The Legal Intelligencer Blog

Two Named to Fill Vacancies on U.S. Middle District Court

By Saranac Hale Spencer
Of the Legal Staff

President Obama has nominated Matthew Brann and Malachy Mannion for the two vacant seats on the bench in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Brann, a partner at Brann Williams Caldwell & Sheetz in Bradford County, is a former chairman of the county’s Republican committee and is a graduate of Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law.

Mannion has been a magistrate judge in the Middle District since 2001 and, before that, was an assistant U.S. attorney there. For four years, he was in private practice as a principal at Hourigan, Kluger, Spohrer & Quinn in Scranton.

"Malachy Mannion has served the public as a U.S. attorney and as a federal magistrate judge, and I will push for a speedy confirmation process in the Senate. I have known Mal for years and he is an excellent lawyer whose integrity is beyond reproach," Senator Robert P. Casey Jr., D-Pa., said in a press release. "Matthew Brann, along with an impressive career in private practice, has demonstrated a commitment to the community that will make him an outstanding judge.”

"On a bipartisan basis, I have been working closely with Sen. Casey on judicial nominations for our state to help confirm qualified, experienced individuals with unquestioned honesty and integrity. I am confident that these two nominees will live up to these standards and hope that the Senate confirms them in a timely manner," Senator Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said in a press release.

The seats became open upon A. Richard Caputo’s retirement in 2009, and Thomas Vanaskie’s elevation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 2010.

The reinforcements, if confirmed, would restore the Middle District bench to full strength.

“We try not to dwell on it,” Yvette Kane, chief judge in the Middle District, said earlier this week of the four active judges who have been saddled with heavy caseloads in absence of a full complement on the bench.

The national average number of days from the announcement of a vacancy to the nomination to fill it is 399, according to Russell Wheeler, of the Brookings Institute. Wheeler has published several studies on the judicial nomination process and its politics.

No Contempts for First 2 Weeks of New Fugitive Court

By Amaris Elliott-Engel
Of the Legal Staff

Court leaders have agreed that any defendants voluntarily surrendering on bench warrants won’t face contempt proceedings for the first two weeks of the First Judicial District’s new bench warrant court starting Monday, defense attorney Michael J. Engle said today.

Engle said he was one of many people meeting with state Supreme Court Justice Seamus P. McCaffery on the new court Thursday.

Engle said that the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and other members of the defense bar were unsuccessful in getting the court to delay the start of the court by two weeks, but court leaders did agree to phase in contempt proceedings for defendants who voluntarily surrender.

However, defendants picked up involuntarily will face potentially contempt trials immediately, Engle said.

The FJD is starting a dedicated courtroom to hold contempt proceedings and bench warrant hearings for defendants who have failed to appear for prior court dates. Philadelphia Municipal Judge Joseph C. Waters Jr. will preside.

About 40 to 45 attorneys attended a training convened by the PACDL, the Philadelphia Bar Association’s criminal justice section and the Defender Association of Philadelphia, Engle said.

There are close to 100 attorneys who have agreed to take court appointments to handle the lists of fugitives in the court.

As the system is set up right now, there is no way to do a conflict check, Engle said.

The plan is to have lists of cases called at 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., Engle said.

The afternoon list is supposed to involve the defendants in custody, Engle said. Court leaders have expressed an interest in having the bench warrant hearings held over video-link between the Philadelphia Prison System and the Criminal Justice Center, Engle said.

The defense community has raised the issue that mandating video appearances for defendants in custody “infringes upon the defense constitutional rights,” Engle said. “It makes it impossible for defense attorneys to meet with and adequately consult with the client.”

One idea to address that problem is to have the defense attorney go up to the prison in the morning and meet with the defendants in preparation for the afternoon list, Engle said.

But if the case proceeds into a contempt trial, the question has not been resolved if the lawyer should stay up at the prison and be there in person with his or her client or if the lawyer should be in the courtroom where the evidence is, Engle said.

Fairness Commission Calls for Improvements in Indigent Defense

By Amaris Elliott-Engel
Of the Legal Staff

The Pennsylvania Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness has asked the state Supreme Court to work with the commission to increase diversity among the lawyers who are appointed to represent indigent criminal defendants not represented by public defenders, according to the commission's annual report released today.

Six committees of the commission work on policies and procedures to eliminate racial, ethnic and gender bias in the judiciary. The commission was created in 2005 after the state Supreme Court commissioned a study to examine the prevalence of racial and gender bias in Pennsylvania courts; that study was released in 2003.

Philadelphia Chief Defender Ellen Greenlee, who is serving on a state commission examining the issue of indigent defense in Pennsylvania, said during a meeting of the commission today that Pennsylvania is the only state in the United States that does not provide state funds for indigent defense.

The indigent-defense commission, which will release its report in the next few months, wants to "move it off the blackboard and onto the agenda of the state legislature."

Once the report is launched, Lisette M. McCormick, who is both the director of the commission for fairness and a member of the indigent defense commission, said that a statewide coalition will be formed to educate the public and legislators about how the lack of state funding for indigent defense results in deficient legal representation for defendants.

Speakers at the meeting today included Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Rudolph Garcia, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams and Greenlee.

Williams said many Philadelphians of color feel that the criminal justice system is an oppressor of their communities, not protectors of them.

But in order to achieve fairness in the courts, criminal justice leaders have to focus on victims, Williams said.

But many victims are young black men who are just as likely to be shot as to be the shooter, Williams said. There is overlap between assailants and victims on the "Venn diagram" of crime in the city because the number one cause of death for young black men is homicide, Williams said.

Eight people were killed last weekend in Philadelphia, he said, which did not make headline news. But if eight tourists from Sweden had been killed while visiting Philadelphia, the city would be thrust into lockdown in order to solve gun violence, Williams said.

"When we think about fairness and justice we have to think that -- those men in that diagram -- that their lives are just as important," Williams said.

The Legal will have more coverage of the latest report from the commission in an upcoming section of its Pennsylvania Law Weekly section.

Amaris Elliott-Engel is a reporter for The Legal. She can be contacted at 215-557-2354 or aelliott-engel@alm.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AmarisTLI.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal (and Delaware!)

By Jaime Bochet
Of the Legal Staff

Welcome to your daily round-up of stories in today's edition of The Legal Intelligencer. Click the links below to access stories directly, or head to The Legal homepage.  (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

Just as Tuesdays always include our Pennsylvania Law Weekly section, Wednesday is the unofficial "Day of Delaware," when we roll out the fresh ink from our First State to the south. That includes the Delaware Law Weekly, available online at www.delawarelawweekly.com, as well as our newest product, the Delaware Business Court Insider, an online newsletter that definitely warrants a look.

But more about Delaware in a bit … let's get to today's Legal.

Topping the front page, U.S. Courthouse Correspondent Shannon P. Duffy has news that deals a legal setback to the Obama administration: "A federal judge in Harrisburg has struck down several provisions of the Affordable Care Act after concluding that the law's 'individual mandate' is an unconstitutional extension of Congress's authority under the Commerce Clause. 'The issue is whether Congress can invoke its Commerce Clause power to compel individuals to buy insurance as a condition of lawful citizenship or residency,' U.S. District Judge Christopher C. Conner wrote in his 53-page opinion in Goudy-Bachman v. United States."

Below the fold, reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel was there as the Supreme Court heard (televised) oral arguments in an historic setting in Old City Philadelphia yesterday. In the case she covered, a state Supreme Court justice characterized the drugmaker Wyeth as asserting that there is enough protection for persons harmed by prescription drugs in federal regulation of the release of drugs onto the market, and limiting plaintiffs to lawsuits for drugmakers' alleged failures to adequately warn of risks.

Today's Page 3 Regional News story is by reporter Zack Needles, who chronicles the growth of an area law firm: Philadelphia-based Zarwin Baum DeVito Kaplan Schaer Toddy has acquired four transactional lawyers from the Philadelphia office of Maryland-based Offit Kurman, saying increased work in that practice area over the last few months has necessitated the growth.

As always, our People in the News sectionis on Page 2. The top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

Today's contributed columns begin on Page 5 with an "Employment Law" column by Sid Steinberg of Post & Schell, who writes that as cases under the amended Americans with Disabilities Act begin to reach the courts, less emphasis will be placed on whether an employee is "disabled" and a greater emphasis will be placed on the questions of whether an employee is a "qualified individual" under the act and whether an employee could be reasonably accommodated.

Page 7 features our weekly "GC Mid-Atlantic" page, with an article from affiliate Corporate Counsel magazine, which profiles the new head of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), Joe West.

As we move south in our weekly coverage to Delaware, we'll stop first at the Delaware Law Weekly, where reporter Jeff Mordock has the top stories. Please note: all of our Delaware coverage is for paid subscribers, but you can register for a free 30-day trial by clicking here.

In the top slot, Jeff writes that four Sussex County residents have filed a lawsuit accusing the county's legislative council of explicitly endorsing Christianity by beginning each meeting by reciting the "Our Father."

Jeff also reports that St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Co. has filed a lawsuit seeking to remove itself from the duty of defending or reimbursing the Beebe Medical Center in Lewes, Del., from civil lawsuits related to the crimes committed by former pediatrician Earl Bradley.

Finally, we'd like you to meet (if you haven't already) the Delaware Business Court Insider.  As the name suggests, this is a national product covering the latest news, analysis and cases from the Delaware Chancery Court, Bankruptcy Court and Supreme Court. The accompanying website is www.delbizcourt.com, where you can go to subscribe to this newsletter weekly. You can also follow us on Twitter at: @delbizcour.

Top stories there include the following:
- President Obama is set to overhaul the nation's patent system, but attorneys say it is too early to see how the law will affect business.
-  Plaintiffs filed yet another amended complaint in their derivative suit against News Corp., including new allegations against the company.
- Vice Chancellor Noble denies plaintiffs' request for interim attorney fees in the Novell shareholder dispute.

Have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole? E-mail me or any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal and our Delaware coverage!

Jaime Bochet is the Magazines & Supplements Editor for The Legal. Follow her on Twitter at @JaimeBochetTLI or e-mail JBochet@alm.com.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal (and DLW!)

By Jaime Bochet
Of the Legal Staff

Welcome to your daily round-up of stories in today's edition of The Legal Intelligencer. Click the links below to access stories directly, or head to The Legal homepage.  (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

Just as Tuesdays always include our Pennsylvania Law Weekly section, Wednesday is the unofficial "Delaware Day," when we roll out the fresh ink from our First State to the south. That includes the Delaware Law Weekly, available online at www.delawarelawweekly.com, as well as our newest product, the Delaware Business Court Insider, an online newsletter that definitely warrants a look.

But more about Delaware in a bit … let's get to today's Legal.

Topping the front page, reporter Zack Needles updates his coverage of the Marcellus Shale play: "A new report by the U.S. Geological Survey regarding the amount of recoverable natural gas contained in the Marcellus Shale has garnered major press since the agency sent out its Aug. 23 press release detailing its findings, but Pennsylvania energy attorneys said the data is not necessarily as newsworthy as either pro- or anti-drilling factions have made it out to be." You can check out all of our previous Marcellus Shale play content by clicking here.

Below the fold, senior reporter Gina Passarella has an update on a business of law story. The parties involved in a same-sex marriage dispute involving a deceased Cozen O'Connor partner and her profit-sharing plan continue to trade court filings and have now officially raised questions regarding the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and Pennsylvania's "mini DOMA."

Today's Page 3 Regional News story is by reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel, who writes that the Commonwealth Court, sitting en banc, has ruled that the state-run fund that provides excess coverage in medical malpractice claims must pay for coverage in a case in which an allegedly negligent doctor's primary malpractice insurance policy converted from a claims-made policy to an occurrence-type policy.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2. The top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

Today's contributed columns are our "GC Mid-Atlantic" page, with a story from our affiliate, Corporate Counsel magazine, and a "Public Interest" column by Matthew J. Lambert of the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center. 

As we move south in our weekly coverage to Delaware, we'll stop first at the Delaware Law Weekly, where reporter Jeff Mordock has the top stories. Please note: all of our Delaware coverage is for paid subscribers, but you can register for a free 30-day trial by clicking here.

In the top slot, Jeff writes that Robert Taishoff has resigned from his position as chairman of Widener University School of Law's Campaign Committee in protest of the university's suspension of controversial law professor Lawrence J. Connell. The resignation is seen as a major loss for the law school because Taishoff was one of its most active alumni and had donated millions to the university.

Jeff also reports that Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz's Wilmington office has bolstered its intellectual property practice with the addition of partners Edward F. Behm Jr. and Thomas J. McWilliams.

Finally, we'd like you to meet (if you haven't already) the Delaware Business Court Inside. As the name suggests, this is a national product covering the latest news, analysis and cases from the Delaware Chancery Court, Bankruptcy Court and Supreme Court. The accompanying website is www.delbizcourt.com, where you can go to subscribe to this newsletter weekly. You can also follow us on Twitter at @delbizcourt.

Top stories there include:
- The Delaware Supreme Court has reversed a Chancery Court decision, recasting the plaintiff's claim as a waiver dispute instead of breach of contract.
- The Delaware Superior Court has dismissed a fraud count against an investment group.
- The 3rd Circuit has upheld a district court decision to dismiss fraud claims for lack of scienter.

Have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole? E-mail me or any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal and our Delaware coverage!

Jaime Bochet is the Magazines & Supplements Editor for The Legal. Follow her on Twitter at @JaimeBochetTLI or e-mail JBochet@alm.com.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal (and PLW!)

By Jaime Bochet
Of the Legal Staff

Welcome to your daily round-up of stories in today's edition of The Legal Intelligencer. Click the links below to access stories directly, or head to The Legal homepage.  (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

As is the case every Tuesday, today's paper is especially full, because it includes our Pennsylvania Law Weekly section, which includes analysis pieces, our Verdicts & Settlements section, and contributed columns by Samuel Stretton (Ethics), Robert M. Bovarnick (Politics), Jim Malone (Taxation) and Cliff Rieders (Civil Practice).

But let's begin with The Legal.

Topping today's front page, U.S. Courthouse Correspondent Shannon P. Duffy has an analysis of last week’s decision from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that ordered a new sentencing for former state Sen. Vincent J. Fumo. The decision is sure to be mined by prosecutors and defense lawyers for the guidance it provides on how to conduct sentencings in complicated white-collar crime cases.

Below the fold, senior staff reporter Gina Passarella has the fourth in her weekly series examining the impact of e-discovery on the practice and business of law. This week, she writes that the list of judges who are at the forefront of e-discovery case law roll off the tongues of e-discovery lawyers like Con-law professors can spout the intricacies of the Bill of Rights. To read all the previous parts in this series, as well as related content, click here.

Inside, in our Page 3 Regional News section, Gina adds yet another chapter in the Wolf Block saga. The defunct law firm has filed an appeal with the state's Superior Court related to a discovery dispute in the legal malpractice case filed against the firm by car dealership owner Alan Potamkin.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, along with a Letter to the Editor today from Astor Weiss attorney Jerrold Moss regarding one of Sam Stretton's recent Ethics columns. The top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

The Legal's contributed columns today include an "Asset Management" column by David B. Bruckman of Citrin Cooperman Wealth Management, who wonders if purchasing life insurance on adult children is prudent.

Our second contributed article is a Commentary by Richard Q. Hark of Hark & Hark, who writes that amendments to Pennsylvania's law change the self-defense landscape.

Today's Pennsylvania Law Weekly section begins with an analysis piece by reporter Ben Present, who writes that after hearing that Lackawanna County Common Pleas Court Judge Terrence R. Nealon sent a private e-mail in 2004 advising his fellow Democrats how to oppose a county voting redistricting plan -- a case over which he was presiding — "shocked" courtwatchers statewide reacted to a practice they said was "a thing of the past" -- ex parte communications.

Also on the PLW front page, we have another analysis piece by reporter Zack Needles. Now that former Luzerne County Common Pleas Court Judge Mark A. Ciavarella is serving a nearly three-decade term in federal prison for his part in the county's judicial scandal, all eyes have turned to his alleged co-conspirator and fellow former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan, whose sentencing hearing is set for Sept. 23. 

The PLW has much more, so head to the main website of that section to check out even more.

Have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole? E-mail me or any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal and PLW!

Jaime Bochet is the Magazines & Supplements Editor for The Legal. Follow her on Twitter at @JaimeBochetTLI or e-mail JBochet@alm.com.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal (and PLW)

By Jaime Bochet
Of the Legal Staff

Welcome to your daily round-up of stories in today's edition of The Legal Intelligencer. Click the links below to access stories directly, or head to The Legal homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

As is the case every Tuesday, today's paper is especially full, because it includes our Pennsylvania Law Weekly section, which includes analysis pieces, our Verdicts & Settlements section, and contributed columns by Samuel Stretton (Ethics), Jeff Jubelirer (Public Relations), Leonard Deutchman (Cyber Law) and Cliff Rieders (Civil Practice).

But let's begin with The Legal.

Topping the front page is the first of a new weekly series by senior reporter Gina Passarella examining the effects e-discovery has had on the practice of law. The e-discovery scales of justice are consistently tugged between ever expanding forms of data on one hand and improving technology and know-how to manage that data on the other. The question becomes how to bridge a gap that keeps getting wider and is compounded by the tension between the bench and bar's interest in broad discovery and a desperation to quell staggering e-discovery costs that threaten to overshadow the merits of litigation.

Below thew fold,  reporter Zack Needles has another story tied to the Marcellus Shale formation. The meteoric rise of natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania in recent years has boosted the economies of some of the state's smallest and most rural counties. But for some members of law enforcement in those counties, the frenzy surrounding the Marcellus Shale has also led to rapid population swells and, by extension, more crime.

In our Page 3 Regional News section, U.S. Courthouse Correspondent Shannon P. Duffy writes about a case out of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals:  The Port Authority of Allegheny County cannot refuse to run ads on its buses that inform felons in Pennsylvania of their right to vote because it has previously allowed ads that promoted education about other legal rights, the 3rd Circuit has ruled. The unanimous three-judge panel concluded that the authority engaged in "viewpoint discrimination" because it rejected the ads despite allowing messages about women's rights, fair housing and tax information for the poor. 

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, where you'll also find a Letter to the Editor from Arlen Specter, defending Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille's opinion in a capital punishment case. And don't miss the top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

Our first contributed article is Howard J. Bashman's appellate column, "Upon Further Review." Today’s column examines how the 3rd Circuit fared last term in another seven cases that did not originate from the 3rd Circuit but in which the Supreme Court expressly noted that it was resolving conflicts that involved the 3rd Circuit. 

Next up is the "Family Law" column by  Michael Bertin of Obermayer Rebmann axwell & Hippel, who writes that the Pennsylvania Superior Court has been weighing in on jurisdictional issues in in child custody cases. 

Today's Pennsylvania Law Weekly section begins with an article by reporter Ben Present on a workers' compensation issue: An injured employee has some leeway to file an imperfect notice of her injury and still collect workers' compensation because of the "humanitarian purposes" of the Workers' Compensation Act, the Supreme Court has ruled.

Below the fold, Zack Needles has an "Allocatur Watch" story: The state Supreme Court has denied allocatur in two underinsured motorist cases, effectively letting stand a Superior Court panel's ruling that benefits collected under a tortfeasor's umbrella insurance policy can offset the amount of recoverable underinsured motorist benefits.

The PLW has much more, including our weekly Capitol Report from Harrisburg, so head to the main website of that section to check out even more.

Have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole? E-mail me or any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal and PLW!

Jaime Bochet is the Magazines & Supplements Editor for The Legal. Follow her on Twitter at @JaimeBochetTLI or e-mail JBochet@alm.com.

Fresh Ink - Inside Today's Legal

By Jaime Bochet
Of the Legal Staff

Welcome to your daily round-up of stories in today's edition of The Legal Intelligencer. Click the links below to access stories directly, or head to The Legal homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

Today's top story is by our U.S. Courthouse Correspondent, Shannon P. Duffy, who writes that the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, adopting a nine-factor balancing test for deciding when litigants may keep their names secret, has ruled that pseudonyms should be reserved for those who can show a "reasonable" fear of "severe" harm.

Also leading the front page is a story from reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel: The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office moved Friday to disqualify law firm Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young from representing both the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia and retired Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua in the latest round of allegations of church sex abuse.

Below the fold, senior reporter Gina Passarella writes that a Philadelphia attorney suspended for five years after her conviction for mail fraud related to a cash payment to disgraced former city treasurer Corey Kemp has been reinstated to the bar with the blessing of all but one state Supreme Court justice.

In our Page 3 Regional News section, reporter Zack Needles has a story about the Philadelphia Parking Authority: As the question of whether PPA has the power to create its own taxicab regulations without public input awaits argument before the state Supreme Court, the Commonwealth Court has ruled that agency-issued citations based on those regulations remain unenforceable in the meantime.  

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

Our first contributed article on this Monday morning is our "Insight on Diversity" column by Stacy Hawkins of Rutgers School of Law-Camden, who wonders if the legal profession is unconsciously undermining its diversity commitment.

Our second contributed article is our "U.S. Supreme Court" column by John S. Summers and Dylan J. Steinberg of Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin, who take a look at the court's June 23 decision in Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc.

Have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole? E-mail me or any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal!

Jaime Bochet is the Magazines & Supplements Editor for The Legal. Follow her on Twitter at @JaimeBochetTLI or e-mail JBochet@alm.com.

Fresh Ink - Inside Today's Legal

By Jaime Bochet
Of the Legal Staff

Can't find a paper, but want a sneek peak at the stories inside The Legal this morning? Simply read on! Click the links below to access stories directly, or head to The Legal homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

Just as Tuesdays always include our Pennsylvania Law Weekly section, Wednesday is the unofficial "Day of Delaware," when we roll out the fresh ink from our First State to the south. That includes the Delaware Law Weekly, available online at www.delawarelawweekly.com, as well as our newest product, the Delaware Business Court Insider, an online newsletter that definitely warrants a look. 

But more about Delaware in a bit … let’s get to today's Legal.

U.S. Courthouse Correspondent Shannon P. Duffy leads this morning's front page with a pharma decision from the Eastern District: A jury must decide whether pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline used a series of illegal tactics to delay the approval of generic versions of Flonase, a popular allergy drug, Judge Anita B. Brody has ruled. 

Below the fold, reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel has the latest on a developing business of law story involving some well-known names.  A Philadelphia judge ruled Tuesday that plaintiffs law firm Kline & Specter is entitled to a preliminary injunction barring a former attorney from practicing law anywhere else but at the firm until September. 

One Page 3, reporter Jennifer Zimmerman tells the success story of a case with local ties heading for the U.S. Supreme Court. The court has granted a petition for writ of certiorari filed by the Civil Rights Appellate Clinic of Penn State's Dickinson School of Law.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sister publications across the country are on our Page 4 National News page.

On Page 5, we have our weekly "GC Mid-Atlantic" page, which appears every Wednesday. Today's column by Shannon Green is a summary of the findings from the GC Compensation survey conducted by our sister publication, Corporate Counsel magazine. If last year’s survey showed the after-effects -- the hangover, if you will -- of the deepest trough of the recession, this year's results show that chief legal officers made steady gains and recovered some momentum.

Our Page 7 contributed piece is our Securities Law column by Brian M. Rostocki of Reed Smith, who writes: On July 7, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an opinion in Sagarra Inversiones v. Cementos Portland Valderrivas, in which the court denied a plaintiff's motion for a status quo order that would prohibit the defendant from transferring funds under a stock purchase agreement during the pendency of the litigation. 

As we move south in our weekly coverage to Delaware, we'll stop first at the Delaware Law Weekly, where reporter Jeff Mordock has the top stories. Please note: all of our Delaware coverage is for paid subscribers, but you can register for a free 30-day trial by clicking here.

First up is a story on the Delaware Office of the Public Defender, which is poised to assume control of the judiciary's conflict attorneys later this year. While the office touts the change as a way to reduce the unit's bureaucracy and eliminate possible conflicts of interest, lawyers have expressed some concerns about the move.

Next up, the Delaware Supreme Court, reversing a previous Superior Court decision, has ordered a new trial for a man accused of robbing a bank customer. In issuing the opinion, the high court ruled that the trial judge overstepped his authority by prohibiting a witness from testifying on the accused's behalf.

Finally, we'd like you to meet (if you haven't already) the Delaware Business Court Insider. As the name suggests, this is a national product covering the latest news, analysis and cases from the Delaware Chancery Court, Bankruptcy Court and Supreme Court. The accompanying website is www.delbizcourt.com, where you can go to subscribe to this newsletter weekly. You can also follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/delbizcourt.

Top stories there include:
- A group of institutional investors has amended a derivative suit it filed in the Court of Chancery in March against Rupert Murdoch and other directors of the media conglomerate News Corp.
- The Chancery Court began accepting applications last week for the master in chancery position that was vacated upon Sam Glasscock's promotion to vice chancellor; and
- Vice Chancellor Donald E. Parsons Jr. has cleared the way for a possible trial in a two-year dispute between two pipe manufacturers by ruling that there was a valid and enforceable contract between the companies, but that the form and content of the contract remain to be determined.

We hope you'll take a look!

Have questions or comments about today's issue? E-mail me or any of the reporters directly. Have a great day, andl enjoy today's Legal!

Jaime Bochet is the Magazines & Supplements Editor for The Legal. Follow her on Twitter at @JaimeBochetTLI or e-mail JBochet@alm.com.

Reporter's Notebook: Follow-Up to 'Preconception Torts' Article

By Zack Needles
Of the Legal Staff

On Friday, I posted a blog item, "Reporter's Notebook: The Big Case Hardly Anyone's Talking About" wondering why more attorneys weren't taking more notice of a recent en banc state Superior Court panel that issued what has the potential to be a landmark case in the largely undeveloped area of "preconception torts." I mentioned in that post that I had already written about the case, and I was working on a follow-up piece to get perspective on the issue from med mal attorneys.

Today, that article hit the newsstands (both virtual and physical).  

According to Jonathan B. Stepanian, a professional negligence defense attorney in the Hershey office of McQuaide Blasko Attorneys, "If I'm somebody who wants to use this decision and rely on it, I can look at it and say the court has extended the duty of care to non-patients but not to the public at large, so it's somewhere in between. I can use that case and take it however far out I can go."

Stepanian added that he'd be "very surprised if the Supreme Court doesn't take this up on appeal."

Gary M. Samms, a medical malpractice defense attorney at Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel in Philadelphia, agreed with Stepanian's take.

"This is a significant expansion of the duty requirement placed on physicians," he said. "Whereas previously the only duty imposed upon the physician to a third party was involving communicable diseases or contagious diseases, this extends that spectrum tenfold."

Judge John L. Musmanno, writing for the majority and affirming Luzerne County Common Pleas Court Judge Hugh F. Mundy's ruling in Matharu v. Muir, noted that Pennsylvania courts have typically only extended a physician's duty to nonpatient third-parties in cases involving communicable diseases, as the state Supreme Court did in the 1990 case DiMarco v. Lynch Homes-Chester County Inc.

But, Musmanno said, a woman's future, unborn child qualifies as a "readily foreseeable, third-party beneficiary of the physician-patient relationship."

Check out the rest of the article here, and send me an e-mail to let me know what you think: Will the case be taken up on appeal? Will it open doors that it didn't mean to open? Or do you not see it as much of a threat? Either way, tell me what you think!

Zack Needles is a reporter for The Legal. He can be contacted at ZNeedles@alm.com or 215-557-2493. Follow him on Twitter at ZNeedlesTLI.