Max Mitchell

September 17, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

In two separate cases before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, attorneys for the state argued that defendants must invoke their Fifth Amendment rights to keep pre-arrest silence from being mentioned in court.

By Max Mitchell

6 minute read

September 24, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will consider whether a provision that guides sentencing defendants convicted of driving under the influence is mandatory, or if it is an optional provision that can be disregarded at the court's discretion.

By Max Mitchell

5 minute read

September 10, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

The definition of the word "you" in the household exclusion section of Harleysville Insurance's excess underinsured motorist policy is too ambiguous, a Blair County judge has found.

By Max Mitchell

5 minute read

October 04, 2013 | Law.com

A former congressman and state auditor general, who has accused federal judges of malfeasance, misconduct and abuse of power, has been suspended from practice for five years.

By Max Mitchell

4 minute read

October 01, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

A plaintiff may not seek punitive damages against a store owner for selling synthetic compounds commonly referred to as bath salts, even if the seller knows the buyer may use the substance in a harmful way, a Monroe County Court of Common Pleas judge has ruled.

By Max Mitchell

4 minute read

September 24, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

An inmate on a work detail can be considered a public employee, the Commonwealth Court has ruled, in a decision that could open the door to liability against a government entity for injuries that may stem from these work assignments.

By Max Mitchell

6 minute read

October 08, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

A wrongful use of civil proceedings case against an attorney has been tossed out after the Superior Court found that the plaintiff did not show that the attorney filed suit for purposes other than pursuing discovery and seeking a judgment.

By Max Mitchell

5 minute read

October 01, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to hear argument on whether threatening to kill a man and feed him to pigs constitutes assaultive behavior if the threats were not communicated to the intended target and no actions were taken to implement the threats.

By Max Mitchell

4 minute read

October 21, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

Determining that jury commissioner offices are county and not judicial positions was the key factor in the state Supreme Court's determination that the law allowing counties to abolish jury commissioner offices is constitutional.

By Max Mitchell

6 minute read

October 01, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

Pennsylvania courts in recent years have rarely allowed plaintiffs to seek damages against commonwealth agencies, stemming a trend toward granting exceptions to governmental and sovereign immunity in several important cases during the 1980s and 1990s.

By Max Mitchell

7 minute read