Appeal to the Supreme Court from the Order and Opinion of the Commonwealth Court entered on June 30, 2010, reversing the Order of the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board entered on October 14, 2009. ...
As 2013 came to a close, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court set the landscape for product liability litigation for years to come. ...
Attorney’s fees are an often overlooked, but significant part of any suit brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under the Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Awards Act of 1976, the “prevailing party” in any action brought pursuant to the...
While parties may have historically agreed to some form of an appellate arbitration process, the American Arbitration Association has recently standardized the process by creating the optional appellate arbitration rules. The rules provide for an...
Shale drilling is a lucrative, but risky business for land and rights owners, drilling companies, and all other companies that share responsibility for on-site operations. When great risks are present, complicated risk-shifting schemes develop to...
September 9, 2013, marked the start of the New Age of WCAIS in the world of Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation practice. “WCAIS” stands for Workers’ Compensation Automation and Integration System. A major modernization project by the Pennsylvania...
As the nation’s baby boomers continue to get older, more and more people will undertake the role of a fiduciary. This may be as an agent appointed through a power of attorney as an executor or administer of an estate or as a trustee under the...
In a recent issue of first impression in Pennsylvania, Judge Terrence R. Nealon of the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County examined the availability of punitive damages in cases involving the use of GPS devices while driving. Rockwell v....
In an apparent first-of-its-kind decision in the nation, a New Jersey appellate court has held that the sender of a text can share in liability if the person knows or has special reason to know that the intended recipient is driving and is likely to...
Under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, employers may request supersedeas in conjunction with Petitions to Terminate, Suspend, and Modify an employee’s benefits. In cases in which supersedeas has been requested and denied, the employer’s...
Cipriani & Werner recently handled the defense of a lawsuit seeking civil damages under the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act. Under Pennsylvania’s Wiretapping Act, it is illegal to record a telephone conversation, or any...
When an injured worker receives medical treatment in Pennsylvania the medical providers are subject to sections of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act [Act] andMedical Cost Containment Regulations [Regulations] that dictate the amount they will...
In Zauflik v. Pennsbury Sch. Dist. , 2013 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 233, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld the $500,000 statutory cap on damage awards against governmental entities, finding the damages limit imposed by the Political Subdivision...
The recent PA Supreme Court holding in City of Pittsburgh & UPMC Benefits Management Services, Inc. v. WCAB (Robinson) , 18 WAP 2011, which was decided on March 25, 2013, appears to have shifted the initial burden of proof in a case where that a...
The Superior Court, in the recent decision of The Babcock & Wilcox Co. v. American Nuclear Insurers , 2013 PA Super. 174 (July 10, 2013), created a new option for insureds who are offered by their insurer a defense subject to a reservation of...
Many companies are not aware that, after a period of years, which varies depending on the type of obligation involved, certain monies, including uncashed payroll and vendor checks, credit or gift card balances, deposits and unused rebates, are...
Pennsylvania has long acknowledged the in pari delicto defense in accounting cases, particularly in the auditor situation. The in pari delicto defense holds that when a plaintiff and defendant are mutually at fault in causing the harm it...
The enactment of the Construction Workplace Misclassification Act signals a new chapter in the effort to define whether an individual working on a construction site for himself, or for another, is considered an employee or an independent...
In the past few years, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in two reported cases has made it absolutely clear that releases of liability in a recreational setting are valid and enforceable for claims of negligence. The first case was Chepkevich v. Hidden...
In Shiner v. Ralston , 2013 Pa. Super. 33 (2/22/2013), two men were involved in an automobile accident on May 17, 2007 in Centre County, Pennsylvania. Glenn Shiner was operating a Ford Taurus and Ralph W. Ralston, Sr., who died in the...