Pennsylvania

  • March 07, 2024

    Pa. Counselor Says She Got No Help At Non-Accessible School

    A former school counselor with a prosthetic leg says her nonprofit employer refused to help when her assigned school wouldn't accommodate her disability, then fired her for complaining, according to a lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania state court.

  • March 07, 2024

    Pa. Panel Chides Court For Sealing Murder Case Docket

    The Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled in a precedential opinion that a county judge violated the First Amendment in sealing the docket in a criminal case and denying access to local media trying to report on the alleged murder-for-hire of a man in Westmoreland County.

  • March 07, 2024

    Estate, Collector Settle Spat Over 'Blade Runner' Poster Art

    The family of a former movie poster artist and a Pennsylvania attorney-turned-art collector have settled a dispute over the original art for a "Blade Runner" poster, with the parties agreeing to sell the art and split the proceeds.

  • March 07, 2024

    Nissan Cooling Fans Defective, Class Suit Claims

    A proposed class of car buyers is suing Nissan North America Inc. in Tennessee federal court, alleging the automaker made and sold Pathfinder and Infiniti vehicles with defective radiator fans, leading to engines overheating and shutting down.

  • March 06, 2024

    Meta Must Tackle Increased Account Hijackings, 41 AGs Say

    A bipartisan group of 41 attorneys general have urged Meta Platforms Inc. to tackle the "dramatic" increase in hackers taking over Facebook and Instagram accounts, saying the attacks have caused financial harm to victims and their families and friends.

  • March 06, 2024

    Pa. Pharma Co. Cops To Adulterated-Drug Charges

    A Pennsylvania generic drug manufacturer has pled guilty to federal charges that it sold adulterated drugs in the U.S. into interstate commerce and agreed to pay a $1.5 million penalty, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday.

  • March 06, 2024

    Choice Can Confirm Award Over $61M In Franchisee Claims

    Choice Hotels has been ordered to pay a roughly $780,000 arbitration award after dozens of South Asian franchisees earlier fought the hotel chain's bid to arbitrate their claims that a vendor kickback scheme cost them $61 million.

  • March 06, 2024

    Norfolk Southern Can't Shift Cleanup Costs To Tank Car Cos.

    Norfolk Southern cannot dump environmental cleanup costs on seven tank car owners and shipping customers with rail cars transporting chemicals and hazardous materials on the train that derailed in East Palestine last year, an Ohio federal judge said Wednesday.

  • March 06, 2024

    3rd Circ. Questions Who Can Sue Under NJ Cannabis Law

    The Third Circuit on Wednesday struggled to pinpoint whether workers can sue employers under a New Jersey law that protects them from punishment for cannabis use, while also expressing unease about accepting Walmart's assertion that state regulators possess broad enforcement authority.

  • March 06, 2024

    NTSB Chief Says Boeing Isn't Sharing Info In Blowout Probe

    The National Transportation Safety Board's chief told a Senate panel Wednesday that The Boeing Co. still hasn't provided information about the door plug that blew off a 737 Max 9 jet two months ago, fueling troubling new questions as Boeing faces multiple probes into its safety culture and quality control.

  • March 06, 2024

    'Anarchists' Don't Absolve Newspaper Unions, Pa. Panel Told

    A Pennsylvania judge's finding that "anarchists" had joined up with striking unions outside a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette facility should not let the unions off the hook for blocking delivery vehicles from going in and out of the facility's parking lot, an attorney for the newspaper's publisher argued before a state appellate panel Wednesday.

  • March 06, 2024

    3rd Circ. Bristles At Exxon Ignoring OSHA Whistleblower Order

    A Third Circuit panel on Wednesday seemed exasperated with ExxonMobil's refusal to reinstate two fired whistleblowers despite an Occupational Safety and Health Administration order to do so, repeatedly grilling the energy company's counsel to come up with a good reason for flouting the directive.

  • March 06, 2024

    Sewer Deal Kept On Ice During Appeal In Philly Suburb's Ch. 9

    A Philadelphia bankruptcy judge Wednesday rejected a utility's latest effort to lift the automatic stay triggered by the City of Chester's Chapter 9 bankruptcy, which has delayed a $276.5 million sewer sale, saying it would require her to answer questions that are on appeal from a similar motion she nixed last year.

  • March 06, 2024

    Logistics Co. Escapes Ex-Worker's Age Bias Suit For Now

    A federal judge has tossed a man's suit claiming a logistics company forced him to quit because he's in his 60s, saying it appeared that the ex-employee should have invoked the laws of Pennsylvania, not New Jersey.

  • March 06, 2024

    Correctional Facility Settles Inmate's HIV Bias Suit

    A Pennsylvania county and a private correctional facility management company agreed to end a former inmate's suit claiming he was unlawfully barred from working in the kitchen after his HIV status was improperly disclosed, his attorneys announced Wednesday.

  • March 05, 2024

    Penn Perpetuates 'Virulent Anti-Jewish Hatred,' Students Say

    The University of Pennsylvania has fostered a culture of antisemitism that has only escalated since Hamas-led killings in Israel on Oct. 7, according to an amended federal complaint accusing the school of cultivating a "pervasively hostile educational environment."

  • March 05, 2024

    Tank Car Cos. Can Inspect Derailed Train Parts, Judge Says

    An Ohio federal magistrate judge said Tuesday that the National Transportation Safety Board must allow rail tank car owners facing claims in sprawling consolidated litigation to inspect crucial components from the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine last year.

  • March 05, 2024

    Philly, Dallas Feds Name New Top Attys

    The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia on Tuesday announced it has promoted its deputy general counsel to senior vice president and general counsel, following a similar announcement from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas about its former interim general counsel.

  • March 05, 2024

    3rd Circ. Skeptical Of Teamsters' Belated Wage Grievance

    A Third Circuit panel appears likely to uphold a decision dismissing a union's wage grievance win despite buying that a cemetery operator disregarded their deal after all but agreeing Tuesday with a district court judge that the union waited too long to object to the company's alleged violation.

  • March 05, 2024

    Pa. Justices Ask If Pipeline Fight Is Preempted 'Civil Action'

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday pondered whether the federal National Gas Act empowers the state to review permits for a pipeline project, or bars it from doing so, a question that hinges on whether appeals to a state board are preempted civil actions or administrative proceedings that would fall under the state's purview.  

  • March 05, 2024

    Rite Aid Process To Break Leases, Close Stores In Ch. 11 OK'd

    A New Jersey bankruptcy judge on Tuesday signed off on procedures for bankrupt retail pharmacy chain Rite Aid Corp. to potentially shutter 210 rented stores with fast-approaching lease rejection deadlines, overruling objections from two landlords.

  • March 05, 2024

    Judge's Side Job Invalidates Tax Rulings, Pa. Justices Told

    Pennsylvania's constitution has barred judges from holding second jobs since 1776, counsel for a Delaware County hospital told the state Supreme Court during an oral argument Tuesday, so a senior judge who started collecting pay from a Philadelphia tax appeals board had effectively resigned and his rulings on the hospital's tax appeals were invalid.

  • March 05, 2024

    FDA Rejection Of Fosamax's Label Fix Not Final, 3rd Circ. Told

    Counsel for patients suing Merck over its osteoporosis drug Fosamax's alleged risk of causing painful bone fractures told a Third Circuit panel Tuesday that a Food and Drug Administration letter denying changes to the drug's label does not count as a final agency action triggering federal preemption of state law failure to warn claims.

  • March 05, 2024

    Monsanto Nabs 1st Win In Philly's Roundup Trial Blitz

    A Philadelphia jury on Tuesday cleared Monsanto of liability in a Pennsylvania cancer patient's suit alleging he developed his illness after using the weed killer Roundup, handing the company its first win in the venue where plaintiffs have won more than $2.5 billion in damages on tort claims over the Bayer AG unit's signature product.

  • March 04, 2024

    Ex-Philly Union 'Gofer' Gets Probation For Embezzlement

    A former International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers employee who admitted to shopping with union funds while serving as a "gofer" for convicted ex-business manager John Dougherty was sentenced to three years of probation on Monday in Pennsylvania federal court.

Expert Analysis

  • Pointers For Tackling Antitrust Class Action Set-Aside Orders

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    As federal district courts have increasingly been willing to enter set-aside orders for the benefit of class counsel, varying rulings have made the propriety of such orders in antitrust class actions a thorny issue — so attorneys should time their filings strategically and explore opportunities for cost-sharing, say William Reiss and Laura Song at Robins Kaplan.

  • Perspectives

    A Judge's Pitch To Revive The Jury Trial

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    Ohio state Judge Pierre Bergeron explains how the decline of the jury trial threatens public confidence in the judiciary and even democracy as a whole, and he offers ideas to restore this sacred right.

  • Rebuttal

    Mallory Ruling Doesn't Undermine NC Sales Tax Holding

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    Contrary to the conclusion reached in a recent Law360 guest article, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Mallory ruling shouldn't be read as implicitly repudiating the North Carolina Supreme Court’s sales tax ruling in Quad Graphics v. North Carolina Department of Revenue — the U.S. Supreme Court could have rejected Quad by directly overturning it, says Jonathan Entin at Case Western Reserve.

  • How To Recognize And Recover From Lawyer Loneliness

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    Law can be one of the loneliest professions, but there are practical steps that attorneys and their managers can take to help themselves and their peers improve their emotional health, strengthen their social bonds and protect their performance, says psychologist and attorney Traci Cipriano.

  • Opinion

    Litigation Funding Disclosure Should Be Mandatory

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    Despite the Appellate Rules Committee's recent deferral of the issue of requiring third-party litigation funding disclosure, such a mandate is necessary to ensure the even-handed administration of justice across all cases, says David Levitt at Hinshaw.

  • Recalling USWNT's Legal PR Playbook Amid World Cup Bid

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    As the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team strives to take home another World Cup trophy, their 2022 pay equity settlement with the U.S. Soccer Federation serves as a good reminder that winning in the court of public opinion can be more powerful than a victory inside the courtroom, says Hector Valle at Vianovo.

  • Opinion

    Justices' Job Transfer Review Should Hold To Title VII Text

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming decision in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis should hold that a job transfer can be an adverse employment action, and the analysis should be based on the straightforward language of Title VII rather than judicial activism, say Lynne Bernabei and Alan Kabat at Bernabei & Kabat.

  • 11th Circ. Ruling May Impede Insurers' Defense Cost Recoup

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    The Eleventh Circuit's recent Continental Casualty v. Winder Laboratories ruling that insurers cannot obtain reimbursement of defense costs from their insureds where the policy itself does not require such reimbursement is likely to be cited as persuasive authority in Georgia and other states without clear precedent on the issue, say Christy Maple and Robert Whitney at Phelps Dunbar.

  • Immigration Program Pitfalls Exacerbate Physician Shortages

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    Eliminating shortcomings from U.S. immigration regulations and policies could help mitigate the national shortage of physicians by encouraging foreign physicians to work in medically underserved areas, but progress has been halted by partisan gridlock, say Alison Hitz and Dana Schwarz at Clark Hill.

  • Perspectives

    Mallory Gives Plaintiffs A Better Shot At Justice

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    Critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern claim it opens the door to litigation tourism, but the ruling simply gives plaintiffs more options — enabling them to seek justice against major corporations in the best possible court, say Rayna Kessler and Ethan Seidenberg at Robins Kaplan.

  • CRA Plays Role In DOJ Fight Against Redlining

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent consent order with ESSA Bank & Trust is a reminder that although the Community Reinvestment Act lacks a civil enforcement provision, financial institutions' CRA compliance efforts may have ramifications under various anti-discrimination statutes, say Collin Grier and Levi Swank at Goodwin.

  • And Now A Word From The Panel: 55 Years Of The JPML

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    As the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation marks its 55th birthday, Alan Rothman at Sidley looks back at its history and finds that, while some features of MDL jurisprudence have changed over the decades, the most remarkable aspect of the panel's practice has been its consistency.

  • Why Justices' SuperValu Ruling Wasn't Quite A 'Seismic Shift'

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    Notwithstanding an early victory lap by the relators' bar, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. SuperValu Inc. was a win for both whistleblowers and sophisticated companies, but unfortunately left “subjective belief” to be interpreted by lower courts and future litigants, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.

  • Courts Can Overturn Deficient State Regulations, Too

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    While suits challenging federal regulations have become commonplace, such cases against state agencies are virtually nonexistent, but many states have provisions that allow litigants to bring suit for regulations with inadequate cost-benefit analyses, says Reeve Bull at the Virginia Office of Regulatory Management.

  • Micromobility Can Lead To Macro Liability For Cities, Cos.

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    E-bike and scooter manufacturers and rental operators, as well as the cities that host such services, must be aware of the major litigation risk associated with the growing number of serious accidents and injuries involving such micromobility devices — and should track emerging regulations in this area, says Arturo Aviles at Segal McCambridge.

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