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Pennsylvania
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March 11, 2024
Philly DA Can't Escape Sanctions Over Lack Of Candor
A Third Circuit panel has ruled that Philadelphia's district attorney, Larry Krasner, must apologize to the family of two 1984 murder victims after his office was less than forthcoming in proceedings over post-conviction relief sought by one of the killers.
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March 11, 2024
Kirkland, Latham Guide $35B EQT-Equitrans Gas Merger
Kirkland & Ellis LLP-guided EQT Corp. and Latham & Watkins LLP-backed Equitrans Midstream Corp. said Monday they have agreed to merge, creating a $35 billion natural gas giant that will be "well positioned to be a globally competitive American energy leader."
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March 08, 2024
Split NC High Court Reopens Embattled Realty Firm
The North Carolina Supreme Court has temporarily lifted a business shutdown order on MV Realty amid the state's claims that the company imposed predatory fees, with a dissenting justice fearing that unshackling it could put homeowners at risk of losing their homes.
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March 08, 2024
Uber Driver Class Claims Veering Toward Split Verdict
A Pennsylvania federal judge told a Philadelphia jury Friday to return Monday after its eight members deadlocked on whether UberBlack drivers in the city were employees of the ride-sharing company entitled to minimum wage and benefits, or independent contractors, as Uber classified them.
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March 08, 2024
Construction Co., Ex-Worker Settle Travel-Time Wage Suit
A Western Pennsylvania construction worker has settled his unpaid-wages suit against Home Pro Remodelers LLC, closing his claims that the company didn't pay him for travel time or time spent on work sites without a supervisor present.
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March 08, 2024
Widener U. Hit With COVID Campus Fee Refund Suit
Pennsylvania private school Widener University has been hit with a proposed class action seeking prorated tuition and fee reimbursements over its decision to close its campus in spring 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a move which the suit says deprived students of resources they paid for.
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March 08, 2024
Pa. Court Grants Seizure Of Nursing Homes In 'Dire' Condition
A Pennsylvania federal court has granted an emergency request for a receiver to take control of six nursing homes in the state that Revere Tactical Opportunities REIT LLC claims were left in a "dire financial condition" by the properties' owners, who had also allegedly defaulted on a $30 million loan.
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March 08, 2024
Pa. County Agrees To Update Air Pollution Permits
The Allegheny County Health Department will move ahead on issuing updated air pollution permits for two Pittsburgh-area chemical plants, settling a lawsuit brought by an environmental group that claimed the county's missed deadlines hamstrung citizen engagement and enforcement efforts.
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March 07, 2024
Skechers Fined $1.25M Over Execs' Family Member Payments
Skechers will pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission $1.25 million to resolve claims it failed to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments made to its directors and their immediate family members who were hired by the sneaker giant as contractors or nonexecutive employees.
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March 07, 2024
Penn State Suit Sets Off Debate Over Trademarks' Function
The Pennsylvania State University and sports apparel retailer Vintage Brand are locked in a legal battle that could force courts to reexamine how trademarks function in merchandise licensing and potentially make it harder to prevail on counterfeiting claims, according to attorneys.
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March 07, 2024
Pa. Justices To Consider Liability Of Parents Hiding Son's Gun
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania agreed to hear an appeal asking whether the parents of a convicted murderer can be held liable for the victim's family's emotional trauma because their alleged concealment of the murder weapon delayed the discovery of their son's body.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Expert Analysis
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A Close Look At Pennsylvania's Data Breach Law Changes
New amendments to Pennsylvania's Breach of Personal Information Notification Act will hold state agencies to stricter notification requirements more in line with those in other states, and will allow entities to determine a breach has occurred before their notification obligations take effect, says Lauren Godfrey at Constangy.
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Without Stronger Due Diligence, Attys Risk AML Regulation
Amid increasing pressure to mitigate money laundering and terrorism financing risks in gatekeeper professions, the legal industry will need to clarify and strengthen existing client due diligence measures — or risk the federal regulation attorneys have long sought to avoid, says Jeremy Glicksman at the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
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Cannabis Labor Peace Laws Lay Fertile Ground For Unions
State legislatures are increasingly passing cannabis laws that encourage or even mandate labor peace agreements as a condition for licensure, and though open questions remain about the constitutionality of such statutes, unionization efforts are unlikely to slow down, says Peter Murphy at Saul Ewing.
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Every Lawyer Can Act To Prevent Peer Suicide
Members of the legal industry can help prevent suicide among their colleagues, and better protect their own mental health, by learning the predictors and symptoms of depression among attorneys and knowing when and how to get practical aid to peers in crisis, says Joan Bibelhausen at Minnesota Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers.
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Building On Successful Judicial Assignment Reform In Texas
Prompt action by the Judicial Conference could curtail judge shopping and improve the efficiency and procedural fairness of the federal courts by implementing random districtwide assignment of cases, which has recently proven successful in Texas patent litigation, says Dabney Carr at Troutman Pepper.
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Cities Should Explore Minn. Municipal Alcohol Store Model
Minnesota’s unique alcohol control model that functions at the municipal level may be worth exploring for cash-strapped cities looking for an additional stream of revenue, though there may be community pushback, say Louis Terminello and Bradley Berkman at Greenspoon Marder.
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Do Videoconferences Establish Jurisdiction With Defendants?
What it means to have minimum contacts in a foreign jurisdiction is changing as people become more accustomed to meeting via video, and defendants’ participation in videoconferencing may be used as a sword or a shield in courts’ personal jurisdiction analysis, says Patrick Hickey at Moye White.
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Opinion
Humanism Should Replace Formalism In The Courts
The worrying tendency for judges to say "it's just the law talking, not me" in American decision writing has coincided with an historic decline in respect for the courts, but this trend can be reversed if courts develop understandable legal standards and justify them in human terms, says Connecticut Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher.
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Pa. Supreme Court Can Finally Set Proper Venue Standards
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has an opportunity in Hangey v. Husqvarna to finally clarify and further define how much business in a forum a product manufacturer must do for the venue to be proper, an issue state trial courts have wrestled with for almost a century, say Alan Klein and Ethan Feldman at Duane Morris.
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Don't Let Client Demands Erode Law Firm Autonomy
As clients increasingly impose requirements for attorney hiring and retention related to diversity and secondment, law firms must remember their ethical duties, as well as broader issues of lawyer development, culture and firm integrity, to maintain their independence while meaningfully responding to social changes, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.
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A Significant First Step For Pa. Carbon Capture Programs
Pennsylvania's letter of intent to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicating interest in taking primary regulatory authority of Underground Injection Control Class VI programs marks the beginning of a potentially long process that would ultimately benefit those involved with carbon capture utilization and storage within the commonwealth, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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6th Circ. Ruling's Seismic Shift In FCA Kickback Causation
It is difficult to overstate the significance of the Sixth Circuit’s recent decision in the False Claims Act kickback case U.S. v. Hathaway, which shifts the government's burden of proof by adopting a more defense-friendly causation standard and curbing an expansive definition of remuneration, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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3rd Circ. Ruling Offers Tools To Manage Exempt Employees
The Third Circuit’s recent opinion in Higgins v. Bayada Home Health, finding the Fair Labor Standards Act allows employers to deduct paid time off for missed employee productivity targets, gives companies another resource for managing exempt employee inefficiency or absenteeism, says Laura Lawless at Squire Patton.
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How CMS Proposal Would Change PE Deal Transparency
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently proposed a new rule that would require the disclosure of additional ownership regarding Medicare and Medicaid nursing facilities, an approach that many states have started to take and reflects the Biden administration's scrutiny on private equity deals, say attorneys at Kirkland.
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3rd Circ. Samsung Opinion Is A Plaintiffs' Arbitration Playbook
The Third Circuit's recent precedential opinion in White v. Samsung exemplifies language plaintiffs can use when a defendant delays in moving to compel arbitration — and its criticism of pro-arbitration rules invented by other courts can also help plaintiffs avoid the dispute resolution method altogether, say Raphael Janove and Josh Brooks at Pollock Cohen.