related to horseplay that clarified the likelihood of recovery and permitted injured parties to potentially sue co-workers for injures that result from horseplay activities.