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Victoria Crawshaw Scanlon

Portrait of Victoria Crawshaw Scanlon

Victoria is the supervising attorney for the Health Care Liability Practice Group in the Scranton office. She is an experienced litigator with more than 20 years of experience representing physicians, midwives, nurse practitioners, nurses, physical therapists, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, skilled nursing facilities, personal care homes, home health care providers and physician practice groups in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Victoria is a proven trial attorney and highly successful negotiator. She also provides risk management services.

Prior to joining Marshall Dennehey in 2008, Victoria was a partner in the Boston office of a large litigation firm, where she represented health care professionals and entities in malpractice suits and manufacturers in products liability matters. She is a 1998 graduate of Suffolk University Law School. Victoria obtained her undergraduate degree in communications and political science in 1994 from the University of Rhode Island, where she was the 1994 student commencement speaker and captain of the debate team.

Victoria was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is a dual citizen of the United States of America and South Africa.

    • Suffolk University Law School (J.D., 1998)
    • University of Rhode Island (B.A., 1994)
    • Massachusetts, 1999
    • U.S. District Court District of Massachusetts, 2002
    • Pennsylvania, 2008
    • U.S. District Court Middle District of Pennsylvania, 2011
    • The Best Lawyers in America®, Medical Malpractice Law - Defendants (2023-2026)
    • The Best Lawyers in America®, Health Care Law; Litigation - Health Care (2025-2026)
    • BV® Distinguished™ by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell
    • International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) (2006 Trial Academy, attendee)
    • Massachusetts Super Lawyer Rising Star (2007)
    • Lackawanna Bar Association
    • Massachusetts Bar Association
    • How to Write a Great Report: Malpractice Lawyer’s Perspective, American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, April 12, 2026
    • Legal Update: Advanced Practice Providers, The CHART Institute, webinar, June 18, 2025
    • Legal Update: Advanced Practice Providers, The CHART Institute, webinar, October 24, 2023
    • What a Radiologist Should Know About Medical Malpractice, Department of Radiology at Penn State Hershey Medical School, May 11, 2023
    • Advanced Practice Clinicians in Health Care: What Your Facility Needs to Know, ASHRM 2018 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee, October 8, 2018
    • Mock Depositions: What the Child Psychiatrist Needs to Know Before Sitting in the Hot Seat, The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 64th Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., October 27, 2017
    • Mock Trial: Lessons for Psychiatrists from the Bar and Risk Management, New York-Presbyterian Hospital Child Psychiatry Residency, New York University Child Psychiatry Residency, Weill Cornell Psychiatry Residency Programs, Allied World, August 2017
    • Medical Malpractice Case Study - Suicide and the Defense of a Wrongful Death Claim, Pennsylvania Association of Health Care Risk Management (PAHCRM), Annual Conference, September 9, 2016
    • Ostensible Agency and Corporate Liability Claims: What You Need to Know, Health Care and Health Law Seminar, Marshall Dennehey, November 5, 2015
    • Mock Trial: Lessons for Psychiatrists From the Bar and Risk Management, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas, October 30, 2015
    • Peer Review, Charting Pitfalls/Issues and Anticipated Legal Issues Pertaining to the Electronic Medical Record, Northeast Chapter of the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Senior Services, Continuing Education Conference, April 2009
    • "Enforceability of Nursing Home Arbitration Agreements in Pennsylvania," Defense Digest, Vol. 20, No. 4, December 2014
    • Case Law Alerts, contributor, 2010-2012
    • Obtained a defense verdict on behalf a midwife defendant in an alleged failure to properly manage and care for a patient's labor and delivery, resulting in catastrophic injury to her child. Counsel for the minor-plaintiff argued that the pregnancy and labor were high risk and, therefore, it was below the standard of care to use intermittent auscultation (IA) during the second stage of labor. The plaintiff argued that the fetus suffered a catastrophic brain injury during the second stage of labor, resulting in cerebral palsy and daily intractable seizures. The child, six years of age, wheelchair bound and unable to speak or feed himself, will require lifetime supervision and care. The defense argued that the patient's pregnancy remained low risk, and therefore, IA was within the standard of care; that a sentinel event did not occur during the second stage of labor; and that child's brain injury occurred in the days leading up to the hospital admission for labor.

Results

Medical Malpractice Arbitration Ends in Defense Award

We obtained an arbitration defense award in a medical malpractice case, in which the plaintiff alleged that our radiologist client misread the first of two head CT scans. She claimed that a timely diagnosis of her issue, which turned out to be cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT), would have given her the opportunity for a cure. We successfully argued that the head CT showed what appeared to be a normal anatomical variant, which only identified plaintiff’s CVT diagnosis with additional, more sensitive imaging studies.

Defense arbitration award in a podiatric surgical malpractice case.

The 55-year-old plaintiff underwent tarsal tunnel surgery. She developed post-operative complications, including infection, and required two additional surgeries, including a sural artery flap graft. The plaintiff gained over 100 pounds after the podiatric surgeries and underwent gastric bypass surgery. She alleged it was required as the result of being sedentary from the podiatric surgeries and complications. The plaintiff has significant lower extremity surgical scarring, chronic pain and a gait abnormality. She was never able to return to work. She  alleged that the defendant intentionally kept fraudulent, incomplete and untimely electronic medical records. The defense argued that the podiatric surgeries were indicated and performed within the standard of care, and that the plaintiff developed post-operative complications resulting in the need for additional surgeries due to her own noncompliance—prematurely and repeatedly walking on her surgical foot and getting her surgical dressings wet.

Events

Firm Highlights

Result

No-Cause Jury Verdict Secured in Wrongful Death Trial

We successfully obtained a no-cause jury verdict in a 13-day wrongful death trial. The decedent, a 59-year-old man, was admitted to the emergency room on February 15, 2019, with complaints of abdominal pain, decreased appetite, and constipation, despite the use of laxatives. The patient did not complain of any nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. He had a significant medical history including diabetes, hypertension, prior coronary artery stenting, morbid obesity (with past gastric bypass surgery), longstanding ventral hernia, and back pain. A CT scan revealed multiple hernias and a potential closed-loop bowel obstruction, leading to a surgery consultation. Our client, an emergency general surgeon, interpreted that the patient did not have a closed loop or any significant obstruction and recommended non-surgical management. The patient was approved to have clear liquids, and had a vomiting incident shortly after, but our client was not notified. The patient was returned to NPO status, and after improving overnight, he was returned to “clears” and additional medical and renal consults were ordered. Our client did not receive any communications from the residents/nurses of any changes in the patient’s condition. On February 18, 2019, two rapid responses were called due to increased heart rate and vomiting. It is believed that the vomiting resulted in aspiration, causing sepsis, ultimately leading to the patient’s death. During the trial, the plaintiff’s sole medical expert highlighted imaging on the wrong hernia, which called into question all of his opinions in the case. We made key objections related to the expert testimony, limiting what the allegations were, and preventing new allegations from being made. After approximately two and a half hours of deliberating, the jury returned a no-cause verdict. 

Thought Leadership

Ohio Supreme Court Holds That a Binding Appraisal Award May Not Be Set Aside Absent Specific Evidence of Manifest Mistake or Fraud

On July 23, 2026, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a rare opinion on the binding effect of an appraisal award in a property insurance policy.  The Court in One Church held: A binding appraisal award will not be set aside unless an error is so palpably wrong that it undermines the intent of the agreement, such as corruption or gross mistake, not a mere error of judgment—To plead a claim of mistake with particularity as required by Civ.R. 9(B), facts alleged in a complaint must constitute the elements of mistake—Allegation that additional, hidden damage was discovered after appraisal award failed to state a claim of mistake that could justify setting aside binding appraisal.  The case arose out of a claim brought by One Church against its insurer, Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company for roof damage from a storm. Pursuant to the terms of the insurance policy, the parties agreed to submit the matter to appraisal. The two appraisers inspected the building, and both appraisers agreed that the damages were $313,271.98. The insurer paid the agreed appraised amount.  Thereafter, the insured submitted a claim for an additional $206,663.09 in damages. The insured argued that these additional damages were not discovered until after the repairs began, and that they should be permitted to submit an additional claim, even though there had already been a binding appraisal of damages. The insurer refused to pay the additional damages, and the insured sued for breach of contract and bad faith.  In the trial court, the insurer moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim, arguing that the binding appraisal award barred any further claims. The insured took the position that additional hidden damages could not be discovered until after the repairs began, and therefore there was a mutual mistake. The trial court dismissed the case on the insurer’s motion, because there was no “evidence of fraud, misfeasance, or mistake”. The Court of Appeals agreed that appraisal awards are generally binding, but noted that an appraisal award can be set aside for fraud or manifest mistake. The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the case to the trial court, finding that the insured had pled mistake with sufficient particularity. The insurer appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. On appeal, the Ohio Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals, and reinstated the trial court decision dismissing the case for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The Supreme Court found that since the insured had already demanded appraisal, and the appraisal award was binding, “something more than error of judgement, such as corruption in the arbitrator, or gross mistake” must be pled with particularity, and proven for the insured to override the appraisal award. Since the complaint did not allege fraud or manifest mistake with sufficient particularity, something more than a mere error of judgment, the complaint was insufficient to state a claim.  The complaint in this case did not challenge the appraisal award. It pled that additional damages were discovered that were not apparent when the appraisal was done. It did not specify “who discovered the damages, how they were discovered, where they were found, why they were previously hidden, or why they rise to the level of a manifest mistake that the “appraiser would have corrected...had it been called to his attention”. Id at ¶22 citing Lakewood Mfg. Co. v. Home Ins. Co. of New York, 422 F.2d 796, 798 (6th Cir. 1970). Cases deciding the effect of appraisal awards are unusual. The Ohio Supreme Court’s decision in One Church relies primarily on 19th century case law for its conclusion. This emphasizes the fact that there is minimal case law deciding the effect of binding appraisal clauses in property insurance policies, and makes this case all the more significant. A lengthy dissent was written by Justice Fisher, who would have affirmed the Court of Appeals decision reversing and remanding the case for a decision on the merits. Of course, the decision works both ways, and an insurer dissatisfied with a binding appraisal award will likewise be without further recourse absent evidence of corruption, fraud, misfeasance, or manifest mistake, which must be pled with particularity. To constitute manifest mistake, “the mistake must be of such character that the arbitrator or appraiser would have corrected it had it been called to his attention.”  Lakewood Mfg. Co. v. Home Ins. Co. of New York, 422 F.2d 796, 798 (6th Cir. 1970).  The majority opinion does not specifically identify what would have been sufficient to plead mistake with particularity, or if the insured could have amended the complaint to overcome the deficiencies. The dissent argues that this was not really a case alleging mistake, but rather a question of contract interpretation. The insured did not challenge the appraisal, but argued that the hidden damage was not part of the appraisal, and the appraisal only covered the known damages.  However, this argument did not carry the day with the majority.  *Thomas F. Glassman, a shareholder in Marshall Dennehey’s Cincinnati office, filed a brief in the Ohio Supreme Court on behalf of the Ohio Association of Civil Trial Attorneys, in support of the insurer’s position.