TLI BUDGET
How to use the budget: Keep it in MS Word. Open the file, see what stories need to be edited, put
your initials at the end of the budget entry with the time you started to the left of your initials and
an * to the right of your initials. Close the budget. Open the story/ article to edit it. Once you've
finished editing the article, return to this file, remove the * (to signal you're done with a story), and
replace it with the time you finished editing the story. Pick up another story. Stories are in g:\editor.
Friday, Sept. 19
Contributed:
Bankruptcy Update: By Rudolph J. Di Massa Jr. and Adrian C. Maholchic bu0919
Immigration Law: By Alan Seagrave il0919
Regional:
Amaris2: On the night Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman accepted
Widener University School of Law’s Alumna of the Year Award, she also had to squeeze in a town
hall meeting in Pottstown and a short peek at the Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys game her
sons were watching. ferman0919
Amaris3: A popular rumor over the winter for Philadelphia politicos was the conjecture that
Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham would step down early in order to run in the state
Attorney General’s race. da0919
Amaris4: A $2 million settlement has been reached in a wrongful death and survival action over
the death of a 19-year-old who drank at the home of a friend before being electrocuted at a
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Route 100 station. breskman0919
Zack: The National Law Journal has reported that the founders of one of the largest lemon law
practices in the Northeast, Kimmel & Silverman— also called “The Lemon Lawyers”— have been
suspended indefinitely by the Maryland Court of Appeals from practicing in Maryland.
Craig Kimmel and Robert Silverman were suspended on Sept. 2 for failing to adequately supervise
a new satellite office they started in Maryland as well as failing to properly communicate with a
client of the firm after the sole lawyer in that office abruptly resigned. Lemon0919
Zack2: Pennsylvania’s largest plaintiffs firm, Kline & Specter, recently let go three of its mass tort
attorneys and reassigned two others to new practice areas following the wrap-up of the massive
Vioxx litigation. The Legal asked around to find out if other plaintiffs firms have found themselves
scaling back their mass tort groups following the Vioxx settlements.
Gina: The Pennsylvania legal landscape isn’t heavily populated with firms representing Lehman
Brothers, Merrill Lynch or AIG, but there are several that lay claim to having Wachovia or WaMu
as a client and many others who have a strong stake in the financial services industry.
Wednesday, Aug. 20
Contributed:
Corporate Counsel (pickup from GC California Magazine): By Michael C. Ross cc0820
IP Law: By Maurice Valla ip0820
Regional:
Zack: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in a case of first
impression that subrogated insurers take the place of the victims they indemnified for
damages arising from injury or death as a result of state-sponsored terrorism and that, as third
parties, they are permitted, under the 1996 exceptions to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act,
to pursue claims against terrorist states. Libya0814 HG MR
Gina: A York County developer unhappy with the money he was paid by the county for the
condemnation of his 78 acres was successful in getting a $2 million payoff upped to $17.25 million,
with a stop in between. Highpoint0820
Amaris: A five-member state Commonwealth Court majority has ruled that the 180-day reporting
period for medical provider-malpractice defendants to notify Pennsylvania's "first-dollar"
indemnity insurance coverage of malpractice claims does not kick start until the provider has
received notice beyond a bare writ of summons that the claim may be eligible for state insurance
coverage. cope0820
Thursday, Aug. 21
Contributed:
Environmental Law: By Kate Vaccaro el0821
Immigration Law: By Elise A. Fialkowski il0821
Regional:
Gina 1: Duane Morris, known for the depth and breadth of its marketing department, has laid off
seven members of the team. Duanemarket0821
Gina 2: Gov. Edward G. Rendell can’t use line-item vetoes on only the language in certain sections
of an appropriations bill without striking the accompanying funding, the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court ruled Tuesday. Veto0821
Friday, Aug. 22
Contributed:
Insight on Diversity: By Tamika Stembridge id0822
Employment Law: By Todd Ewan and Carolyn Plump el0822
Regional:
Gina 2: On the heels of the announcement yesterday that Duane Morris laid off seven people from
its marketing department, word has emerged that the firm has laid off an additional 15 to 30 staff
members in other departments.
Tuesday, Aug. 26
Contributed:
Capital Gains: By Leslie A. Margolies cg0826
Securities Law: By Jeffrey A. Barrack sec0826
Regional:
Gina: When it comes to gaming in Philadelphia, it seems no one ever gets the last word.
The Supreme Court’s much anticipated ruling as to whether SugarHouse Casino can build on state-
owned riparian lands came down just a day after Foxwoods said it would consider moving its
location from the Delaware River and has resulted in the promise of continued litigation.
Sugarhouse0826
By Shannon Duffy: Attorney Stephen F. Gold, the longtime champion of rights for the disabled,
scored a pair of significant victories in the federal courts this month in two long-running battles for
accessibility to voting booths and subway stops.
Wednesday, Aug. 27
Contributed:
Corporate Counsel: By Gina Passarella comcastcc0827
Franchise Law: By Craig Tractenberg fl0827
Regional:
Amaris: Westinghouse Lighting Corporation has won an $8 million arbitration award against a
business partner that Westinghouse said violated the terms of licensing agreements to manufacture
LED products under the Westinghouse brand. westinghouse0822
Gina: Fox Rothschild is set to bring on board eight of the 15 remaining attorneys at intellectual
property boutique Synnestvedt & Lechner, effective Sept. 1. The boutique, the oldest of its kind in
the area, has seen a number of departures in the last two years and realized it wasn’t viable as a
standalone firm, according to Fox Rothschild Administrative Partner Mark Silow.
Thursday, Aug. 28
Contributed:
Blog Brief: By Luke Debevec bb0828
Workers’ Comp Update: By Daniel V. DiLoretto wc0828
Regional:
Amaris: A Philadelphia judge has ruled that a group of taxpayers has standing to oppose the city of
Philadelphia's desire to sublease a portion of Burlholme Park in northeast Philadelphia so Fox
Chase Cancer Center can expand its medical campus. burholme0827
Zack: With the addition of Charles J. Meyer, Blue Bell, Pa.-based firm Elliott Greenleaf can now
name family law among its practice areas. Meyer, who was a partner at Fox Rothschild, will head
up the new practice. Meyer0826
Friday, Aug. 29
Contributed:
White-Collar Law: By David M. Laigaie and Meryl Vinocur wc0829
Paralegals Page: By Stephanie Ristvey
Regional:
Amaris: A sharply divided en banc panel of the state Superior Court has ruled that a mother's
parental rights to her baby must be terminated because the mother's incarceration on a drug
conviction is directly connected to the drug use that first led to the baby being placed in foster care.
Terminate0828
Zack2: Keith Dutill of Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young in Malvern, Pa. was one of the attorneys
that represented the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in its suit against Canadian
hedge fund trader Paul Eustace and Philadelphia Alternative Asset Management Co., a commodity
pool operator that he controlled. Eustace and the company have been ordered to pay more than
$279 million in restitution and a $20 million in civil penalties for allegedly defrauding commodity
pool participants. CFTC0827
Tuesday, Sept. 2
Contributed:
Capital Gains: By Bruce J. Rogers cg0902
Regional:
Shannon: Former employees of AT&T Corp. and Lucent Technologies who
claimed they were cheated out of death benefits have lost their bid to revive
an ERISA suit now that the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the
benefits were unvested and therefore could be terminated by Lucent.
Amaris: The Philadelphia Bar Foundation's fundraising campaign for the city's legal services
agencies has had 76 law firms commit so far to a higher goal of giving set by Philadelphia Bar
Association Mike Pratt. raising0829
Gina: Former partners of Pittsburgh-based Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney painted a bleak picture
of the firm’s financial and cultural health in a recent article in ’s sister publication the
, but local attorneys had mixed reactions to several high-level departures and the firm’s focus
on national expansion. The attorneys cautioned that some of those departures may have been a
benefit to the firm and pointed more to the trouble Buchanan Ingersoll could face in its quest to
grow nationally when so many attorneys in Pennsylvania are comfortable with focusing their
efforts in the commonwealth. Buchanan0829
Zack: Six years of litigation and seven days of trial has amounted to over $12 million for five
companies. In Agere Systems, Inc. et al. v. Advanced Environmental Technology Corporation, et
al., Glenn A. Harris, a partner in Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll’s environmental group,
successfully litigated a case against Delaware-based Carpenter Technology Corporation, which was
alleged to have been a customer of waste removal and disposal corporation DeRewal Chemical
Company Inc. during the period of time DeRewal Chemical was illegally dumping its waste at a
property called Boarhead Farms in Bucks County, Pa. Super0829
Wednesday, Sept. 3
Contributed:
Corporate Counsel:
Intellectual Property: By Paul Prestia ip0903
Regional:
Zack: Six years of litigation and seven days of trial has amounted to over $12 million for five
companies. In Agere Systems, Inc. et al. v. Advanced Environmental Technology Corporation, et
al., Glenn A. Harris, a partner in Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll’s environmental group,
successfully litigated a case against Delaware-based Carpenter Technology Corporation, which was
alleged to have been a customer of waste removal and disposal corporation DeRewal Chemical
Company Inc. during the period of time DeRewal Chemical was illegally dumping its waste at a
property called Boarhead Farms in Bucks County, Pa. Super0829
Thursday, Sept. 4
Contributed:
Health Care Law: By Vasilios J. Kalogredis hc0904
Law Firm Management: By Joel Rose
Regional:
Amaris2: A Philadelphia judge has affirmed a $185 million award against retail titan Wal-Mart for
alleged underpayments of its employees in an opinion written for an appeal now pending with the
Pennsylvania Superior Court. walmart0904
Zack: Emotional distress no longer requires physical injury in the eyes of the state Superior Court.
A three-judge panel voted 2-1— with Judge Joan Orie Melvin concurring and dissenting— to
uphold a $4.5 million jury verdict awarded to two victims who were physically harmed by a flying
fire hose, as well as to three of their family members who witnessed the incident but were not
injured.
Friday, Sept. 5
Contributed:
Bankruptcy Update: By Francis J. Lawall bu0905
Professional Conduct: By By Ellen C. Brotman and Michael Hayes pc0905
Regional:
Shannon: In a major victory for cellular phone manufacturers and service
providers, a federal judge has dismissed a consumer class-action suit that
accused the companies of conspiring to hide evidence that the radio frequency
(RF) emissions from cell phones pose a biological hazard.
Amaris: National news was made when over 300 workers at a kosher meat plant in Pottsville,
Iowa, were arrested in May on charges they were in the United States illegally or had obtained
fraudulent Social Security numbers, and when close to 600 workers at an electronic factory in
Laurel, Miss., were arrested in a similar mass raid last week. An immigration enforcement action in
King of Prussia, Montgomery County, conducted July 31 involved much fewer workers, but the
arrest of 42 employees of a cleaning service that contracted with Montgomery County to clean its
courthouse and a main administrative building at 1 Montgomery Plaza has brought home the issue
of United States immigration policy to this area. immigration0902
Gina 2: The storied name of Wolf Block, thought to be soon a thing of the past given a potential
merger with the larger Florida-based Akerman Senterfitt, looks to remain as the two firms
announced the talks were off. But Wolf Block has already seen departures of high-level partners
and some wonder what is next for the firm after two failed merger deals in less than two years.
Monday Sept. 8
Contributed:
Real Estate: By Harris Ominsky re0908
Appellate Law: By Howard Bashman al0908
Regional:
Gina: The slow days of summer have ended and the lateral market only looks to heat up in the
coming months. But with the economy being what it is, everyone is a bit more cautious and some
are stuck right where they are. Laterals0904
Tuesday Sept. 9
Contributed:
Capital Gains: By Mark Silow cg0909
Eastern District: By Peter Vaira ed0909
Regional:
Zack: While the Philadelphia legal market has experienced a number of attorney and support staff
layoffs since the first of the year, Pittsburgh’s firms have appeared to remain decidedly more stable.
The Legal set out to find out whether or not this is true and, if so, why? Pitt0905
Amaris: A Philadelphia judge has ruled that a federal law governing the liability of pharmaceutical
companies for drug vaccines preempts state tort claims of design defect and failure to warn in the
case of a 11-year-old boy who has autism. Wright0909
Wednesday Sept. 10
Contributed:
Corp. Counsel: By cc0910
Employment Law: By Sid Steinberg el0910
Regional:
Gina: An attorney who was sanctioned $15,000 in March for supplying an invalid certificate of
merit in a medical malpractice case has now been suspended from the bar on consent for two years,
according to an order by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Suspension0909
Gina 2: After more than 20 years with Saul Ewing, James M. Becker has left the firm for
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney. Becker0910
Thursday, Sept. 11
Contributed:
Workers’ Comp: By Christian Petrucci wc0911
Business of Law: By Frank D’Amore bl0911
Regional:
Amaris: A push to require financial institutions to pay higher-yielding interest rates on attorney
trust accounts has found success. iolta0911
Zack: The name Brian Mildenberg elicits vastly different emotions in many who hear it. On one
hand, the attorney has come under intense fire by some for representing the estate of Danieal Kelly,
a 14-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who starved to death in her squalid West Philadelphia home,
in a suit against the city. But others see him as a sympathetic figure trying to help bring justice to
Danieal’s 11 siblings. So who is Brian Mildenberg? The Legal set out to learn more about the man
who emerged from relative obscurity to become arguably one of the most publically recognizable
names in the Philadelphia legal community.
Zack2: An en banc Commonwealth Court panel has ruled 5-2 that two amendments to the Public
School Code pertaining to the displacement of students and teachers from financially troubled,
underperforming school districts that close their high schools are not unconstitutional “special
laws.”
Gina: A negligent misrepresentation claim against Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson can
continue now that a Philadelphia
Friday, Sept. 12
Contributed:
Litigation: By Thomas Anapol lit0912
Bankruptcy: By Derek Baker bu0912
Regional:
Shannon: Lawyers for The Legal Intelligencer are asking the U.S. Supreme
Court to take up the issue of whether court dockets in civil cases may ever be
sealed from public view and whether it is ever proper to have a “blanket”
sealing of all documents in a case without first giving the press and the public
a chance to object.
Amaris: A push to require financial institutions to pay higher-yielding interest rates on attorney
trust accounts has found success. iolta0911
Amaris3: A Philadelphia jury has awarded $5.5 million to the parents of a Hahnemann University
Hospital parking lot attendant killed by gunshot after concluding the hospital was negligent in its
security arrangements. graves0912
Monday, Sept. 15
Contributed:
Real Estate: By Harper Dimmerman re0915
Environmental law:By Raymond P. Pepe el0915
Regional:
Gina: A negligent misrepresentation claim against Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson can
continue now that a Philadelphia judge has denied the firm’s motion for summary judgment.
Linebarger0911
Gina 2: (CAN’T RUN UNTIL MONDAY’S PAPER): After his interim appointment to a
judgeship on the Superior Court bench ended in early January, Robert C. Daniels didn’t look for
another job. Daniels0915
Wednesday, Sept. 17
Contributed:
Corp. Counsel: By Zusha Elinson cc0917
Intellectual Property: By Linda Calderone ip0917
Regional:
Zack4: Former Philadelphia assistant district attorney David Oh has joined Philadelphia firm
Zarwin Baum DeVito Kaplan Schaer Toddy to start a Government Relations group.
Gina 2: A Philadelphia judge granted Drexel University’s motion for summary judgment in a case
over a professor’s tenure. Both sides filed motions for summary judgment after stipulating to facts
in the case. Representatives of the university said the ruling has wide applicability to universities
across the state. Drexel0917
Wednesday, Sept. 17
Contributed:
Paralegal Page with calendar: By Valerie A. Dolan para0918 cal0918
Environmental Law: By Kenneth Warren el0918
Regional:
Zack3: What justifies a court’s decision to lock up a non-delinquent juvenile?
The General Assembly says nothing does, an Allegheny County juvenile court says fleeing from
the custody of Children Youth and Family, or CYF, does and the state Superior Court says that,
while it is sympathetic to the juvenile court, rules are rules. Detention0912