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  • 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.

  • 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.

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  • 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.

  • Fouse v. Saratoga Partners, L.P.

    Publication Date: 2020-10-12
    Practice Area: Tax
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Baer
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-1102

    Distinction in redemption rights between MCTLA and RETSL did not violate equal protection principles where the right of redemption was a statutory rather than fundamental constitutional right and where taxpayers still had some right of redemption under RETSL and the lack of a post-sale redemption served the legitimate government interest of maximizing tax collection by facilitating higher bids at an upset tax sale. Order of the commonwealth court affirmed.

  • Commonwealth v. Weir

    Publication Date: 2020-10-12
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Donohue
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-1107

    Criminal defendant's challenge to the amount of a restitution order constituted a challenge to the discretionary aspects of sentence rather than a non-waivable challenge to the legality of sentence, such that a defendant was required to preserve the issue in a post-sentence motion and through appeal. Order of the superior court affirmed.

  • SEDA-COG Joint Rail Auth. v. Carload Express, Inc.

    Publication Date: 2020-10-12
    Practice Area: Government
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Donohue
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-1114

    Commonwealth court correctly interpreted "present" in 53 Pa.C.S. § 5610(e) to mean voting member under the common law and "presence" presupposed voting in order to be counted for purposes of obtaining a majority vote count. Affirmed.

  • Johnson v. Wetzel

    Publication Date: 2020-10-12
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Saylor
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 20-1111

    Commonwealth court properly dismissed appellant's claims relating to negligence in his action asserting a due process challenge to act 84 deductions from his inmate account but erred in dismissing appellant's due process claim because relief was available to inmates whose first deduction was made before Montanez v. Secretary Pa. DOC, 773 F.3d 472, and Bundy v. Wetzel, 646 Pa. 248, were decided. Affirmed in part and vacated in part.