Saranac Hale Spencer

May 11, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

While it was "questionable" that a spurned spouse's alleged revenge plot became the subject of a federal prosecution under the Chemical Weapons Act, the Third Circuit declined to say the act was unconstitutional as applied in the case.

By Saranac Hale Spencer

5 minute read

January 24, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

A constitutional challenge to a six-foot-tall marble monument to the Ten Commandments, which stands in front of Valley High School in New Kensington, Pa., has survived a motion to dismiss.

By Saranac Hale Spencer

5 minute read

July 11, 2012 | Daily Report Online

Attorney-client privilege can attach to communication between a lawyer and a third-party contractor who worked closely enough with a company to be seen as the functional equivalent of an employee, a federal district judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has ruled.

By Saranac Hale Spencer

3 minute read

May 01, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit adopted a test set out by the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether or not a person is an employee of a professional corporation for the purposes of the Americans with Disabilities Act to the same determination for a Title VII claim against a closely held company.

By Saranac Hale Spencer

6 minute read

July 31, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

A federal judge has awarded nearly $6 million to the family of a woman who died of a brain aneurysm following repeated visits to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Altoona, Pa. The bulk of the money is to cover the expenses for her disabled son's care, which she used to provide.

By Saranac Hale Spencer

6 minute read

December 13, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

Revisiting a case that it first addressed in narrower terms, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reiterated that the standard to be met in order to use the crime-fraud exception to override attorney-client privilege and the work-product doctrine is whether there is a reasonable basis to do so.

By Saranac Hale Spencer

7 minute read

June 03, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

A federal judge in Pittsburgh has closed a qui tam case involving highway projects that was first filed 10 years ago.

By Saranac Hale Spencer

5 minute read

August 12, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

A former counsel for the Philadelphia Housing Authority under Carl Greene might well have a case against PHA for the way he was fired, a federal judge has ruled.

By Saranac Hale Spencer

4 minute read

January 31, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

New Jersey state officials are required to turn over some of the 120 documents requested by Metropolitan Edison Co., but may continue to hold most of them under the deliberative process privilege, a federal magistrate judge has ruled.

By Saranac Hale Spencer

4 minute read

March 27, 2012 | The Legal Intelligencer

Job applicants who were deemed "noncompetitive" during background checks can sue LexisNexis under the Fair Credit Reporting Act for not giving the prospective workers a chance to respond, a federal judge has ruled.

By Saranac Hale Spencer

5 minute read