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Pennsylvania
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May 21, 2013
$6.4B Philly Airport Expansion Inches Toward Takeoff
The Philadelphia City Planning Commission on Tuesday signed off on two land acquisition bills key to a $6.4 billion expansion of Philadelphia International Airport, paving the way for a full vote by the City Council.
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May 21, 2013
Highmark Says UPMC Can't Fight Sanctions In Antitrust Row
Highmark Inc. on Tuesday defended its bid for sanctions against The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in the contentious antitrust battle over Highmark’s acquisition of West Penn Allegheny Health System Inc., saying UPMC has created an “alternate universe” by staunchly opposing the sanctions.
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May 21, 2013
Philly Daily News Beats Ex-Fumo Atty's Defamation Suit
The Philadelphia Daily News on Friday dodged claims that it libeled Sprague & Sprague founder Richard Sprague in a column calling him a liar for testifying that he’d publicized a defense on behalf of a client — convicted state Sen. Vince Fumo — that he didn’t believe.
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May 21, 2013
Norfolk Southern Gets Rail Yard Safety Order Tossed
Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court on Monday sided with Norfolk Southern Railway Corp. in ruling that federal regulations preempt a 1975 order from the state’s Public Utility Commission requiring the railroad to employ two brakemen around the clock to maintain safety at a rail yard.
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May 21, 2013
Ex-Pa. Justice Moves To Overturn Corruption Conviction
Disgraced former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin on Monday launched an appeal challenging her February conviction on charges that she ordered her state-funded staff to work on two political campaigns as she sought a seat on the state’s highest court.
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May 21, 2013
Pa. Appeals Court Pares Hospitals' Medicaid Rates Suit
A Pennsylvania appeals court on Monday pared down claims in a suit alleging the state Department of Public Welfare improperly authorized the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania to set hospital and provider Medicaid rates with managed care organizations that stripped hospitals of any negotiating power.
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May 20, 2013
'Girls Gone Wild' Exec Dodges $3M Judgment In 3rd Circ.
A Third Circuit panel on Monday freed “Girls Gone Wild” video series founder Joe Francis from a $3 million judgment awarded to a woman who claimed he wrongly linked her identity to a high-profile sex scandal, finding that there wasn't enough evidence to show that Francis made the video or that the New Jersey federal court had authority to hear the case.
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May 20, 2013
Penn State Sanctions Don't Affect Competition, NCAA Says
Attorneys for the National Collegiate Athletic Association asked a Pennsylvania federal judge on Monday to dismiss Gov. Tom Corbett’s suit challenging $60 million in fines levied against Penn State University, arguing that the complaint had failed to identify any relevant markets that would be impacted by the sanctions.
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May 20, 2013
Pa. Court Rejects Attys' Fee Test In Trade Secrets Cases
A Pennsylvania appeals court on Friday rejected a widely applied test used by federal courts to determine, for the purposes of awarding attorneys' fees, whether claims were brought in bad faith under the Pennsylvania Uniform Trade Secrets Act.
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May 20, 2013
Oil Field Workers Say Superior Energy Stiffed Them On OT
Superior Energy Services Inc. deprived over 1,000 Pennsylvania oil field workers of overtime pay by misclassifying them as exempt from federal and state wage laws, according to a proposed class action filed in federal court Friday.
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May 20, 2013
Conrail Faces 2 New Suits Over NJ Derailment, Spill
The deluge of litigation against Consolidated Rail Corp. and others over a November train derailment and resulting vinyl chloride spill in Paulsboro, N.J., continued Friday, when more than 120 individuals, including six first responders, filed two separate suits in Pennsylvania state court.
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May 20, 2013
Comcast Dodges Fee Suit Launched By Business Customers
A Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday tossed a proposed class action accusing Comcast Cable Communications Inc. of wrongly hitting its business-class customers with early termination and Internet equipment fees, saying there's no controversy since Comcast offered to settle the allegations in a previous lawsuit.
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May 17, 2013
Penn. Insurance Exchange Leaders Want $300M Action Nixed
Directors of a company that runs the Erie Insurance Exchange urged a Pennsylvania federal court to toss a $300 million putative class action claiming they violated fiduciary duties to millions of exchange members, arguing that the dispute belongs before the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.
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May 17, 2013
Pa. Appeals Court To Reconsider $28M Knee Injury Suit
A Pennsylvania appeals court has announced it will grant an en banc rehearing, after having ordered a new trial in a case where a $27.6 million judgment was awarded to a woman who had allegedly reinjured her surgically repaired knee while filming a marketing video.
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May 17, 2013
Pa. Rep. Wants More Clarity In Royalty Checks To Gas Lessors
A Pennsylvania state lawmaker introduced legislation on Thursday designed to ensure that deductions taken out of royalty checks issued to landowners who lease their properties to gas drillers are clearly broken down.
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May 17, 2013
GSK Says Comcast Ruling Kills Avandia Injury Class Action
GlaxoSmithKline PLC on Friday urged a Pennsylvania federal judge to reject two Humana Inc. units’ bid for class certification over costs borne by the insurers for treating Medicare patients harmed by the drug Avandia, contending that it is barred by the Supreme Court’s recent Comcast decision.
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May 17, 2013
Pittsburgh Corning's Ch. 11 Asbestos Plan OK'd After 13 Years
After 13 years in bankruptcy, Pittsburgh Corning Corp. on Thursday won court approval of a reorganization plan designed to resolve the company’s multibillion-dollar asbestos liability, overcoming objections that derailed two prior plans.
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May 17, 2013
Citibank Asks Judge To Toss Reinsurance Fraud Class Action
Citibank NA on Thursday urged a Pennsylvania federal judge to toss a putative class action alleging it schemed with private mortgage insurers to push fraudulent reinsurance on home mortgages, saying homeowners waited too long to sue under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.
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May 17, 2013
Pipefitter Says US Steel Can't Recover For Workers' Injuries
A Pennsylvania pipefitting company targeted by U.S. Steel Corp. in a $7 million lawsuit stemming from a 2010 explosion said Thursday that the company was seeking to circumvent state workers' compensation law by improperly seeking damages to pay the claims of injured employees.
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May 17, 2013
Pa. Judges Disputing Forced Retirements Want Special Master
A group of Pennsylvania judges challenging a provision of the state’s constitution mandating they retire upon reaching their 70th birthdays asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday to appoint a special master to gather evidence in the case instead of relying solely on briefs and oral arguments.
Expert Analysis
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Harrisburg Demonstrates Danger Of Public Statements
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has long made clear that when information about a municipal issuer is reasonably expected to reach investors and the trading markets, those disclosures are subject to anti-fraud laws. But the recent Harrisburg, Pa., enforcement represents the first time the SEC has charged a municipality for misleading statements made outside of its securities disclosure documents, say attorneys with Day Pitney LLP.
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Rise Of The Machines — Predictive Coding Goes Mainstream
The pros of using predictive coding far outweigh the cons. Given the heavy pressure on law firms and in-house counsel to reduce discovery costs, as well as the Justice Department's recent stance on the subject, it appears predictive coding will continue to emerge from the obscure world of legal technology to the mainstream of legal practice, say Michael Moscato and Myles Bartley of Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP.
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What Sponsors Must Know About Litigation On Church Plans
Recently, two firms have filed class actions against three Catholic Church-affiliated health care facilities, claiming that their pension plans should be subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. These cases could have a profound effect on all church plan sponsors, regardless of whether they have previously obtained favorable church plan rulings, say attorneys with Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.
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Calif. Chemical Safety Rules Push Constitutional Envelope
Impatience with the pace of Toxic Substances Control Act reform at the federal level is understandable, but substituting individual state action for a perceived lack of federal action may be the classic example of a cure which is worse than the disease. Many think California’s Safer Consumer Product Regulations now prove that, says Ward Benshoof of Alston & Bird LLP.
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A Model For Facing Meritless Derivative Suits In Pa.
The decision by the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas in In re H.J. Heinz Co. Derivative and Class Action Litigation represents a faithful application of the American Law Institute’s Principles of Corporate Governance, which were formally adopted by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the landmark decision Cuker v. Mikalauskas, say attorneys with Dechert LLP.
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Circuit Split On Market Share-Based Discounts Remains
The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to review ZF Meritor LLC v. Eaton Transmission Corporation means that the Third Circuit’s less permissive view of dominant firm pricing conduct remains intact for now, and suggests that Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware federal courts will likely be the preferred venues for challenges to such conduct, says Eric Berman of Williams Mullen.
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Far-Reaching Consequences Of NFL Concussion Litigation
Recently, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania heard oral arguments on the much-publicized In re National Football League Players' Concussion Injury Litigation. Though it is difficult to predict how the court will rule, whatever ruling it makes will have significant impact on the litigation, the law and the broader sports world, say attorneys with Squire Sanders LLP.
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How McBurney V. Young Will Impact State FOIAs
In McBurney v. Young, the U.S. Supreme Court has permitted the still-uncommon practice of state legislatures to restrict use of their freedom of information laws to citizens of the states. But states should not race to adopt citizens-only provisions in their freedom of information laws, say John Borger and Leita Walker of Faegre Baker Daniels LLP.
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E-Commerce Taxation Bill Might Be Unconstitutional
Recent decisions from the federal courts suggest that the constitutionality of the proposed Marketplace Fairness Act, which would permit states to require out-of-state businesses to collect and remit sales taxes on goods sold over the Internet, is open to serious debate, says Michael Abate of Dinsmore & Shohl LLP.
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Jurisdiction Clarification For Pa. Gov't Contract Disputes
After a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision, it is without question that an agency’s decision to reject all bids or cancel a solicitation is not subject to legal challenge — in any forum. Bidders who have submitted proposals to a commonwealth agency, only to have the agency withdraw the solicitation, simply have no recourse, say attorneys with Pepper Hamilton LLP.