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  • Commonwealth v. Manivannan

    Publication Date: 2018-05-22
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Ransom
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 18-0581

    Addressing an issue of first impression, the court found the evidence insufficient to sustain defendant's conviction for unlawful use of a computer because lay witnesses were not competent to draw conclusions from information in the victim's email account setting that depicted multiple instances of disparate Internet Protocol addresses accessing her account from approximate geographic locations. The appellate court reversed defendant's judgment of sentence and remanded for a new trial.

  • Parker v. Surman

    Publication Date: 2018-05-22
    Practice Area: Consumer Protection
    Industry: Construction
    Court: Courts of Common Pleas, Allegheny County
    Judge: Judge Hertzberg
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 18-0596

    A contractor was individually liable to homeowners for damages where his deceptive conduct violated consumer protection laws.

  • Commonwealth v. Bebout

    Publication Date: 2018-05-22
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Bender
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 18-0603

    Defendant failed to meet his burden of demonstrating that the trial court sentenced him to a de facto life without parole sentence for crimes committed when he was just a juvenile given the meaningful opportunity for his release from prison at age 60. The appellate court affirmed defendant's judgment of sentence.

  • Commonwealth v. Byrd

    Publication Date: 2018-05-15
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Ott
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 18-0564

    The trial court erred in holding that the commonwealth was required to prove defendant's consent to the recording of his jailhouse conversations under the mutual consent exception to the Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act since the exception permits interception when a defendant knew or should have known that his conversations were recorded. The appellate court reversed and remanded.

  • Clean Air Council v. Sunoco Pipeline L.P.

    Publication Date: 2018-05-15
    Practice Area: Civil Procedure | Land Use and Planning
    Industry: Energy | Non-Profit
    Court: Commonwealth Court
    Judge: Judge Brobson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 18-0563

    The trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear plaintiffs' challenges to defendant's use of eminent domain to construct two natural gas liquid pipelines since the Eminent Domain Code provided the exclusive procedure for challenging defendant's power and right to condemn property under the state and federal constitutions. The court reversed and remanded in part.

  • Haugh v. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Bd.

    Publication Date: 2018-05-15
    Practice Area: Administrative Law | Regulation
    Industry: State and Local Government
    Court: Commonwealth Court
    Judge: Judge Covey
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 18-0578

    The liquor control board did not err or abuse its discretion in granting townships petition for an exemption from the amplified sound re-strictions for a liquor-licensed premises because case law showed that the noise standard in the townships ordinance was not subjective, nothing in the liquor code required a municipalitys noise ordinance to be as restrictive as the amplified sound restrictions in the liquor code and the township and police enforced the noise ordinance regardless of whether complaints were made from within or outs

  • Livingston v. Greyhound Lines, Inc. et al

    Publication Date: 2018-05-15
    Practice Area: Damages | Motor Vehicle Torts
    Industry: Transportation
    Court: Courts of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
    Judge: Judge Foglietta
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 18-0521

    The court denied defendants' motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict as to punitive damages where plaintiffs introduced competent evidence that the driver of a passenger bus involved in a collision and her employer objectively knew that their actions were placing passengers at a high degree of risk of physical harm or that they consciously elected to disregard such risk. The court recommended affirmance on appeal.

  • Commonwealth v. Robinson

    Publication Date: 2018-05-15
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Bowes
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 18-0574

    Court affirmed the PCRA court's dismissal of appellant's PCRA petition, alleging his trial counsel was ineffective due to counsel's deteriorated mental state from cocaine use. Affirmed.Court affirmed the PCRA court's dismissal of appellant's PCRA petition, alleging his trial counsel was ineffective due to counsel's deteriorated mental state from cocaine use. Affirmed.

  • Fotopoulos v. Fotopoulos

    Publication Date: 2018-05-15
    Practice Area: Expert Witnesses | Family Law
    Industry:
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Bowes
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 18-0576

    Trial courts preliminary order and decree permitting entry of the divorce decree were proper because husbands challenge to the telephonic testimony of wifes medical expert at the masters hearing failed. Affirmed

  • Straw v. Fair

    Publication Date: 2018-05-15
    Practice Area: Damages | Motor Vehicle Torts
    Industry: Construction
    Court: Superior Court
    Judge: Judge Olson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:
    Case Number: 18-0550

    Trial court erred in granting judgment on cross-claim where defendants raised genuine issue of additional defendants breach of duties to plaintiffs. Judgment vacated, case remanded.