• In re Appeal of Melamed

    Publication Date: 2023-01-02
    Practice Area: Public Records
    Industry: State and Local Government | Technology Media and Telecom
    Court: Commonwealth Court
    Judge: Judge Covey
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 914 C.D. 2021

    Trial court properly found police department did not have to produce records of department officer dismissals that were pending the grievance process to Right-to-Know Law requester because mandatory arbitration was part of police department's employment termination process and there was no final agency decision until a grievance arbitrator rendered his/her decision. Affirmed.

  • Omatick v. Cecil Twp. Zoning Hearing Bd.

    Publication Date: 2022-12-19
    Practice Area: Land Use and Planning
    Industry: Real Estate | State and Local Government
    Court: Commonwealth Court
    Judge: Judge Covey
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 920 C.D. 2021

    Trial court erred in sua sponte raising the issue of the definition of "building" in township's unified development ordinance and reversing zoning board's denial of applicant's request for approval for continuance of a nonconforming usage and court found the adoption of the UDO did not render the existing mobile home use or the residence nonconforming. Reversed.

  • Cummins v. Bradford Sanitary Auth.

    Publication Date: 2022-11-28
    Practice Area: Contracts
    Industry: Construction
    Court: Commonwealth Court
    Judge: Judge Covey
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 1107 C.D. 2021

    Trial court erred in upholding part of the jury's verdict on remand where court had ruled the entirety of the parties' contract to be unambiguous, such that the trial court misinterpreted the ruling as applying to only one section of the contract. Order of the trial court affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part.

  • Wolfe v. Reading Blue Mountain & N. R.R. Co.

    Publication Date: 2022-11-28
    Practice Area: Real Estate
    Industry: Transportation
    Court: Commonwealth Court
    Judge: Judge Covey
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 649 C.D. 2022

    Trial court erred in sustaining property owners' preliminary objections to railroad's declaration of taking because the taking was for a public purpose, owners could not raise their claim of a de facto taking via preliminary objection, and the taking was not in bad faith but trial court properly found that security railroad offered was not adequate. Reversed and remanded.

  • Pennsylvania Builders Ass'n v. Dep't of Labor & Indus.

    Publication Date: 2022-11-14
    Practice Area: Constitutional Law
    Industry: Construction | State and Local Government
    Court: Commonwealth Court
    Judge: Judge Covey
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 479 M.D. 2021

    Petitioner demonstrated that §304(a)(3) of the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act was unconstitutional as it delegated the legislature's rule-making authority over the execution of accessibility provisions to a non-governmental entity in violation of article II, §1 of the state's constitution. The district court granted petitioner declaratory judgment.

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  • Basnet v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Review

    Publication Date: 2022-11-07
    Practice Area: Administrative Law
    Industry: State and Local Government
    Court: Commonwealth Court
    Judge: Judge Covey
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 1099 C.D. 2021

    Claimant failed to prove there was an administrative breakdown that led to her late appeal from the denial of unemployment compensation benefits given a lack of evidence that she sought language assistance services or acted reasonably to learn the status of her appeal but was unsuccessful due to no fault of her own. The appellate court affirmed.

  • Towamencin Twp. v. Pennsylvania Labor Relations Bd.

    Publication Date: 2022-10-24
    Practice Area: Labor Law
    Industry: State and Local Government
    Court: Commonwealth Court
    Judge: Judge Covey
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 789 C.D. 2020

    Union failed to meet its burden of proving township unilaterally changed a subject that was a mandatory subject of bargaining and court found board misapplied the Family and Medical Leave Act and erroneously concluded township violated its statutory duty to bargain under the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act. Reversed.

  • City of Lancaster v. Pennsylvania Pub. Util. Comm'n

    Publication Date: 2022-10-24
    Practice Area: Public Utilities
    Industry: State and Local Government
    Court: Commonwealth Court
    Judge: Judge Covey
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 251 M.D. 2019

    Court granted petitioner municipalities' petition for summary relief as to its claim that §59.18 of the Public Utility Commission's regulations relating to the indoor placement of natural gas meters in historic districts constituted an improper delegation of PUC's authority to private parties because 52 Pa. Code §59.18 did not prescribe the manner in which a gas company had to exercise PUC-granted discretion and an appeal to the PUC under 66 Pa. C.S. §701 and 52 Pa. Code §5.21 for an impartial review of a gas company's decision would

  • Evans v. Pennsylvania Dep't of Corr.

    Publication Date: 2022-10-24
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Commonwealth Court
    Judge: Judge Covey
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 229 M.D. 2021

    Inmate could not obtain mandamus relief against DOC for time credit where sentencing order expressly awarded zero days of credit. Defendant's preliminary objections sustained, petition dismissed.

  • Chester Cmty. Charter Sch. v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Review

    Publication Date: 2022-10-17
    Practice Area: Administrative Law
    Industry: Education
    Court: Commonwealth Court
    Judge: Judge Covey
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 14 C.D. 2021

    The Unemployment Compensation Board of Review properly disregarded employer's hearsay evidence regarding claimant's alleged misconduct as the evidence was not corroborated by other competent evidence in the record. The commonwealth court affirmed an order granting claimant unemployment compensation benefits.