Stefanie Pitcavage Mekilo

Area of Emphasis

Stefanie Pitcavage Mekilo is a civil litigator who draws on more than a decade of trial-court experience in the federal judiciary to guide clients through all aspects of the litigation process.  Ms. Mekilo focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation, environmental litigation, and energy litigation, regularly representing businesses in bet-the-company and high-stakes disputes in state and federal courts throughout the country.  She also represents clients before state and federal agencies and in proceedings seeking judicial review of agency action in state and federal court.  In addition,  Ms. Mekilo has extensive experience with disputes involving theft of trade secrets; breach of restrictive covenants; breach of fiduciary duties, tortious interference, and related business tort claims; labor and employment; and emergency injunction litigation, as well as in the areas of antitrust, securities, trademark infringement, product liability, class action, and multidistrict litigation.

Representative Experience
  • Representing a publicly traded electric vehicle manufacturer against another publicly traded electric vehicle manufacturer in a tortious interference case in Arizona federal district court involving more than $25 million in damages.  Lion Electric Company v. Nikola Corporation, 2:23-CV-00372 (D. Ariz.) (pending).
  • Representing a Fortune 500 company in CERCLA and RCRA litigation in Wisconsin federal district court in which the plaintiff sought nearly $30 million in past and future response costs and declaratory relief.  After a two-week bench trial, the court awarded the plaintiff $0 in past response costs, reduced the plaintiff’s requested allocation of future response costs to the company by more than 40%, and dismissed the plaintiff’s RCRA claim.  Case is currently pending before the court on post-trial motions.  Barclay Lofts LLC, et al. v. PPG Industries, et al., 2:20-CV-01694 (D. Wis.) (pending).
  • Successfully represented Fortune 500 company in defending against citizens group’s challenge before Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board to more than $12 million in financial assurances approved by Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.  Case is currently pending on appeal before Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court.  PennEnvironment v. Pa. Dep’t of Envt’l Prot. & PPG Industries, Inc., No. 566 CD 2024 (Pa. Commw. Ct.) (pending).
  • Representing a global manufacturer of pool and spa products in petition for review of United States Department of Energy rulemaking before Third Circuit Court of Appeals.  Zodiac Pool Systems LLC v. U.S. Department of Energy, No. 23-3094 (3d Cir.) (pending).
  • Representing a global oil and gas company in a pre-enforcement challenge to a $1.4 million impact fee under the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Act (Act 13).  Case is currently pending before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.  Repsol Oil & Gas USA v. Pa. Public Utility Commission, 62 MAP 2024 (Pa.) (pending).
Background

Prior to joining Babst Calland, Ms. Mekilo served as a judicial law clerk in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania for 12 years—first as a term law clerk to Judge John E. Jones III, then as the career law clerk to Judge Christopher C. Conner.  Ms. Mekilo managed a substantial caseload in both roles, drafting over 200 opinions for the judges on matters ranging from complex commercial disputes to employment-discrimination cases to novel questions of constitutional law and statutory interpretation.  Ms. Mekilo participated in more than two dozen jury and bench trials and countless emergency injunction proceedings during her tenure with the Court.  She gained extensive knowledge of the inner workings of not only the Middle District of Pennsylvania, but also the Eastern and Western Districts of Pennsylvania, the District of Delaware, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals when Judge Jones and Judge Conner sat by designation with those courts.

Ms. Mekilo received her J.D. from Widener University Commonwealth Law School in 2011, graduating summa cum laude at the top of her class and serving as the Executive Managing Editor of the Widener Law Journal.  She earned her B.A. in Business Administration from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania in 2008.

Memberships and Affiliations

Ms. Mekilo is admitted to practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  She is the President-Elect of the Middle District of Pennsylvania Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and also serves as the Co-Chair of the Chapter’s CLE Committee.  In addition, she serves as President of the Junior Board of the YWCA of Greater Harrisburg and is a member of the YWCA of Greater Harrisburg’s Board of Directors.  Ms. Mekilo has previously taught legal writing as an adjunct professor of law at her alma mater, Widener University Commonwealth Law School.

Publications/Presentations
  • Author, “Help the Clerk to Help Your Case: Insights from a Federal Career Clerk Turned Litigator,” Federal Lawyer, Federal Bar Association, (publication pending).
  • Panelist, “Breaking Down SCOTUS’s Recent Administrative Law Decisions: How (Loper) Bright Is the Future for Regulated Entities?” Babst Calland Client CLE Day, October 16, 2024.
  • Moderator, “Third Circuit Appellate Roundup – Civil,” U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Bench/Bar Conference, October 4, 2024.
  • Panelist, “A New Era: The Implications of the Supreme Court’s Recent Administrative Law Decisions on the Natural Gas Industry,” American Public Gas Association, August 6, 2024.
  • Co-Author, “Hangey v. Husqvarna Professional Products: Pennsylvania Supreme Court Closes Another Off-Ramp for Corporate Defendants Sued in Pennsylvania,” Babst Calland Litigation Alert, December 5, 2023.
  • Co-Author, “Court’s Venue Ruling Is Likely to Worsen Forum Shopping,” Law360 Expert Analysis, December 4, 2023.
  • Co-Author, “To Infinity and Beyond? Pennsylvania Supreme Court Casts Doubt Upon Presumptive Constitutional Limit for Punitive Damages,” The Legal Intelligencer, November 2, 2023.
  • Guest Lecturer, “Writing Tips for Young Lawyers,” Penn State Dickinson School of Law, April 7, 2022.
  • Panelist, “Writing Tips for Litigators: Insights from Both Sides of the Bench,” M.D. Pa. Chapter of the Federal Bar Association Virtual CLE, November 4, 2021.
  • Co-Author, “Committee on Codes of Conduct,” Ethics Deskbook for United States Judges, (1st ed. 2020) (principal coauthor with Judge Christopher C. Conner).
  • Panelist, “A View from the Bench, A Judge’s Panel and Law Clerk Insights,” Widener Commonwealth Law School Federal Courts Day, October 15, 2019.
  • Panelist, “A View from the Bench, A Judge’s Panel and Law Clerk Insights,” Widener Commonwealth Law School Federal Courts Day, October 23, 2018.
  • Guest Lecturer, “Brief Writing Do’s and Don’ts,” Widener University Commonwealth Law School, March 18, 2015.
  • Guest Lecturer, “The Value of Judicial Clerkships,” Penn State Dickinson School of Law, September 26, 2014.
  • Author, “Mind Your Own Business? Not an Option for Pennsylvania’s Public Officials Following Rendell v. Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission,” 20 WIDENER L.J. 497 (2011).
  • Co-Author, “Auto No-Fault in Malaysia: The Proper Relationship with Tort,” INT’L CONF. ON ‘EMERGING ISSUES IN PUB. LAW: CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES’ (2011).