Publications
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that a plaintiff asserting a claim against an attorney for wrongful use of civil proceedings pursuant to 42 PA. C.S. 8351, et seq. Is not required to file a certificate of merit in accordance with PA. R. C. P. 1042.3.
Previously there had been disagreement as to whether a plaintiff was required to file a Certificate of Merit at the pleadings stages of a case in which the plaintiff alleges that an attorney wrongfully initiated or continued civil proceedings agai
Case Law Alert - 2nd Qtr 2011
The Supreme Court holds that a plaintiff may sustain a "cat's paw" claim under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 if a supervisor's antimilitary animus act is a proximate cause of the adverse employment action.
The plaintiff brought a "cat's paw" claim pursuant to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 wherein he sought to hold his former employer liable for the animus of a supervisor who did not make the ult
Case Law Alert - 2nd Qtr 2011
Claims of damages in the form of "deepening insolvency" of a corporation, where such a corporation is already insolvent at the time of the alleged attorney malpractice, is not sufficient to constitute actual harm or loss.
This case arose out of a CEO's looting of a corporation, resulting in the involuntary bankruptcy of the corporation and the liquidation of its assets.
Case Law Alert - 2nd Qtr 2011
The Third Circuit holds that a public entity violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it failed to make certain stations accessible to handicapped individuals after undertaking construction at the stations.
The Third Circuit recently upheld summary judgment in favor of a nonprofit group which advocates for the civil rights of persons with disabilities.
Case Law Alert - 2nd Qtr 2011
A plaintiff need not prove actual innocence of criminal charges as a prerequisite to pursue a legal malpractice claim against his former criminal defense counsel. Post-conviction relief can be sufficient.
Innocence of criminal charges is not required for a plaintiff to press a claim for legal malpractice against his former counsel.
Case Law Alert - 2nd Qtr 2011
A claimant who was injured after voluntarily jumping down a flight of stairs during his lunch hour is not in the course and scope of his employment and is not entitled to workers' compensation benefits.
The claimant, who was employed as a cook with the employer's food service department, also worked in the employer's housing department during the summer. On the day of his injury, he was cleaning dorm rooms.
A report issued by the employer's medical expert that contained a critical typographical error is not competent evidence to support a workers' compensation judge's expansion of the claimant's injuries.
Following the claimant's work injury, the employer filed a petition to terminate the claimant's benefits.
The board held an employer liable to pay the claimant's surgery bill as well as a statutory fine where it failed to properly submit the medical bill to utilization review within the required time.
This case involved a legal hearing requested by the claimant on a utilization review issue, and the decision provides some instruction on the handling of medicals under the Healthcare Practice Guidelines.
Minimal findings identifying the basis of a workers' compensation judge’s decision on the credibility of a treating physician and a claimant’s disability are sufficient to uphold a claim petition.
The claimant, who received 500 weeks of partial disability benefits for coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, petitioned for total disability benefits, which were granted by the workers' compensation judge on the basis of the claimant’s medical evide
A state police officer involved in the horrific death scene investigation of an infant failed to establish abnormal working conditions in order to state a claim for psychological injury.
The claimant, an investigator for the Pennsylvania State Police, was involved in homicide investigations by providing forensic and photographic services.