• C.L. v. M.P.

    Publication Date: 2020-07-20
    Practice Area: Family Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Stevens
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 20-0761

    The trial court did not err in appointing a guardian ad litem and allowing the guardian access to the parties' mental health records where they knew or should have known their mental health would be at issue and the records were to be disseminated only to the guardian for a determination of the effect of the party's mental health upon thechild's best interests. The superior court affirmed.

  • O.G. v. A.B.

    Publication Date: 2020-07-06
    Practice Area: Family Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Stevens
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 20-0710

    Mother challenged trial court's award of shared legal and physical custody of the parties' children and court found trial court's findings concerning the §5328(a) factors were supported by the record and trial court properly ordered that neither parent could take the children out of the United States without written consent of other parent but court remanded for trial court to determine if its restriction on the renewal of the children's Russian passports would affect their status as dual citizens and trial court entered custody order

  • S.G. v. R.G.

    Publication Date: 2020-06-22
    Practice Area: Family Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Stevens
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 20-0647

    Appellant argued second judge erred in holding a full evidentiary hearing and in not applying the law of the case doctrine in PFA hearing and court found the law of the case doctrine did not apply because first judge recused herself and made no judicial determination but merely granted the parties' request to include the terms of their agreement in her order continuing the proceedings and governing authority required second judge to conduct a hearing on the underlying merits of the PFA petition. Affirmed.

  • Commonwealth v. Raymond

    Publication Date: 2020-06-08
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Stevens
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 20-0579

    Trial court erred in grading witness intimidation conviction as a first-degree felony based solely on the grading of the underlying criminal offense, without asking the jury to make factual findings as to whether defendant's conduct satisfied the statutory criteria for first-degree grading. Judgment of sentence vacated, case remanded.

  • Commonwealth v. Groner

    Publication Date: 2020-06-08
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Stevens
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 20-0572

    The registration and notification requirements in Pennsylvania's current Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, or SORNA II, are non-punitive and, therefore, the procedural framework for designating SVPs by clear and convincing evidence do not run afoul of the Apprendi or Alleyneprecedents. The superior court affirmed defendant's judgment of sentence.

  • Commonwealth v. Hromek

    Publication Date: 2020-05-25
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Stevens
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 20-0525

    Trial court erred in entertaining "petition for enforcement of plea agreement" where the petition constituted a petition for relief under PCRA and where the petition was untimely and defendant failed to assert any exceptions to the timeliness requirement. Order of the trial court reversed in part and affirmed in part.

  • Commonwealth v. Martz

    Publication Date: 2020-05-18
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Stevens
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 20-0500

    While defendant was entitled to a presumption under the infancy defense that he was incapable of committing a crime while between the ages of seven and 14 years, the commonwealth refuted that presumption with evidence that defendant did possess the criminal capacity to commit repeated sexual assaults of another minor. The appellate court affirmed.

  • Legal Access Plans, LLC v. Millinghausen

    Publication Date: 2020-05-11
    Practice Area: Dispute Resolution
    Industry: Legal Services
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Stevens
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 20-0432

    Trial court properly dismissed petition to confirm arbitration award where another trial court had ordered the parties to arbitration and therefore had venue over all appeals from that arbitration award. Order of the trial court affirmed.

  • Commonwealth v. Miller

    Publication Date: 2020-05-04
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Stevens
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 20-0454

    PCRA court erred in ordering a new trial on ineffective assistance grounds where alleged evidence of actual innocence would likely have been inadmissible hearsay and where PCRA court failed to conduct proper ineffective counsel analysis. Order of the PCRA court vacated, case remanded.

  • Legal Access Plans, LLC v. Millinghausen

    Publication Date: 2020-04-27
    Practice Area: Business Torts
    Industry: Legal Services
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Stevens
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 20-0432

    County trial court correctly denied petition to confirm arbitration award in deference to the jurisdiction of another county trial court that had ordered the parties to arbitration. Order of the trial court affirmed.