Ben Present

October 30, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

The state Superior Court has ruled that a man's use of his father's car for work and emergencies constituted "regular use," precluding him from collecting underinsured motorist benefits.

By Ben Present

5 minute read

August 28, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

A sharply divided Commonwealth Court has denied a Humane Society police officer's bid to force the Berks County district attorney to prosecute a sporting club for how it conducts pigeon shoots.

By Ben Present

5 minute read

June 14, 2012 | Daily Report Online

A judge has handed down a strongly worded opinion in favor of a northeastern Pennsylvania plaintiffs attorney whose clients, he concluded, tried to avoid paying his contingency fee on a $4.6 million settlement by, among other things, filing a complaint with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel and threatening to call the police.

By Ben Present

7 minute read

October 18, 2011 | The Legal Intelligencer

To play in our court, you have to play by our rules. That's what a federal district judge in Western Pennsylvania told State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. after the insurance giant successfully removed to federal court a UIM case in which it attempted to sever and stay a bad-faith claim.

By Ben Present

5 minute read

September 04, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

The presence of a small digital scale tipped the evidentiary scale in a recent Commonwealth Court decision establishing a nexus between drug activity and more than $8,000 in cash seized from a Pennsylvania man.

By Ben Present

5 minute read

April 17, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

In an issue of first impression, the state Superior Court has forged Pennsylvania case law from a conflicting body of federal cases dealing with the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act's pre-emption of common law causes of action.

By Ben Present

6 minute read

May 22, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

The suspension of Justice Joan Orie Melvin on Friday in the wake of criminal charges has left behind a state Supreme Court bench with limited effectiveness and few remedies, attorneys and legal watchers said.

By Zack Needles and Ben Present

8 minute read

July 19, 2012 | Law.com

Pennsylvania juveniles may not face mandatory sentences of life in prison without parole, the state Superior Court has ruled, ruling the practice unconstitutional as a violation of Eighth Amendment rights.

By Ben Present

6 minute read

February 14, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

A Pennsylvania man should have been allowed to invoke spousal privilege and avoid testifying at the criminal trial of his wife, who was also his former probation officer, the state Superior Court has ruled, despite allegations that the pair's marriage was a "collusive" attempt to keep the man off of the witness stand. However, the decision to allow the testimony was harmless error.

By Ben Present

5 minute read

December 06, 2011 | The Legal Intelligencer

In the apparent headliner of last week's Supreme Court oral arguments in Harrisburg — a case dealing with whether a nursing home can be held liable under the theory of corporate negligence — the attorneys representing the plaintiffs told the justices they simply wanted to hold it responsible.

By Ben Present

6 minute read