Ben Present

July 15, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

An attorney representing convicted serial child molester Jerry Sandusky may not invoke the work-product doctrine to avoid complying with a protective order issued by the judge who presided over Sandusky's trial, which was put in place days after grand jury materials in the case were allegedly leaked to the media.

By Ben Present

5 minute read

April 08, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

A Montgomery County judge has allowed a man claiming he was sucker-punched during a work-sponsored soccer game to investigate the Facebook page of his alleged attacker, ostensibly to find information to bolster his civil lawsuit.

By Ben Present

5 minute read

November 16, 2011 | Daily Report Online

Amid the explosive criminal allegations facing former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, seemingly inevitable civil action and the dismissal of the winningest coach on college football's top level, several university general counsel have said they're taking strides to ensure something like this never hits their respective campuses.

By Ben Present

5 minute read

March 29, 2012 | Law.com

Months after a Pennsylvania state court ruled that talking on a cellphone while driving is not egregious enough to warrant punitive damages in a motor vehicle accident case, a federal magistrate judge has tossed an injured man's plea for punitives in an accident where he alleged the striking driver "looked at" his cellphone.

By Ben Present

4 minute read

July 12, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

Picking up where Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille left off in a dissenting opinion last year, the state Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case dealing with whether the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, currently under investigation by a grand jury, is entitled to attorney-client privilege as a state agency.

By Ben Present

6 minute read

October 10, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

Before a jam-packed courtroom Tuesday, Jerry Sandusky, the convicted serial child sex abuser whose prosecution trained the national media spotlight on Central Pennsylvania and Penn State University, was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in state prison.

By Ben Present

8 minute read

April 09, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

If an insurance policyholder wants to collect reimbursement for expenses tied to investigating a claim, he or she had better make a claim for them, a divided state Superior Court has ruled in a putative class action suit.

By Ben Present

5 minute read

October 25, 2011 | The Legal Intelligencer

An insurance company may not include a homeowner's mortgage company as a payable party for money issued to the homeowner to cover losses, a Philadelphia judge has ruled, because the mortgage company was not mentioned in the settlement agreement between the parties and because the losses did not reflect "catastrophic destruction."

By Ben Present

4 minute read

July 17, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

A state Superior Court panel has affirmed a $7.8 million verdict against Consol Energy Inc. in favor of two men who were injured when a Consol staircase that they were descending collapsed. The ruling upholds the final judgment of Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge David N. Wecht, now a Superior Court judge, who denied Consol's post-trial motions and tacked on delay damages to the jury's multimillion-dollar verdict.

By Ben Present

5 minute read

December 11, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

The state Supreme Court has taken up a case dealing with whether Pennsylvania's Mechanics' Lien Law should be construed liberally. The state Superior Court, in a case of first impression earlier this year, ruled that it should.

By Ben Present

7 minute read