Michael Trunk
Partner | Kline & Specter
Michael Trunk is a medical malpractice, product liability and personal injury trial lawyer and partner at Kline & Specter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Admitted in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; J.D., Temple University Beasley School of Law (1999).
Meet Michael
The conclusion of these cases marks an important milestone for the families as they move forward from litigation and begin a new chapter.
Michael A. Trunk is a partner at Kline & Specter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he represents catastrophically injured people and grieving families in product liability, medical malpractice and civil rights cases. He joined the firm in 2006 after seven years at Dechert, where he handled matters for both plaintiffs and defendants.
In 2025 Trunk resolved, as lead counsel, ten product liability cases against Fisher-Price and Mattel brought by families who said their infants were hurt or killed in the Rock ‘n Play sleeper, after six years of investigation and litigation. He was lead counsel in an $11.9 million settlement for a girl left brain damaged by an asthma attack tied to mold in a government-subsidized home, and co-counsel on an $80 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon in a vaginal mesh case. Other results include a $30 million settlement with Shanin Specter for a worker who fell from a cell tower, a $7.8 million verdict for the family of a jockey killed at Parx Racetrack, and a $5 million verdict for the family of a man whose feeding tube was placed in his lung.
Trunk graduated magna cum laude from Temple University with a degree in philosophy and earned his law degree from Temple’s law school in 1999, where he was on the Temple Law Review and finished first in his class. He added a master of laws in trial advocacy from Temple in 2008. He is licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and has been selected for Pennsylvania Super Lawyers every year from 2012 through 2026.
Experience and Expertise
Qualifications
Timeline
- Admitted to practice in Pennsylvania
- Admitted to practice in New Jersey
- U.S. District Courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- LL.M., Trial Advocacy, Temple University School of Law (2008)
- J.D., Temple University School of Law (1999), Temple Law Review
- B.A., Philosophy, magna cum laude, Temple University
Practice Areas
- American Association for Justice
- Pennsylvania Association for Justice
- Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association
- Philadelphia Bar Association
- Pennsylvania Bar Association
- Super Lawyers, Pennsylvania (2012-2026)
- $80 Million Verdict: Co-counsel (2019) in a Philadelphia verdict against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon for a woman injured by a vaginal mesh device; $30 million compensatory and $50 million punitive.
- $30 Million Settlement: Worked with Shanin Specter (2018) for a worker who fell nearly 50 feet from a cell tower in Allentown, Pa., after a ladder rung dislodged.
- $19 Million Settlement: Co-counsel with Shanin Specter for the family of a newborn who suffered a severe brain injury after a uterine rupture caused by overmedication.
- $11.9 Million Settlement: Lead counsel in a civil rights case for a girl brain damaged after a mold-triggered asthma attack in a government-subsidized house; reached on the day trial was to begin.
- $7.8 Million Verdict: Jury verdict for the family of a jockey killed at Parx Casino & Racetrack when a spooked horse threw and kicked him.
- $7.5 Million Settlement: With Shanin Specter (2009), against La Salle University for a former football player who suffered a brain injury after returning to play before a concussion resolved.
- $5 Million Verdict: Lead counsel (2016) in Montgomery County, Pa., for the family of an 88-year-old man whose feeding tube was placed in his lung.
- $4.2 Million Settlement: Lead counsel (June 2019) for the estate of a woman who died after routine neck surgery while the remote monitoring doctor was driving.
- $3.75 Million Settlement: For a 10-year-old girl blinded in one eye by a Toypedo pool toy.
- $2.8 Million Verdict: August 2015 verdict in Delaware County, Pa., for a woman whose larynx and trachea were damaged by medical error.
- $2 Million Settlement: For a 17-year-old from West Palm Beach, Fla., who lost an eye after being struck by a Toypedo pool toy.
- Nearly $2 Million Settlement: 2013 settlement for Philadelphia Eagles lineman Jason Peters, reinjured when a defective rolling walker broke.
- $1.8 Million Settlement: Lead counsel (October 2021) in New Jersey for the family of a five-year-old girl who died of bacterial meningitis after missed diagnoses.
- $1.5 Million Settlement: October 2015 settlement for a suburban Milwaukee man who lost an eye to a Toypedo pool toy.
- Ten Product Liability Settlements: Lead counsel (2025) in resolving ten cases against Fisher-Price and Mattel over infant injuries and deaths linked to the Rock 'n Play sleeper.
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