News in Brief

Harrisburg – The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is now poised to decide a hot issue in the insurance community: whether lead-based paint is a pollutant, and as such, falls under a pollution exclusion provision in many commercial policies.

The issue is one of first impression for the high court.

The Superior Court had previously determined in Lititz Mutual Ins. Co. v. Steely that the lead-based paint was indeed a pollutant, and therefore Lititz Mutual Insurance Co. did not have to provide coverage for injuries from a child’s ingestion or inhalation of lead-based paint.

The intermediate appeals court’s decision reversed a Lancaster County Common Pleas Court judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the minor plaintiff Steven Brown, his mother and the landlords of two properties in question.

Lancaster attorney Rory Connaughton argued the case on behalf of the appellant landlords. Lebanon attorney Timothy J. Huber argued on behalf of Lititz.

The justices engaged in a spirited debate, asking each attorney several questions about his reasoning. The justices honed in on the nature of lead-based paint, specifically, whether it could be defined as a pollutant. They also questioned whether ingestion of lead-based paint constituted a dispersal or discharge of the paint.

In another case argued before the state Supreme Court last week, at stake is not only the fate of the Lobbying Disclosure Act, but the extent of the high court’s own power.

The act, signed into law in 1998, was enacted with the intention of regulating persons who engage in lobbying activity. Many of those people happen to be lawyers.

The conflict over lawyer-lobbyists stems from questions regarding the authority of the state Supreme Court, which has exclusive control over the “practice of law.” Opponents of the act say the statute takes that power away from the court.

The Commonwealth Court agreed with the opponents, ruling last spring that the act does unconstitutionally try to regulate the practice of law.

At oral arguments, attorney Calvin Koons, representing the Office of the Attorney General, said the justices have visited this territory before, in P.J.S. v. State Ethics Commission, in which it held 6-0 that the State Ethics Commission could investigate an alleged conflict of interest by an Erie lawyer who was a part-time city solicitor.

He said the Lobbying Disclosure Act is like the Ethics Act, which was the statute at issue in P.J.S.

Representing plaintiffs Richard J. Gmerek and Charles I. Artz were James Cashel, Michael Epstein and John Estey of Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads. Estey argued.

Athletic Director Sues, Alleging Sexism

Easton – Lafayette College’s first female athletic director said in a federal lawsuit that administrators forced her out of her job after she raised questions about a disparity in funding for women’s sports.

In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, Eve Atkinson claims she ‘has been the victim of sex discrimination and retaliation for raising issues of gender discrimination in the funding of collegiate sports at Lafayette.’

College officials denied Atkinson’s charges and said Wednesday that they will launch a national search for a successor.

Atkinson, who has held the job since 1990, said in court papers filed last Tuesday that college president Arthur Rothkopf notified her more than a year ago that this would be her last year at the college.

‘Lafayette will contend in court that it is within its rights to hire a new athletic director, that Atkinson was given proper and ample notice of this decision, and that the college reached this decision because it believes it is time for new leadership in the athletic department,’ college spokesman Glenn Airgood said in a prepared statement.

Atkinson’s last day will be June 30.

She contends the college can’t fire her because she is a tenured professor and therefore exempt from annual employment contracts that are renewed at the president’s discretion. The college maintains that Atkinson isn’t a tenured professor and isn’t protected from dismissal.

The lawsuit claims Lafayette failed to cite reasons for not reappointing a tenured staff member, as required by college rules.

Atkinson was the first woman hired to run a combined men’s and women’s Division I athletic program.

She alleges problems began on Jan. 26, 1996, when she began work on a plan to ensure Lafayette complied with Title IX, a federal law that requires gender equality in athletic programs.

The law has resulted in colleges nationwide dropping some men’s programs and/or adding women’s programs to balance the sports offered to men and women.

Atkinson said she presented a revised plan to a committee of the board of trustees around March 29, 1996. Over the next two years, she said in court papers, she continued to bring budgetary and gender-equality issues before the committee.

She presented the athletic department’s eighth version of the budget and equity plan to the trustees’ athletic committee on Oct. 16, 1998, according to the lawsuit. Around that time, officials considered dropping to Division III or eliminating the college’s football program. As a result, the suit claims, Atkinson was physically threatened and intimidated by her immediate supervisor, Herman Kissiah.

‘The allegation is not true, and beyond that I have no comment,’ said Kissiah, who retired in October 1999 after 33 years at Lafayette.

Atkinson claims the college took no action when she reported Kissiah’s threats.

In April 1999, seven months before she was notified of her impending termination, Atkinson claims officials removed physical education, recreation and intramural competitions from her oversight.

Airgood denied Atkinson’s claims that her dismissal was the result of her concerns over Title IX compliance.

‘The decision regarding Atkinson’s appointment had nothing whatsoever to do with Title IX,’ Airgood said. ‘Lafayette’s record on Title IX compliance is one of the finest in the nation and the best in the Patriot League.’

Airgood cited a 1997 study by USA Today that showed 43 percent of Lafayette athletes were women. He said the athletic program now fields 23 intercollegiate teams _ 11 for men, 11 for women and coed fencing.

Atkinson declined comment when reached at her office and referred questions to her attorney, Alan B. Epstein of Philadelphia, who didn’t return phone calls Wednesday night.

She is seeking more than $150,000 in compensatory and punitive damages in the federal lawsuit, which is assigned to U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter.

Hafer Says She’s in for 2002 Governor’s Race