3rd Circuit Court

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

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

Privacy-Loving Couple Allowed to Pursue Only Trespass Count Against Google Maps

A Pittsburgh couple who sued Google Maps over its “Street View” feature can’t pursue their claims for invasion of privacy, but they can sue for trespass. The Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (PDF) in a suit by Aaron and Christine Boring, who said Google Maps disregarded their…

Jan 29, 2010 6:48 PM CST

Drinker Biddle Wins $1.78M Bill Battle; Firm Clocked 5,225 Hours in 3 Months

Drinker Biddle & Reath has won a $1.78 million award from a Pennsylvania state-court jury in a hard-fought legal bill battle that bared ordinarily confidential fee details in a bet-the-company patent litigation case. It all began in 2006, when AgriZap Inc. retained the Philadelphia-based firm to handle a patent dispute…

Jan 21, 2010 11:14 PM CST

Law Firm and Ex-Associate Battle in Court and on Net Over Badmouth Blog

A federal judge says she plans to order unspecified “limited” restrictions of an ex-associate’s badmouth blog criticizing the New Jersey law firm that formerly employed him. But it appears that some of the most telling blows in the battle between Levinson Axelrod and attorney Edward Heyburn over his Levinson Axelrod…

Jan 12, 2010 6:31 PM CST

2 Lawyers Among 5 Charged in Alleged $14.6M Mortgage Scheme

Two partners in a Pennsylvania law firm have been federally indicted along with three other defendants including two mortgage company owners in a wide-ranging alleged real estate fraud scheme. Jeffrey Bennett and Stephen Doherty of Doylestown-based Bennett & Doherty are charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and…

Dec 8, 2009 8:56 PM CST

Goal of New ABA Web Effort: All the Federal Decisions that Are Fit to Print

Want to know more about a 9th Circuit opinion on the First Amendment rights of a citizen ejected from a city council meeting for giving a Nazi salute? Or the 5th Circuit opinion allowing a Halliburton employee to sue over her alleged rape in Iraq? You can find those opinions…

Nov 17, 2009 11:30 AM CST

Indicted Pa. Jurists Now a Case for Reduced Judicial Immunity

Since 1872, the U.S. Supreme Court has held the line on judicial immunity, essentially ruling that jurists should be protected from civil litigation over their decisions on the bench no matter how wrong they might be. But a pair of former Pennsylvania judges facing federal corruption charges in the so-called…

Nov 12, 2009 9:00 PM CST

Ex-Prosecutor Tied to More Crimes Targeting Witnesses, Indictment Says

Paul Bergrin was already in solitary confinement awaiting trial on federal charges that he conspired to murder a witness in a drug case and about to make a renewed argument for bail. But now the high-profile New Jersey defense lawyer for rap stars and gang members, who formerly worked as…

Nov 11, 2009 1:12 AM CST

Law Firm & Ex-Associate Litigate Badmouth Blog Battle in State & Federal Court

A war of words between Levinson Axelrod and ex-associate Edward Harrington Heyburn is now in litigation. The New Jersey-based personal injury law firm filed an order to show cause in state court in Middlesex County Superior Court last week, seeking a shutdown order concerning the website in which Heyburn criticizes…

Nov 10, 2009 8:54 PM CST

Powell Law Firm Dropped as Defendant in Kids-for-Cash Case

The law firm of Robert J. Powell has been dropped as a defendant in a federal tort claim brought over the so-called kids-for-cash case involving $770,000 in kickbacks admittedly paid by Powell to two former judges in Luzerne County, Pa. In exchange, the two judges, Mark Ciavarella Jr. and Michael…

Nov 9, 2009 7:46 PM CST