A Philadelphia judge has overturned a nearly $3 million verdict against a Berks County children's residential treatment home accused of ignoring the warning signs of a mentally ill teenager's intent to commit suicide, and in doing so, called out the plaintiff's attorney for misconduct.

Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Sean F. Kennedy granted defendant Bethany Children's Home's motion for judgment notwithstanding the April jury verdict.

In his Nov. 6 opinion in response to post-trial motions, Kennedy said injury lawyer Michael Pisanchyn committed "innumerable instances" of misconduct, including taking an "unprecedented combative tone" with the judge, prejudicing the jury by improperly trying to "inject" the idea that the case was about the defendant putting profits over safety, and telling the jury that the defendant "pled guilty" to a licensing and inspection citation—a type of matter in which pleas are not entered.

"From start to finish, plaintiff's counsel engaged in a pattern of misconduct so thorough that it escapes this court's ability to recall another like it," Kennedy said.

He added, "One of the byproducts of plaintiff's counsel continually ignoring the trial court's evidentiary rulings and introducing impermissible testimony is that defendant was forced to object at nearly every turn. This improperly cast defendant in an unfavorable light in the eyes of the jury. Defendant—exercising far more patience than the trial court would have endeavored—counted a total number of 120 objections."

Additionally, Kennedy said, "The continued and deliberate conduct by plaintiff's counsel—despite numerous warnings by the trial court—served no other purpose than to infect the jury."

Pisanchyn could not be reached for comment.

Calvin Long, the father of Carley Long, who at age 16 was struck and killed by a Norfolk Southern freight train on the night of May 6, 2015, after running from the Bethany Children's Home facility in Womelsdorf, sued Bethany for failing to keep his daughter safe.

Calvin Long claimed that Bethany was aware of his daughter's multiple suicide attempts, spurred by bipolar disorder, and a previous escape from the facility, but neglected to keep her within sight and hearing distance at all times.

However, Kennedy said Long did not present enough evidence to support his claim.

On the date of the incident, another resident allegedly threatened Carley Long with a knife. According to the plaintiff's court papers, Long was told that she had to be kept in the facility longer than expected and would not return home until later. She asked to call her father multiple times, but was denied, court papers said.

"At Bethany the governing regulation is that all children be kept in 'ear shot' and 'eye shot' of staff," Calvin Long's court papers said. "Even Bethany agrees that the children, and specifically Carley, [were] to be supervised, keeping her with visual and audio range. Bethany did not keep Carley supervised appropriately and she left the house without being noticed."

However, Kennedy said the regulations say nothing about keeping children within audio or visual range, nor does it define the parameters of that range.

Kennedy added, "Although 'auditory range' is not contained within the regulations, testimony from defendants' staff members demonstrates that defendant was compliant regardless—that the children were in auditory range of staff members."

The judge pointed out that a staff member testified that children could be located by staff simply by the sounds they made.

Bethany's attorney, Francis Deasey of Deasey Mahoney & Valentini, said his client was pleased with the reversal.

"Judge Kennedy correctly found that Bethany Children's Home did not breach any duty owed to Carley Long. He correctly found that her death, while obviously very tragic was not foreseeable to Bethany Children's Home," Deasey said. "Finally, he properly chastised plaintiff's counsel for his relentless disregard of the court's orders which obviously impaired the jury's ability to see the truth of this case. The weight of an undeserved state citation and subsequent trial has been lifted from Bethany Children's home and they can resume the valuable work they do for at-risk children without this burden."