By: Pamela A. Lee, Esquire All people deserve to live their lives with dignity and respect. But people with mental or physical disabilities –especially our elderly—are particularly vulnerable because they are often unable or unwilling to communicate neglect or abuse at the hands of their caregivers. The Office of Attorney General (“OAG”) sought to […]
By: Robert B. George, Esquire There are various circumstances which may result in the need to evict a tenant under a commercial lease. This typically occurs as a result of the fact that the commercial tenant breached the underlying lease agreement through nonpayment, or through another action that violated lease terms. Importantly, a commercial tenant […]
By: Lisanne L. Mikula, Esquire One of the most closely watched cases on the Supreme Court’s docket this term was Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The facts of the case were relatively simple—Jack Phillips, a Colorado baker, refused to make a custom cake for a same-sex couple because he believed that doing […]
By: Pamela A. Lee, Esquire In a recent article, a Montgomery County newspaper reported on a new but previously unrecognized cost to a local YMCA chapter that closed or soon will be closing two of its local facilities: real estate taxes. In Pennsylvania, our law provides for the “principle that a taxpayer should pay no […]
By: Robert B. George, Esquire Under Pennsylvania law, the direction that a pending divorce action will take if one of the parties dies before the case has been concluded depends upon whether grounds for divorce have been established. So if a party to a divorce dies while the case is still pending, the surviving spouse […]
By: Pamela A. Lee, Esquire In a petition to enforce an order adopting a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement, the Law Firm of DiOrio & Sereni, LLP successfully preserved a $400,000 plus verdict for a local school district on appeal before the Commonwealth Court. In Pennsylvania, our law provides for the “principle that […]
By: Lisanne L. Mikula, Esquire As Benjamin Franklin once said, “Creditors have better memories than debtors.” But how long can a creditor wait to collect a debt? And what means can a creditor use to collect old debt? In a victory for consumers, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a debt collection […]
By: Pamela A. Lee, Esquire The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently held that, pursuant to the plain language of the Sovereign Immunity Act (“Act”), the General Assembly waived PennDOT’s immunity as a bar to damages caused by dangerous guardrails affixed to the Commonwealth’s real estate on the side of a highway. The case is […]
By Pamela A. Lee, Esquire The public outrage over the crimes committed by former USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar is rightly justified. After pleading guilty to seven counts of sexual misconduct and listening to over 150 young women give their victim impact statements, Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for using […]
By: Robert B. George, Esquire Under current Pennsylvania law, both spouses have the right to equal access to the marital residence after a divorce action has commenced. This means that both spouses have the right to continue to reside in the residence if they so choose following the commencement of a divorce action by one […]
