Pennsylvania

SEC brief supports fired in-house lawyer’s suit against Vanguard, says he qualifies as whistleblower

The federal government has intervened to file a brief in support of a former in-house lawyer’s wrongful termination suit against Vanguard Group. The mutual fund giant contends that plaintiff David Danon doesn’t qualify for whistleblower protection, because he only sought it after learning that he would be let go by…

Mar 29, 2016 3:15 PM CDT

Convicted of UPL, former bar president with no law degree ‘provided a good service,’ her lawyer says

A former county bar association president in Pennsylvania who never earned a law degree was convicted Thursday in an unauthorized practice of law case. Kimberly Kitchen, now 46, worked as an estate planning lawyer at BMZ Law in Huntingdon County. Kitchen had made partner at the firm before her lack…

Mar 25, 2016 11:20 AM CDT

Former state supreme court judge fined $50K over objectionable emails, but keeps pension

A former Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice who resigned last week has been fined $50,000 for sending and receiving objectionable emails, mostly or entirely on a private account. But J. Michael Eakin will keep his $153,000-a-year pension, because a judicial tribunal agreed to accept an ethics-case prosecutor’s recommendation to drop the…

Mar 24, 2016 5:00 PM CDT

Judge says Chipotle social media rules violated labor law, orders rehiring of worker fired for tweet

Fired last year for criticizing Chipotle wages in a tweet, a server at one of the chain’s suburban Philadelphia restaurants must now be rehired and get back pay, an administrative law judge ruled Monday. Social media rules at Chipotle that banned such critical comments violated the National Labor Relations Act,…

Mar 16, 2016 4:30 PM CDT

Pennsylvania judge who won $291M Powerball jackpot plans to stay on the bench

For many who enjoy the fantasy of winning a major lottery jackpot, one of the first things they plan to do is quit working. Not James Stocklas. A senior district judge in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, he really did purchase a winning $291 million Powerball ticket, but he plans to stay…

Mar 7, 2016 2:00 PM CST

‘Intolerable’ DNA mixup not grounds for dropping murder retrial, judge rules

Kareem Johnson was once sentenced to death after being convicted in the 2002 slaying of a man found dead outside a North Philadelphia lounge, but he saw his capital murder conviction overturned due to a DNA mixup at trial. However, a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge on Thursday declined to…

Mar 4, 2016 11:05 AM CST

Slain shooting suspect had been declared legally dead in 2014

A former Pennsylvania man who allegedly shot and killed two sheriff’s deputies in Maryland on Feb. 10 was declared legally dead two years ago. Judge John Kennedy of York County, Pennsylvania, declared David Brian Evans legally dead in a probate matter after Evans’ father died, report the York Daily Record…

Feb 29, 2016 8:44 AM CST

Ethics court blocks deal over Pennsylvania supreme court justice’s email

The second justice on Pennsylvania’s top court to face a legal ethics case over distasteful emails thought he had reached a deal with the state Judicial Conduct Board. But in a Thursday hearing, the Court of Judicial Discipline refused to let lawyers for either side talk about the pact or…

Feb 26, 2016 2:55 PM CST

Jury deadlocks in case against lawyer accused of neglect causing his dad’s death

A jury has deadlocked in the case of a suburban Philadelphia lawyer accused of causing his father’s death by moving the elderly man to his home, using some of his father’s pension income for his own benefit and withholding needed care. After nine hours of deliberation ended in an impasse…

Feb 26, 2016 2:35 PM CST

Once-prominent lawyer is disbarred following no-contest plea in assault of paralegal

A prominent lawyer has been disbarred by consent, after pleading no contest in 2014 to a misdemeanor indecent assault charge concerning a paralegal who worked at a law firm he operated. The disbarment of Robert Kerns, 68, retroactive to last February, when he was temporarily suspended, was announced Tuesday by…

Feb 24, 2016 1:00 PM CST

Man is convicted of 2 crimes, charged in homicide while awaiting trial in 2003 murder-attempt case

There are a number of reasons why 32-year-old John Brock still hasn’t been tried in a 2003 attempted murder that took place in Philadelphia. Among them: Brock was convicted in two other unrelated cases; went on the lam; was involved for years in a landmark speedy-trial appeal; lost one defense…

Feb 24, 2016 11:35 AM CST

Plaintiffs had no First Amendment right to take cellphone video of police, federal judge rules

A federal judge in Philadelphia has ruled that citizens don’t have a First Amendment right to take cellphone videos of police unless they are challenging or criticizing the police conduct. U.S. District Judge Mark Kearney ruled (PDF) on Feb. 19 in consolidated cases involving Richard Fields and Amanda Geraci, the…

Feb 23, 2016 9:40 AM CST

Federal judge orders lawyer to pay almost $116K for pursuing baseless employment discrimination case

A Pennsylvania lawyer with what a federal judge called a “consistently problematic track record” was ordered on Friday to pay nearly $116,000 in legal costs for the two defendants in an employment discrimination case determined by the court to be baseless. The initial opinion (PDF) by U.S. District Judge Matthew…

Feb 22, 2016 11:05 AM CST

Questioned in fatal shooting of state trooper, innocent man files civil rights suit

An ambush shooting in which a Pennsylvania state trooper was killed and his partner seriously wounded outside the Blooming Grove barracks was also bad news for Jeffrey Hudak. That’s because Hudak’s estranged wife had a relationship with the injured trooper. So he was initially considered a possible suspect, aggressively questioned…

Feb 19, 2016 1:05 PM CST

Facing an impeachment probe, Pennsylvania AG says she won’t seek re-election

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced on Tuesday that she won’t seek re-election. Kane’s announcement “puts an end date on a tumultuous chapter in her once-promising political career,” the Legal Intelligencer (sub. req.) reports. “Kane swept into office in January 2013 as the first woman and first Democrat elected attorney…

Feb 17, 2016 9:54 AM CST