Monday, August 18, 2008
Commonwealth Court Administrative Law
LaStella v. State Bd. of Psychology
The State Board of Psychology did not impermissibly commingle functions when it preliminarily denied an applicant’s license and then after a hearing affirmed its own preliminary decision. The Commonwealth Court affirmed the Board.
Employment
Circle Bolt & Nut Co. v. Pennsylvania Human Relations Comm’n.
The Commission properly credited claimant’s testimony over the contradictory and implausible excuses of the employer. The Commonwealth Court affirmed the decision of the Human Relations Commission that Circle unlawfully retaliated against Dixon.
Motor Vehicles
Reinhart v. Bureau of Driver Licensing
PennDOT’s mischaracterization of the trial court’s findings of fact justified an award of attorneys’ fees for a licensee. The Commonwealth Court affirmed the trial court’s grant of licensee’s appeal of his license suspension and remanded for an award of fees.
Schools And Education
Northwest Area School District v. Northwest Area Education Ass’n.
When, under a collective bargaining agreement, step and column raises had in the past gone into effect on the first day of the school year, those raises were properly found by an arbitrator to have been required when the agreement expired a few days after the start of the school year. The Commonwealth Court affirmed the trial court’s refusal to vacate an arbitration award.
Taxation
Citimortgage, Inc. v. KD Investments, Inc.
A notice sent 12 days before an upset tax sale was insufficient notice of that sale. The Commonwealth Court affirmed the trial court’s decision to set aside that sale.
Unemployment Compensation
Mountain Home Beagle Media v. Unemployment Compensation Bd. of Review
An unemployment compensation appeal that is filed by fax is not timely unless the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review receives it before the statutory appeal period expires. The Commonwealth Court affirmed the Board’s dismissal of the appeal as untimely.
Workers’ Compensation
Crompton Corp. v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Bd. (King)
A claimant’s belief that he or she suffers a work-related hearing loss does not, by itself, rise to the level necessary to trigger the Workers’ Compensation Act’s notice period. The Commonwealth Court affirmed the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB) in its decision affirming the Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ) who granted the claimant’s hearing loss petition.
Workers’ Compensation
Albert Einstein Healthcare v Workers’ Compensation Appeal Bd. (Stanford)
A claim that work-related disability began at some point after the alleged precipitating incident is not an obvious claim and requires expert testimony to establish the causal connection and the date of disability. The Commonwealth Court affirmed the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB) to the extent it affirmed the Worker’s Compensation Judge (WCJ) in granting a claim petition but reversed the WCAB’s modification of the WCJ’s decision to change the date that disaility was found to have begun.
Courts of Common Pleas Criminal Practice
Commonwealth v. Gallagher
Although defendant’s conviction for child-luring was vacated on appeal, defendant was not entitled to credit for time served on the luring conviction against his period of probation because probation was imposed for a separate conviction for a different offense. Affirmance recommended.
Criminal Practice
Commonwealth v. Garcia
The court did not subject defendant to manifest injustice by refusing to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea sentencing him to 14 to 70 years imprisonment where his original offer for his guilty plea was five to 10 years. Affirmed.
Criminal Practice
Commonwealth v. Snow
Trial counsel was not ineffective where defendant did not request counsel to file an appeal until defendant’s appeal rights had expired and where defense counsel was under no duty to consult with defendant regarding an appeal. Petition for post-conviction relief denied.
Family Law
Janosik v. Janosik
A hearing officer properly based husband’s support obligation on his unemployment compensation rather than assigning him a higher earning capacity where husband’s termination was not an attempt to avoid his support obligation. Affirmance recommended.
Family Law
Fedorko v. Fedorko
Wife was not entitled to redirect any remaining share of husband’s pension benefits to a third-party beneficiary should she die before the full payment of her share. Exceptions to recommendations granted in part, denied in part.
Family Law
Buchanan v. Buchanan
The child’s home state is only critical in deciding jurisdiction in interstate custody litigation at the time of the initial custodial determination. The court denied mother’s petition to transfer jurisdiction to Virginia.
Land Use And Planning
In re Appeal of Moyer
Mere common ownership of adjoining lots does not automatically establish a physical merger of those lots for the purpose of determining whether those lots comply with the zoning requirements. The court granted the land use appeal by appellants.
Land Use And Planning
Quest Land Development Group, LLC v. Township of Lower Heidelberg,
The de facto official doctrine proscribed plaintiffs’ suit seeking a declaration that the zoning hearing board lacked authority to decide an application for a special exception due to the failure of board members to take an oath of office or to provide statements of financial interest. Preliminary objections sustained.
Motor Vehicles
Commonwealth v. Gigous
A prior offense is any conviction occurring before sentencing regardless of the relative dates of the underlying incidents. The court denied the defendant’s appeal of his license suspension.
Motor Vehicles
Commonwealth v. Sanders
Municipal authorities have the power to enforce violations of speed control devices on private property where the enforcement is at the request of the property owner and the property exceeds ten continuous acres. The court found defendant guilty of the summary offense of running a stop sign.
Torts
Cooperman v. Waters
It is not possible for a possessor of land to keep all surfaces free of snow and ice at all times. The court granted summary judgment to defendants.
Torts
Stanley J. Caterbone Advanced Media Group v. Lombardo
There is no civil cause of action for extortion. The court sustained preliminary objections thought it permitted plaintiff to amend its complaint.
Superior Court Civil Practice
Lerner v. Lerner
Bald assertions of legal conclusions cannot survive a demurrer. The Superior Court affirmed the trial court’s sustaining of preliminary objections.
Criminal Practice
Commonwealth v. Smith
The trial court’s dismissal of charges against defendant was an inappropriate sanction as it was clear from the record that the Commonwealth’s discovery violation was not intended to provoke defendant into seeking a mistrial or deprive him of a fair trial. Reversed and remanded.
Criminal Practice
Commonwealth v. Walker
Where the requisite manifest necessity existed in the instant case, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in declaring a mistrial sua sponte, and double jeopardy did not attach. Affirmed.
Criminal Practice
Commonwealth v. Copeland
Defendant was not entitled to suppression of evidence found by police after a routine traffic stop because the police had probable cause to search defendant’s vehicle and exigent circumstances required prompt action. Reversed and remanded.
Family Law
Style v. Shaub
A claim for child support for a child over 18 is not estopped by a failure to respond to notice of termination of support under Pa.R.Civ.P. 1910.19(e). The Superior Court, however, affirmed the dismissal of a petition for child support for such a child on the merits.
Trusts And Estates
In re Estate of Slomsk
The phrase “make a gift” is insufficient to vest an agent with the authority to make unlimited gifts under a power of attorney. The Superior Court affirmed the holding that the agent under a power of attorney could not transfer the proceeds of bank accounts and life insurance proceeds to others as gifts.
Supreme Court Criminal Practice
Commonwealth v. Sattazahn
The PCRA court did not err in awarding defendant a new penalty hearing where trial counsel was deficient in his investigation and presentation of mitigating mental health evidence for the original penalty hearing. Affirmed.
Third Circuit Civil Rights
Odd v. Malone
There is no absolute prosecutorial immunity for prosecutors who obtain bench warrants to detain material witnesses and then fail to keep the courts informed of the progress of the criminal proceedings for which they were detained or the custodial status of those witnesses. The court reversed one trial court and affirmed another in this consolidated appeal.
Consumer Protection
Hunt v. United States Tobacco Co.
A private plaintiff alleging deceptive conduct under Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (UTPCPL) must prove that he justifiably relied on the alleged deceptive conduct. The Third Circuit reversed and vacated the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion to dismiss.
Criminal Practice
United States v. Rose
A criminal defendant who fails to raise a reason to suppress evidence before the district court cannot raise that reason on appeal absent good cause, as the suppression issue is waived under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12. Appellate issues waived.
Environmental Law
Lebanon Farms Disposal, Inc. v. County of Lebanon,
The rule of invalidity that applies to flow control ordinances under the Dormant Clause does not apply to nondiscriminatory flow control ordinances that benefit public waste disposal facilities. The Third Circuit reversed and remanded the grant of an injunction against Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority (GLRA’s) regulations.
U.S. District Court - Middle Insurance Law
Amitie One Condominium Ass’n v. Nationwide Property and Casualty Ins.Co.
The meaning of a “sudden collapse” from sinkholes depends on how the terms “sudden” and “collapse” are used in the insurance context and what “sudden” means in the geological context. The court denied defendant insurer’s motion to dismiss.
U.S. District Court - Eastern Civil Practice
Campbell v. Oxford Electronics, Inc.
An untimely filing of a third-party complaint for indemnification was not excused by defendant’s claim its request for indemnification was just denied. The court denied defendant’s motion for leave to file an third-party complaint.
Civil Rights
Malar v. Delaware County
Where a state actor makes a decision under circumstances that are neither exigent or hurried, the action will shock the conscience if taken in disregard of a great risk of harm. The court denied defendants’ motions to dismiss.
Civil Rights
Watson v. Abington Twp
The Fourth Amendment protects property interests from seizure even where no privacy interest is implicated. The court granted in part and denied in part the cross-motions for summary judgment.
Environmental Law
Gates v. Rohm and Haas Co.
The presence in the air of a hazardous chemical, vinyl chloride, even if undetectable, constitutes a physical injury to property for the purposes of common law property damages claims. The court denied Rohm and Haas’s motion for partial summary judgment on plaintiff’s common law property claims.
Immigration Law
Casas-Osorio v. Mukasey
The courts have no power to review consular decisions. The court dismissed the petition for a writ of mandamus and declaratory judgment.
Intellectual Property
Liko Ab v. Rise Lifts, Inc.,
The notice pleading requirement in a trademark and trade dress infringement action required sufficient specificity for a defendant to be on notice of what elements of trade dress it had allegedly appropriated and how it was alleged to be using plaintiff’s mark. The court denied the motion to dismiss but required a second amended complaint, and denied the motion to disqualify defendant’s counsel.
Torts
Stroud v. Abington Memorial Hospital
Where the conduct of other licensed professionals who are not named as defendants is the basis of a claim for vicarious liability against a health care provider against whom a certificate of merit (COM) is filed, no further COM is required.
U.S. District Court - Western Employment
Hoshak v. Sysco Food Services
There is no retaliation claim under Pennsylvania common law for a suspension, not discharge, and the plaintiff is protected by an collective bargaining agreement. The court granted summary judgment to defendant.
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