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Pennsylvania
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March 27, 2025
Pa. Court Voids Theme Park's 'Click-Through' Contract
A Pittsburgh-area amusement park's online season tickets came with a "click-through" agreement to resolve disputes out of court that Pennsylvania appellate courts have said is not binding without including a clear warning, which a judge said justified not sending a proposed class action to arbitration.
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March 27, 2025
Pa. Coal Co. Gets OK For $23.5M Asset Sale In Ch. 11
A Pennsylvania bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved the sale of assets of bankrupt Corsa Coal Corp. for $23.5 million, overriding arguments against including litigation claims in the sale and for earmarking proceeds for environmental cleanup.
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March 26, 2025
Sotomayor Urges Caution On Nondelegation Doctrine Revamp
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor cautioned her colleagues during oral arguments Wednesday against using a challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's administration of a broadband subsidy program as a way to resurrect the long-dormant nondelegation doctrine. Several conservative justices, however, seemed willing to disregard that admonition.
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March 26, 2025
Crypto Co. CEO Must Face Suit Alleging Refund Fraud
The CEO of Power Block Coin LLC, which does business as SmartFi, must face a suit accusing him and the company of refusing to fulfill their "buyback guarantee" of its SmartFi tokens, with a Pennsylvania federal court ruling that the plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged that the CEO promised SmartFi would refund investors their money.
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March 26, 2025
Par Funding's Ex-CEO Gets 15½ Years For Racketeering, Fraud
Par Funding ex-CEO Joseph LaForte was sentenced to 15½ years in prison Wednesday for his role in running a $404 million racketeering conspiracy that prosecutors said involved him bilking the cash advance business's investors and threatening its borrowers with violence if they didn't pay up.
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March 26, 2025
Court Backs Pitt, UPMC In Firing Doctor Over DEI Article
A former program director at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine failed to show that officials at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center were acting in a state capacity when they removed him from overseeing a cardiac fellowship program over his criticism of diversity initiatives, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in dismissing his case.
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March 26, 2025
AGs Seek 1st OK For $39M Apotex Deal In Price-Fixing Case
A coalition of 50 state attorneys general on Wednesday asked a Connecticut federal judge to accept a $39.1 million deal settling claims that pharmaceutical company Apotex Corp. schemed with others to fix generic-drug prices, with 70% earmarked for a restitution fund and 30% for consumer notices and attorney fees.
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March 26, 2025
FERC Pressed To Reject $26.6B Constellation-Calpine Merger
Consumer and environmental groups have urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to block Constellation's $26.6 billion purchase of Calpine, saying a tie-up of two of North America's largest independent power producers would reduce competition in the nation's largest regional electricity market.
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March 26, 2025
3rd Circ. Says Atty 'Friends Turned Foes' Had No Contract
The Third Circuit on Wednesday stood by a New Jersey federal judge's decision to dismiss a breach of contract counterclaim brought in a yearslong fee dispute between two attorneys and former partners, agreeing with the lower court that "the friends turned foes never entered a binding contract."
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March 26, 2025
Pa. Panel Says Summer Camp Doesn't Make Worker Seasonal
An injured "excursion director" for a Pennsylvania campground can't be considered a seasonal employee — and thus entitled to less in workers' compensation — based solely on the camp's summer operations, a state appellate court ruled Wednesday.
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March 26, 2025
Need For Individual Analyses Sinks Class Bid In Vax Bias Suit
A group of former workers claiming they were unlawfully denied medical and religious exemptions from a Pittsburgh public transportation system's COVID-19 vaccination policy cannot proceed as a class, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled, saying the case involved too many individual issues.
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March 25, 2025
SoLo Funds Interest Rate Suit Sent To Arbitration
Financial app SoLo Funds Inc. can arbitrate allegations it deceived users by describing its advances as no-cost, a Pennsylvania federal judge has ruled after the Third Circuit reversed her earlier decision to deny an arbitration bid.
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March 25, 2025
Philly Beats Curfew Suit By Minority-Owned Liquor Stores
A Pennsylvania federal judge dismissed, for now, a constitutional challenge by Asian American and Arab American business owners who alleged Philadelphia city officials unfairly targeted their shops with arbitrary late-night curfews and nuisance ordinances, ruling Monday they lacked standing since none of them received fines or were ordered to shut down.
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March 25, 2025
FDIC Will Seek To 'Eradicate' Its Use Of Reputation Risk
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. plans to "eradicate" the concept of reputation risk from its oversight of banks and is working to take its approach to digital assets in "a new direction," the agency's acting chief has told Congress.
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March 25, 2025
Split 10th Circ. Finds Arbitrator Went Too Far With USW Award
A divided Tenth Circuit panel concluded Tuesday that an arbitrator went beyond his powers when finding salaried employees at an HF Sinclair facility in Wyoming must be part of a bargaining unit represented by the United Steelworkers, saying the issue was not brought to arbitration by either party.
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March 25, 2025
Privacy Statements OK By Pa. Wiretapping Law, Judge Says
Websites that disclose third-party data collection in privacy statements that a "reasonably prudent person" could see do not violate Pennsylvania's laws against wiretapping, a federal judge has ruled, throwing out a long-running lawsuit that defendants claimed could have rendered many websites illegal.
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March 25, 2025
Hershey Escapes Ex-Production Worker's Leave Bias Suit
Hershey defeated a former production operator's lawsuit claiming he was fired for taking time off to assist his wife with fertility treatments, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled, saying there was nothing wrong with an internal investigation that found he was misusing the leave he'd been given.
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March 25, 2025
NJ Casinos Urge 3rd Circ. Not To Revive Room-Pricing Suit
Atlantic City casino-hotel owners have told the Third Circuit a lower court was right to toss a case accusing them of inflating room rates by using the same software to set prices because there's no problem with multiple businesses separately choosing to use the same service.
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March 25, 2025
NCAA Makes New Bid To Sink Athletes' Wage Suit
A group of student-athletes still failed to show that their colleges, universities and the NCAA had the joint control typical of employers even after their cases took a trip to the Third Circuit, the association told a Pennsylvania federal court, launching a renewed bid to toss the students' suit.
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March 25, 2025
Phillies Sue To Keep Player Stats Program Exclusive
The Philadelphia Phillies took the owners of a baseball statistics and analytics program it paid extra to have exclusive access to into Pennsylvania state court for allegedly working to "circumvent" that exclusivity and sell parts of the system to other teams.
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March 25, 2025
Pittsburgh Paper Must Bargain With Union, 3rd Circ. Says
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will have to bargain with its reporters' union over wages and other changes in employment terms and restore healthcare, the Third Circuit ruled, partially agreeing to enforce a National Labor Relations Board ruling.
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March 24, 2025
FINRA Fines Pa. Broker-Dealer $1M Over Muni Bond Sales
A Pittsburgh-based brokerage has agreed to penalties and disgorgement totaling over $1 million to resolve Financial Industry Regulatory Authority claims it got undue order priority for certain new municipal bond orders by failing to mention those orders were for its own dealer account.
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March 24, 2025
Judge Slams Pa. County For 'Sneaky' Climate Suit End Run
A Pennsylvania state judge seemed skeptical Monday that Bucks County's Big-Tobacco style lawsuit against oil companies should move forward, calling out the county for what he said was its commissioners' attempt to avoid scrutiny by filing the lawsuit without first providing the public adequate notice.
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March 24, 2025
Norfolk Southern Must Face Investors' Suit Over Safety Claims
A lawsuit claiming that Norfolk Southern executives propped up stock prices with false claims about the railroad's safety culture has survived the company's motion to dismiss, with a Georgia federal judge ruling Monday that those claims were specific enough to be material for investors who were allegedly deceived up until the 2023 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
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March 24, 2025
3rd Circ. Upholds No-Coverage Ruling For PNC's $106M Loss
PNC Bank NA can't get coverage for a more than $106 million judgment it paid over underlying claims that a bank PNC acquired had mismanaged certain trust accounts, the Third Circuit ruled, finding a provision that barred coverage for wrongful acts occurring before an acquisition was applicable.
Expert Analysis
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Where Can Privacy Plaintiffs Sue When Injury Is Online?
Website owners need to understand wiretapping laws to understand whether they may be sued for activity tracking in California or Pennsylvania courts, where the statutory damages for violations of half-century-old laws can be substantial — and a recent Third Circuit decision suggests establishing specific jurisdiction is not as easy as 1-2-3, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity
Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.
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Opinion
Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules
The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.
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The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO
The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.
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Series
Beekeeping Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The practice of patent law and beekeeping are not typically associated, but taking care of honeybees has enriched my legal practice by highlighting the importance of hands-on experience, continuous learning, mentorship and more, says David Longo at Oblon McClelland.
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Opinion
Legal Institutions Must Warn Against Phony Election Suits
With two weeks until the election, bar associations and courts have an urgent responsibility to warn lawyers about the consequences of filing unsubstantiated lawsuits claiming election fraud, says Elise Bean at the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy.
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How Cos. Can Build A Strong In-House Pro Bono Program
During this year’s pro bono celebration week, companies should consider some key pointers to grow and maintain a vibrant in-house program for attorneys to provide free legal services for the public good, says Mary Benton at Alston & Bird.
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Series
Home Canning Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Making my own pickles and jams requires seeing a process through from start to finish, as does representing clients from the start of a dispute at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board through any appeals to the Federal Circuit, says attorney Kevin McNish.
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Compliance Pointers For Amended Pa. Data Breach Law
Recent updates to the Pennsylvania Breach of Personal Information Notification Act include a requirement that organizations alert the state's attorney general of certain consumer data breach notifications, and several incident response and cybersecurity considerations will be necessary to ensure compliance, say Matthew Meade and Laura Decker at Eckert Seamans.
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Use The Right Kind Of Feedback To Help Gen Z Attorneys
Generation Z associates bring unique perspectives and expectations to the workplace, so it’s imperative that supervising attorneys adapt their feedback approach in order to help young lawyers learn and grow — which is good for law firms, too, says Rachael Bosch at Fringe Professional Development.
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Opinion
Congress Can And Must Enact A Supreme Court Ethics Code
As public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court dips to historic lows following reports raising conflict of interest concerns, Congress must exercise its constitutional power to enact a mandatory and enforceable code of ethics for the high court, says Muhammad Faridi, president of the New York City Bar Association.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Justice Lebovits On Gilbert And Sullivan
Characters in the 19th century comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan break the rules of good lawyering by shamelessly throwing responsible critical thought to the wind, providing hilarious lessons for lawyers and judges on how to avoid a surfeit of traps and tribulations, say acting New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits and law student Tara Scown.
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Opinion
To Shrink Jury Awards, Address Preventable Medical Errors
While some health industry leaders complain about large malpractice awards — like the recent $45 million verdict in Hernandez v. Temple University Hospital — these payouts are only a symptom of the underlying problem: an epidemic of preventable medical errors, says Eric Weitz at The Weitz Firm.
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With Esmark Case, SEC Returns Focus To Tender Offer Rules
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent enforcement action against Esmark in connection with its failed bid to acquire U.S. Steel indicates the SEC's renewed attention under Rule 14e‑8 of the Exchange Act on offerors' financial resources as a measure of the veracity of their tender offer communications, say attorneys at MoFo.
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State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape
Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.