Episode
In the Trenches with Melissa Scartelli – The Making of a Medical Malpractice Warrior
- Podcast
- Trial Lawyers University
- Published
- Feb 26, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4348
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://tlu.captivate.fm/episode/95-melissa-scartelli
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Summary
They offered $100,000. She demanded $450,000. They wouldn't budge — so she went to trial. The jury came back with $10 million. To this day, it remains the highest pain-and-suffering verdict in Luzerne County history. Meet Melissa Scartelli , the author of that verdict and many others. A 35-year trial veteran and founder of Scartelli Olszewski , Melissa has built her practice around medical malpractice, earning rare punitive damage verdicts against physicians and going to verdict in cases where she could not name a specific dollar amount to the jury. Host Dan Ambrose draws out stories behind Melissa's wins, including the way she anchors damages and the time she flipped a retrial in her favor by calling a defendant doctor first. Train and Connect with the Titans ☑️ Melissa Scartelli | LinkedIn ☑️ Scartelli Olszewski | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | TikTok ☑️ Trial Lawyers University ☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos ☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube 2026 Programming ☑️ Training Witnesses to Transport Themselves and the Jury in Direct (Dan Ambrose), March 6-7, Hermosa Beach, CA ☑️ TLU Beach , June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CA ☑️ Dark Arts Trial Craft Bootcamp (Dan Ambrose and David Clark), Huntington Beach Episode Snapshot Melissa grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in a middle-class family; her father nearly died of a heart attack when she was a freshman in high school, and her mother was later diagnosed with kidney disease — experiences that made her empathetic to people’s suffering. Melissa attended Dickinson College and Dickinson Law School, became captain of the trial advocacy team, and won the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Award i…