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  • In re: November 3, 2020 Gen. Election

    Publication Date: 2020-11-09
    Practice Area: Election and Political Law
    Industry: State and Local Government
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Todd
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-1216

    Secretary of the commonwealth's directive to county election boards correctly stated the law of the Election Code where it contained no statutory provision requiring county boards to conduct a signature comparison for absentee or mail-in ballots or reject ballots on such a basis. Petition for declaratory judgment granted.

  • Commonwealth v. Katona

    Publication Date: 2020-11-02
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Dougherty
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-1184

    Relayed information from confidential informant sufficient to support issuance of a search warrant and permitted evidence recovered from the search, pursuant to the Independent Source Doctrine. Order of the superior court affirmed.

  • Hammons v. Ethicon, Inc.

    Publication Date: 2020-11-02
    Practice Area: Mass Torts
    Industry: Health Care | Manufacturing
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Baer
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-1189

    Superior court properly found specific jurisdiction was proper, in plaintiff's action over injuries from a medical device manufactured from mesh woven in Pennsylvania, based on defendant's involvement in the manufacturing of the mesh in Pennsylvania. Affirmed.

  • Commonwealth v. Chmiel

    Publication Date: 2020-11-02
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Saylor
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-1181

    While the high court expressed "substantial concerns" about the appropriate use of microscopic hair comparison analysis in the courtroom, it declined to use this case as a vessel to categorically disapprove microscopic hair comparison analysis and bar it from the courtroom. The high court affirmed an order denying defendant PCRA relief.

  • Commonwealth v. Johnson

    Publication Date: 2020-11-02
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Dougherty
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-1179

    The superior court erred in ruling that a search warrant to search defendant's cell phone was not unconstitutionally overbroad, thus allowing a search for evidence of illegal narcotics and firearm possession, where the warrant was so lacking in probable cause that it failed to justify any search of the phone, the high court wrote in an opinion announcing the judgment of the court. The high court reversed and remanded.

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  • Commonwealth v. Cox

    Publication Date: 2020-11-02
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Wecht
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-1182

    Trial court erred in concluding analysis of defendant's alleged intellectual disability after finding standardized testing conducted by defendant's experts to be not credible, where determination of intellectual disability was not limited solely to the results of diagnostic testing but could be based on other assessments as well. Order of the trial court reversed, case remanded.

  • Commonwealth v. Small

    Publication Date: 2020-10-19
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Wecht
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-1132

    Although public record presumption had no statutory basis in the newly-discovered facts statutory exemption to the PCRA time bar, defendant's PCRA petition failed where a commonwealth witness's new testimony was materially consistent with trial testimony. Order of the superior court affirmed.

  • In re: Consolidated Appeals of Chester-Upland Sch. Dist.

    Publication Date: 2020-10-12
    Practice Area: Tax
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Saylor
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-1106

    Income from lease of land to billboard companies could be included in calculation of fair market valuation of property for local property tax assessment, as it did not improperly capture the excluded value of the billboard and support structures. Order of the commonwealth court affirmed.

  • Sivick v. State Ethics Comm'n

    Publication Date: 2020-10-12
    Practice Area: Government
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Wecht
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-1116

    Commonwealth court erred in finding supervisor's act of approving his son's payroll for work as road crew constituted a conflict of interest because the performance by a public officer of an administrative act entailing no discretion that benefited a subclass that included a family member did not constitute a conflict of interest and court erred in approving commission's imposition of restitution since commission lacked a statutory basis to impose restitution. Reversed and remanded.

  • Commonwealth v. Hill

    Publication Date: 2020-10-12
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Baer
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-1104

    Trial court could not impose mandatory sentence for second conviction of DUI-general impairment arising from same criminal incident as a first conviction, as a second sentence for the same criminal act would violate the Double Jeopardy Clause. Judgment of sentence vacated.