Pennsylvania appellate court justices last week sided with Philadelphia-based law firm Fox Rothschild in a dispute with a former client over $81,287.44 in allegedly unpaid legal fees.

The panel of three Superior Court justices on Sept. 16 affirmed a lower court’s decision to deny former Fox Rothschild client and reproductive endocrinologist Miguel Marrero’s petition to strike or open default judgment entered in favor of the firm. The decision comes a year after the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas awarded Fox Rothschild a default judgment of $81,287.44 in July 2020 after Marrero allegedly failed to answer Fox Rothschild’s Oct. 18, 2019, complaint.