Joyce Novotny-Prettiman

Attorney

    Contact Information

  • Location: Greensburg
  • Office Phone: 888-534-6016
  • Fax: 724-837-1348
  • Email: jn@qrlegal.com
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Biography

Joyce Novotny-Prettiman is an Associate practicing in the areas of Plaintiff’s Personal Injury and Long-Term Disability. She excels at guiding clients as they rebuild their lives after catastrophic accidents and working on their behalf with claims against insurance companies. She knows when she needs to fight for fair compensation. For clients with extensive injuries and a long recovery period, Joyce’s knowledge of Long-Term Disability is an asset. She can call on other Quatrini Law Group team members when Social Security Disability or workers’ compensation claims may be applicable. Joyce has been trained in mediation and in the collaborative law process – skills that serve not only in formal alternative dispute resolution settings, but also when negotiating on her client’s behalf.

In Gallagher v. GEICO Joyce successfully represented the plaintiff before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The Court held the “household exclusion” used by auto insurance carriers to deny underinsured motorist benefits violated the Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law (MVFRL), getting her client the underinsured motorist benefits and the protection he paid for from the auto insurance carrier.

Joyce earned her B.A. in 1997 from Seton Hill College, summa cum laude, and her J.D. from Duquesne University in 2000. Boasting a unique legal background, she began as legal secretary before obtaining her paralegal certification from St. Vincent College in 1989. She continued to work in the capacity of paralegal until her admission into law school. While attending law school, Joyce worked as a law clerk at QuatriniRafferty and she became an attorney with the firm upon her admission to the practice of law.

Joyce is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA), the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA), and the Westmoreland Bar Association (WBA). Especially active in her local bar association, she has served on a wide range of committees and held various leadership positions, including President of WBA in 2019-2020.  She is the current chair of the Lawyers Assistance Committee and co-chairs the Wellness Committee.  She is a member of the editorial staff of The Sidebar and is also a member of the Planning, Women in Law and Civil Litigation Committees. Joyce a member of the Ned J. Nakles American Inn of Court, serving currently as Treasurer and was President of the Inn in 2020-2021. Joyce is a member of the Conference of County Bar Leaders Executive Committee, a PBA group dedicated to training bar leaders and fostering innovative bar initiatives. She has been elected to the Westmoreland Academy of Trial Lawyers and is a member of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice and the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association. She is also a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, an association only open to trial lawyers who have won million dollar verdicts and settlements.

Joyce’s activism is not limited to the law. She volunteers as a member of the parish council and as a lector at St. Benedict Church and has been appointed to the Westmoreland County Parks and Recreation Citizens Advisory Board. She is past Board Member for Laurel Faith in Action, devoted to helping residents in the communities of Latrobe, Derry and Ligonier who are over 60 remain independent in their own homes. She was a volunteer for CASA of Westmoreland from 2010 through 2020, an agency that works to give children a voice in the court system when circumstances have placed that child in protective services.

A lifelong resident of Unity Township, Joyce currently resides in the Latrobe-Greensburg area with her husband, Daniel. She enjoys spending her free time with her family and friends and loves to practice yoga and to go for a jog to enjoy the outdoors.  Summer is her favorite season and she has enjoyed jet skiing and boating for years which pastime grows from the many Sundays her father took her and her sister for boating adventures.

Bar Admissions

  • Pennsylvania
  • U.S. District Court Western District of Pennsylvania

Education

  • J.D., Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University (formerly Duquesne University School of Law), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2000
  • B.A., Business Management, summa cum laude, Seton Hill College, Greensburg, PA, 1997

Representative Cases

Honors and Awards

  • Million Dollar Advocates Forum

Professional Associations and Memberships

  • Westmoreland Bar Association
    • Planning Committee, 2024
    • Wellness Committee/Lawyers Assistance Committee Chair, 2024
    • Women in Law
    • The Sidebar Editorial Staff
    • President, 2019-2020
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association
    • County Conference of Bar Leaders
  • American Bar Association
  • Civil Litigation and Lawyer Assistance (chair) Committees of Westmoreland Bar Association, Member
  • Ned J. Nakles American Inn of Court
    • Secretary, 2024-present
    • President, 2019-2020
  • Pennsylvania Association for Justice
  • Westmoreland Academy of Trial Lawyers

Pro Bono and Community Activities

  • Member & Lector, St. Benedict Church
  • Westmoreland County Parks and Recreation Citizens Advisory Board
  • CASA of Westmoreland, Volunteer (2010-2020)
  • Laurel Faith in Action, Board of Directors (2011-2018)