Pennsylvania

  • October 04, 2024

    Posting Copyrighted Building Codes Is Fair Use, Pa. Judge Says

    The American Society for Testing and Materials has lost a bid to enjoin a website from posting ASTM's copyrighted technical standards for building projects, after a Pennsylvania federal judge concluded that what the website does is fair use.

  • October 04, 2024

    Up First At High Court: Civil Rights, Ghost Guns, Atty Fees

    The U.S. Supreme Court reconvenes Monday to start a brand-new term, with the justices first hearing arguments related to prerequisites for litigating federal rights in state courts, ghost gun regulations, and whether a death row inmate is entitled to a new trial after a state admits that prosecutorial misconduct might have led to his conviction.

  • October 04, 2024

    High Court Will Hear Mexico's Suit Against Gun Cos.

    The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review a decision allowing Mexico to sue a group of gun manufacturers alleging they have aided and abetted criminal cartels.

  • October 03, 2024

    3rd Circ. Upholds Insurer's Win In Construction Co. Wage Row

    An insurer for a paving and construction company has no duty to defend it against two class actions accusing the company of underpaying its employees, the Third Circuit ruled Thursday, finding an exclusion barring coverage for "wage and hour violations" is applicable.

  • October 03, 2024

    3rd Circ. Backs Added Payout For Late Royal Bank CEO

    The Third Circuit on Thursday backed a lower court's decision that Royal Bank of America's retirement plan must add another $368,000 onto the roughly $4 million lump-sum payment already given to the financial institution's late former chief executive officer, calling the plan's arguments it need not pay that amount "nonsensical."

  • October 03, 2024

    Eagles Insurer Bolsters Dismissal Bid In COVID Closure Suit

    The insurer for the Philadelphia Eagles on Wednesday bolstered its bid to dismiss the NFL team's suit seeking coverage for business disruption and losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, throwing recent case law behind its position that the pandemic's early effects on public events did not constitute physical loss entitling insurance coverage.

  • October 03, 2024

    12 Lawyers Who Are The Future Of The Supreme Court Bar

    One attorney hasn't lost a single U.S. Supreme Court case she's argued, or even a single justice's vote. One attorney is perhaps "the preeminent SCOTUS advocate." And one may soon become U.S. solicitor general, despite acknowledging there are "judges out there who don't like me." All three are among a dozen lawyers in the vanguard of the Supreme Court bar's next generation, poised to follow in the footsteps of the bar's current icons.

  • October 03, 2024

    Sens. Question If Payouts Taint Execs' Push For US Steel Deal

    Two U.S. senators wrote to U.S. Steel's president and CEO on Wednesday seeking guarantees that a $72 million "golden parachute" deal wasn't driving the executive's willingness to support a $14.1 billion merger with Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel.

  • October 03, 2024

    Western Pa. DA Accused Of Abusing Power To Attack Rivals

    A former district attorney and the chief detective for Greene County, Pennsylvania, have been accused by the state attorney general of abusing their office by investigating political rivals, circumventing county officials' guidelines and attempting to create their own SWAT team.

  • October 02, 2024

    CFPB's $5M Student Loan Deal Gets OK Over PIMCO Objections

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has finalized a proposed $5 million settlement of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau case that alleged pandemic-era servicing failures involving securitized student loans, overruling objections that money manager PIMCO raised on behalf of loan investors.

  • October 02, 2024

    Penn State Must Pay Trustee's Atty Fees During Internal Probe

    Penn State University must pay one of its trustees' legal fees stemming from an internal investigation, a Pennsylvania county judge has ruled, rejecting the school's argument that it was not obligated to advance him the expenses before the probe concluded.

  • October 02, 2024

    U.S. Steel Must Face Testing Suit Over Long-Gone Zinc Plant

    U.S. Steel can't escape a lawsuit from neighbors of a long-closed zinc refinery outside Pittsburgh seeking to make the company pay for long-term environmental testing, a Pennsylvania appellate panel ruled Tuesday, reasoning that the plaintiffs properly invoked a state law governing the cleanup of hazardous pollution.

  • October 02, 2024

    Pa. County Accused Of Failing To Thwart Alleged Harasser

    Delaware County, Pennsylvania, has been hit with a lawsuit claiming its officials ignored its emergency services director's sexual harassment of a female employee, in keeping with the county's alleged history of failing to protect women from the director's inappropriate behavior.

  • October 02, 2024

    14 States, DC Urge 11th Circ. To Uphold Train Crew Size Rule

    A coalition of 14 states and the District of Columbia urged the Eleventh Circuit to reject the railroad industry's attempt to vacate the U.S. Department of Transportation's final rule requiring all trains to be operated with at least two people, saying doing so would make rail operations less safe nationally.

  • October 02, 2024

    Sikorsky Must Face Chopper Crash Suit In US, Pa. Judge Says

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Tuesday ordered a lawsuit against Sikorsky Aircraft by the estates of Canadian military personnel who died in a helicopter crash to remain in the U.S., finding the allegedly defective copter was designed, developed and upgraded here and litigating it in Pennsylvania would expedite resolution.

  • October 02, 2024

    ExecuPharm Agrees To Pay Ransomware Victims $10K Each

    U.S. pharmaceutical giant ExecuPharm will pay victims of a data breach up to $10,000 in reimbursements, compensation for lost time, three years of credit monitoring, and $675,000 in attorney fees after a Pennsylvania federal judge gave his final approval to a class action settlement.

  • October 01, 2024

    Jefferson Health Can't Ditch Suit Over Meta Data Sharing

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has refused to toss a proposed class action accusing Jefferson Health of unlawfully sharing patients' confidential health information with Meta Platforms Inc., finding that the plaintiffs had cured prior deficiencies to adequately support their wiretap and privacy claims.

  • October 01, 2024

    DOJ Says It Is Constitutional To Disarm Pot Patients

    The U.S. Department of Justice told a Pennsylvania federal judge Tuesday that a federal policy barring medical marijuana patients from lawfully possessing firearms is constitutional, and it urged the court to dismiss a legal challenge to the statute.

  • October 01, 2024

    TikTok Petitions 3rd Circ. To Review Section 230 Ruling

    TikTok asked for another crack in the Third Circuit on Tuesday, requesting an en banc rehearing of the appeals court's decision holding that its "For You Page" algorithm doesn't enjoy Section 230 immunity and reviving a suit accusing the app of recommending a "blackout challenge" that led to a 10-year-old's death.

  • October 01, 2024

    Ill. Judge Won't Crack Jury's $18M Egg Price-Fixing Verdict

    An Illinois federal judge said Monday that he wouldn't disturb a jury's since-trebled $17.7 million award to Kraft and three others that claimed two of the nation's largest egg producers and two industry groups conspired to raise prices, saying the jury heard enough to support their claims.

  • October 01, 2024

    Pennsylvania Gas Leaseholders Get Royalties Suit Certified

    Hundreds of Pennsylvania landowners with natural gas leases have been certified by a federal judge as a class in their lawsuit against Range Resources, which they say took more money out of their royalty payments than their contracts permitted.

  • October 01, 2024

    Client's Late Arrival, Bankruptcy Complicate Age Bias Suit

    The co-owner for a bankrupt Pittsburgh hotel almost lost his lawyer Tuesday, arriving late and introducing himself to the attorney for the first time in person at a hearing on the attorney's motion to withdraw from defending him against an ex-employee's age bias claim.

  • October 01, 2024

    Buchanan Ingersoll, McNees Wallace Duck Athlete's Bias Suit

    A Pennsylvania federal judge threw out a former student athlete's abuse of process claims against Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC and McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC over their representation of an athletic association in an unsuccessful challenge over his eligibility to play postseason high school sports.

  • October 01, 2024

    DOJ Joins Employee Antitrust Suit Against UPMC

    The U.S. Department of Justice is backing a proposed class action from University of Pittsburgh Medical Center workers who say the hospital used noncompetes and blacklists to suppress wages, telling a Pennsylvania federal judge that UPMC's motion to dismiss the suit sets an "insurmountable" pre-discovery bar for plaintiffs.

  • September 30, 2024

    FTC's Amazon Monopolization Suit Partly Tossed, For Now

    A Washington federal judge on Monday agreed to trim the Federal Trade Commission's landmark monopolization case against Amazon and split the trial into two parts, although the order itself remains sealed, according to an entry on the case docket.

Expert Analysis

  • Loper Bright Limits Federal Agencies' Ability To Alter Course

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to dismantle Chevron deference also effectively overrules its 2005 decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X, greatly diminishing agencies' ability to change regulatory course from one administration to the next, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.

  • Motion To Transfer Venue Considerations For FCA Cases

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    Several recent decisions highlight the importance for practitioners of analyzing as early as possible whether a False Claims Act case warrants a change of venue, and understanding how courts weigh certain factors for defendants versus whistleblowers, say Ellen London at London & Stout, and Li Yu and Corey Lipton at DiCello Levitt.

  • Series

    Teaching Scuba Diving Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    As a master scuba instructor, I’ve learned how to prepare for the unexpected, overcome fears and practice patience, and each of these skills – among the many others I’ve developed – has profoundly enhanced my work as a lawyer, says Ron Raether at Troutman Pepper.

  • Lawyers Can Take Action To Honor The Voting Rights Act

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    As the Voting Rights Act reaches its 59th anniversary Tuesday, it must urgently be reinforced against recent efforts to dismantle voter protections, and lawyers can pitch in immediately by volunteering and taking on pro bono work to directly help safeguard the right to vote, says Anna Chu at We The Action.

  • 3rd Circ. Ruling Shows Benefits Of IP Licenses In Bankruptcy

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    The Third Circuit’s recent ruling in Mallinckrodt’s Chapter 11 filing, which held that Mallinckrodt could sever its obligations to pay Sanofi royalties on sales of an autoimmune disease drug, highlights the advantages of structuring transactions as nonexclusive licenses for developers of intellectual property, say Gregory Hesse and Kaleb Bailey at Hunton.

  • How 3rd Circ. Raised Bar For Constitutional Case Injunctions

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    The Third Circuit's decision in Delaware State Sportsmen's Association v. Delaware Department of Safety & Homeland Security, rejecting the relaxed preliminary injunction standards many courts have used when plaintiffs allege constitutional harms, could portend a shift in such cases in at least four ways, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • How To Grow Marketing, Biz Dev Teams In A Tight Market

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    Faced with fierce competition and rising operating costs, firms are feeling the pressure to build a well-oiled marketing and business development team that supports strategic priorities, but they’ll need to be flexible and creative given a tight talent market, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • Series

    Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step

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    From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • The Rise Of State And Local Environmental Leadership

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    While Congress is deadlocked, and a U.S. Supreme Court with a hostility toward the administrative state aggressively dismantles federal environmental oversight, state and local governments are stepping up with policies to shape a more sustainable future for all species, says Jonathan Rosenbloom at Albany Law School.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • Opinion

    A Way Forward For The US Steel-Nippon Deal And Union Jobs

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    Parties involved in Nippon Steel's acquisition of U.S. Steel should trust the Pennsylvania federal court overseeing a key environmental settlement to supervise a way of including future union jobs and cleaner air for the city of Pittsburgh as part of a transparent business marriage, says retired judge Susan Braden.

  • Opinion

    Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism

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    As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.

  • Series

    Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.

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