Pennsylvania

Ex-Partner and Ex-Associate Battle Anapol Schwartz PI Firm Over Pay

The pay war began when Anapol Schwartz Weiss Cohan Feldman & Smalley voted to demote Howard Levin from the partnership to counsel status last year. He initially said he would accept, then, months later, changed his mind, according to a lawsuit the firm filed in Pennsylvania state court last year.…

Mar 16, 2010 4:52 PM CDT

Conduct Board Didn’t Probe Complaints Against Pa. Judge Accused of Kickbacks

The Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board didn’t investigate four complaints made against a judge later accused in a scheme to accept kickbacks in exchange for sending juveniles to a private facility. The board’s chief counsel, Joseph Massa, said the board did not conduct even a preliminary investigation in the complaints against…

Mar 9, 2010 3:23 PM CST

Ex-Partner Sues WolfBlock, Seeks Severance Pay for 2003 Departure

A former partner of WolfBlock has sued the dissolving firm and former chairman Mark Alderman, contending that they failed to continue making severance payments required under an agreement reached concerning his requested departure from the Philadelphia-based firm in 2003. It provided for Michael Budin to be paid almost $27,000 annually…

Mar 3, 2010 10:15 PM CST

Defendant Charged with Graffiti Threat Against Judge

A Pennsylvania man has been arrested on charges he spray painted a death threat against a judge on the county courthouse. Paul Sirmons of North Huntingdon was charged with vandalism, terroristic threats and criminal mischief, according to stories in the Associated Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Sirmons…

Feb 25, 2010 12:48 PM CST

Federal Judge Steps Aside, Allows Del. Court to Decide Claimed Cravath Conflict Issue

A federal judge in Philadelphia has stepped aside from a lawsuit seeking to disqualify Cravath Swaine & Moore from serving as counsel to a company seeking to take over a former client of the law firm. Because Delaware Chancery Court is to address the same conflict issue on an expedited…

Feb 24, 2010 12:17 AM CST

School District in Laptop-Spying Case Ordered to Shut Off Webcams

Seeking to prevent a repeat of the alleged use of a school-issued laptop computer to spy on a suburban Philadelphia student at his home, a federal judge has approved a consent order intended to put a stop to the potential invasion of privacy. It prohibits Lower Merion School District from…

Feb 23, 2010 9:00 PM CST

Cravath Fires Back in Conflict Case, Says Ex-Client is Doing Battle in Wrong Court

Responding to a former client’s claims of a conflict of interest that could potentially derail Cravath Swaine & Moore’s representation of a current client in a hard-fought $5.1 billion corporate takeover battle, the law firm says in a reply brief that ex-client Airgas Inc. is pursuing the issue in the…

Feb 22, 2010 2:00 PM CST

Accused of Spying on Student at Home Via School Laptop, District Says It Didn’t

An upscale suburban Philadelphia school district accused in a lawsuit of spying on a student at home via the webcam in his school-provided laptop computer says it didn’t do it. The Lower Merion School District only activated the webcams when it was looking for a missing laptop among the 2,300…

Feb 19, 2010 6:56 PM CST

Suit Says School Spied on Student at Home Via Laptop Webcam, Seeks Class Action Status

A lawsuit filed by a the parents of a teenage student contends that his upscale suburban Philadelphia high school spied on him via a webcam on the laptop computer it issued to him that could be remotely activated. The suit, which was filed last week in federal court by Michael…

Feb 18, 2010 10:00 PM CST

Ex-Client of Cravath Battles Firm’s Current Client in Conflict Case Venue War

Updated: Today was the day that a Pennsylvania state-court judge was supposed to conduct a hearing on a former client’s claim that Cravath Swaine & Moore is conflicted out of representing a competing company in a $5.1 billion takeover bid. But that didn’t happen, because Cravath and its current client,…

Feb 16, 2010 11:28 PM CST

No Warrant Needed to Track User’s Cell Phone Location, DOJ Tells 3rd Cir. Panel

By obtaining information about which cell tower routed calls from a cell phone user, authorities have been able to link suspects to crime scenes. But, in oral arguments today before a federal appellate panel in Philadelphia, the government contended that no warrant is required to get such information about a…

Feb 12, 2010 9:56 PM CST

ACLU Airport Suit Says Feds Detained Student Over Study Aid for Arabic Class

A federal lawsuit filed today by a Pomona College student says he was detained, handcuffed and interrogated at the Philadelphia International Airport over a five-hour period last year simply because he was carrying English-Arabic flash cards he used for a college language class. Nicholas George, 22, alleges that his treatment…

Feb 10, 2010 9:16 PM CST

Ex-Client Loses TRO Bid to Ban Cravath in $5.1B Deal, But Could Win Next Round Next Week

Caught in the crossfire between current and former clients, Cravath Swaine & Moore can continue representing Air Products & Chemicals Inc.—at least until next week—in a $5.1 billion takeover bid for Airgas Inc., a Pennsylvania judge ruled today. While Judge Albert Sheppard Jr. rejected a request by Airgas for a…

Feb 9, 2010 8:40 PM CST

3rd Cir. Creates ‘Chaos’ with Conflicting Rulings on Student MySpace Principal Parodies

Two panels in different districts of one federal appeals court made apparently conflicting rulings yesterday in cases over students in two separate Pennsylvania school districts who posted similar parodies of their principals on MySpace, using computers at their homes. One divided three-judge panel in the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued…

Feb 5, 2010 6:09 PM CST

Lawyer Seeks New Trial for Client After Luckily Finding Out Juror Wasn’t a US Citizen

It looks like a Pennsylvania man convicted of selling $40 worth of cocaine to an undercover officer might have a chance of winning a retrial because his lawyer happened across helpful information about a juror. Attorney Thomas Shaffer, who represented Troy Mannery, fortuitously was in the courtroom when one of…

Feb 4, 2010 1:24 AM CST