We are pleased to provide our
first
electronic
newsletter
which will replace our prior hard copy
version "LEGAL COUNSELLOR". This quarterly newsletter is
designed to provide updates on recent case law/statutory
developments throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We will
also provide reports concerning relevant federal law. The wide
spectrum of legal fields addressed is intended to provide an
opportunity for each of our practice groups to address our
diverse client base.
We welcome your thoughts and
comments, as well as suggestions for additional areas of
interest. Please feel free to pass this
newsletter along to anyone who you think would be
interested.
In the
recent case of Beyers v. Richmond, 937 A.2d 1082 (Pa. 2007), the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court chose to answer a question which lower courts had
struggled with for quite some time: Should Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade
Practices and Consumer Protection Law (UTPCPL) apply to the practice of
law? Although the Pennsylvania Supreme Court may be the latest court to
address this issue, it certainly isn’t the first. The vast majority of
states have consumer protection laws, and courts across the country have
debated this same issue with regard to all classes of licensed
professionals. The split opinion (5-2) in Beyers represents the
competing viewpoints advanced most often when considering this issue.
Many do not know who John C. Berkery, Sr. is, but the New Jersey courts held he is a public figure in the defamation lawsuit he filed against the Philadelphia Inquirer.Berkery v. Kinney, 936 A.2d 1010 (App. Div. 2007).As such the heightened standard applied and he had to show by clear and convincing evidence the defendants acted with actual malice when making the alleged defamatory statements.
Plaintiff attempted to stop the book Confessions of a Second Story Man: Junior Kripplebauer and the K & A Gang by filing a defamation action against the book's author.The book was about a criminal gang operating in the 1950s and early 1960s and named plaintiff as a member of the gang who participated in a number of crimes.The Philadelphia Inquirer published two articles written by Monica Yant Kinney addressing plaintiff's attempts to stop the book from being published and plaintiff's defamation suit against the book's author.
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A recent case reveals how New Jersey courts
strictly enforce notice provisions in claims made policies and also
provides an important lesson for insurance brokers to refrain from
making coverage determinations.
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Pennsylvania Supreme Court requested to decide an unresolved questionwhether a bystander who is neither an intended user nor consumer of a product is entitled to recover personal injury damages against a product manufacturer.
In Berrier v. Simplicity Manufacturing, Inc., 2008 WL 538912 (January 17, 2008) the Third Circuit Court of Appeals requested the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to decide an important and unresolved question under Pennsylvania’s products liability law whether a bystander may pursue a strict liability claim for injuries caused by a product (riding lawnmower) when the bystander is not an intended user of the product. The certification procedure permits a federal court to request the highest state court to resolve a question of Pennsylvania law.
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