The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court recently issued a long-awaited opinion in a prevailing wage appeal brought by Ursinus College, captioned at Ursinus College v. Prevailing Wage Appeals Board, No. 828 C.D. 2021 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2022). The College was appealing a decision by the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Appeals Board (the “Board”) finding that the Pennsylvania

On May 7, 2019, the City of Baltimore discovered that its integral systems were the subject of a ransomware attack, breaching the City’s phone systems, emails, documents and critical operational databases, affecting roughly 10,000 City computers. The City notified the F.B.I. and took offline as many other systems as possible to prevent the spread of the cyberattack, but not before the malicious software locked and encrypted many of the City’s systems. The hackers responsible for the attack demanded thirteen bitcoins (approximately $100,000), as ransom, to release the City’s inaccessible databases and operational tools. In a move intended to disincentive future attacks, Baltimore rejected hackers’ demands and did not pay the ransom.
Continue Reading Ransomware Attacks Targeting Cities and Municipalities

What almost every individual, business, and municipality have in common is that they have some sort of insurance coverage, and sooner or later they need to use it.  But if the insurance company won’t hold up its end of the bargain, how does an insured prove that an insurer acted in bad faith?

Although the issue has been well settled since the Superior Court decided Terletsky v. Prudential Property & Casualty Insurance Co. in 1994, there has been much confusion as to whether or not ill motive or ill will is required.  The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, however, recently weighed in, newly confirming the old standard.
Continue Reading Rancosky: The (Clarified) Insurance Bad Faith Standard

The ability of school districts to raise additional revenue through means other than tax increases just got a bit more difficult. In an eagerly awaited decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld the ability of taxpayers to challenge on constitutional grounds the practice in certain school districts of engaging in selective assessment appeals – that

For boroughs, townships, municipalities, and cities, eminent domain is a tool used to better the communities in which we live, whether than means widening an increasingly busy road or constructing a new community park.  While eminent domain is an important and powerful tool, condemnors must be sure that they follow the proper procedures, including notice to all property owners, both those of record and those who are not.
Continue Reading How Adverse Possession Can Affect The Eminent Domain Process

You won your lawsuit, and now you want to be paid.  But how do you get an unwilling defendant to cough up the cash?  You have several options.  Part I of this series discussed collecting a money judgment through the garnishment process.  This article explains a second option:  conducting a sheriff’s sale of the defendant’s real or personal property in order to be made whole.

Continue Reading I Have a Judgment, Now What?: Collecting and Enforcing a Money Judgment Through a Sheriff’s Sale

On June 22, 2016, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court decided the case of Township of Millcreek v. Angela Cres Trust of June 25, 1998, 1725 C.D. 2015, which decided whether 42 Pa.C.S. § 5505 applies to eminent domain cases.  Section 5505 provides, in pertinent part, “[e]xcept as otherwise provided or prescribed by law, a court