Skip to content
The Supreme Court began its 2019-2020 Session on October 7. There has been much talk about this upcoming session with the addition of Justice Kavanaugh. Recent health scares involving Justice Ginsburg and a docket with several highly charged legal and political issues to be reviewed by the Court have drawn particular attention. Pundits on both sides of the issues believe that a five Justice “conservative majority” now sits on the Court with the retirement of Justice Kennedy and the addition of Justice Kavanaugh… Read On
Engaging younger generations in the civic process can be a challenging endeavor. There are, however, options for municipalities that are interested to try. Many Pennsylvania boroughs have adopted junior member programs to help engage youth with local government and inspire community commitment. Here is how a municipality might structure a program of its own. Junior Leadership programs vary in structure and organization across the state… Read On
The Commonwealth Court’s recent decision in Mission Pennsylvania, LLC v. McKelvey provides a road map to private entities seeking to prevent government agencies from disclosing sensitive business information. The case involved a public records request for applications that private entities submitted to the Department of Health for permits to grow, process, and distribute medical marijuana… Read On
Many seminars dealing with cybersecurity start with the statement: there are two types of entities, those which have been hacked and those which will be hacked. Such a statement strikes fear into the listener and sometimes leads to paralysis pursuant to which nothing is done to protect the files of customers and clients. There are rational ways to deal with cybersecurity issues… Read On
An Intentionally Defective Grant Trust (“IDGT”) is a tool for use in transferring an appreciated asset to family members as a current gift early in the appreciation of the asset as opposed to having the transfer at death after much appreciation has occurred. The result is that use of the tool leverages the transfer so that its value for tax purposes is lower than it would be at death… Read On
Financial advisors who do estate planning are always on the alert to do what is called an estate freeze. An estate freeze is an estate planning technique in which a person is able to set the value of an appreciating asset at a value of the asset at an earlier date than his or other death… Read On
As issues under the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know law (RTKL) become more nuanced, the Commonwealth Court was called upon recently to decide the meaning of the word “individual” in the exemption found in § 708 (b)(13). This section provides exemption for the “Identity of an individual who lawfully makes a donation to an agency.” Who or what constitutes an “individual” was the basis of the Court’s decision… Read On
Beginning in early July 2019, San Francisco will start restricting its local police force’s access to surveillance equipment and will prohibit its use of facial recognition technology. This is the first of a growing number of municipalities to begin regulating or banning facial recognition technology by local police departments. In California, the cities of Berkeley and Oakland are currently debating the use of the software… Read On
The United States Supreme Court in a decision handed down June 21, 2019, in the case of Rosemary Knick v. Township of Scott has made it easier for plaintiffs to go directly to Federal Court in state and municipal “Takings” cases. The Court, in a 5-4 decision authored by Chief Justice Roberts, has held that a property owner has an actionable Fifth Amendment claim at the moment a governmental entity takes the individual’s property without paying for it… Read On
On May 7, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend Regulation F—the implementing regulation for the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The FDCPA was passed in 1977 and has not been updated or amended in the 40 years of its existence. This is problematic, given how much technology has evolved since the Act was passed… Read On
Pennsylvania now has some guidance from its courts regarding the enforcement of no poach agreements within the state. The Pennsylvania Superior Court issued a decision on January 11, 2019 in Pittsburgh Logistics Systems, Inc. v. BeeMac Trucking, LLC,[1] serving as the first appellate level court within the state to address the issue of no poach agreements… Read On
Fluctuating workweek pay schedules can be beneficial for both employers and employees alike, provided they are implemented correctly. The pay schedule is under fire in Pennsylvania, however, due to the way it handles overtime compensation. A fluctuating workweek is where an employee’s weekly work schedule involves a different number of hours in any given week, but the employee still earns a set weekly salary regardless of the number of hours he or she worked… Read On
