In a prior post we highlighted a recent podcast that McNees real estate attorney Kandice Hull recorded on eminent domain. Interested to know more about this topic? You can find her additional thoughts, including on the Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London, below.
Did you miss part 1 in…
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
A recent Commonwealth Court decision affirmed that municipalities within Pennsylvania are not immune from claims of adverse possession. In City of Philadelphia v. Galdo, 181 A3d. 1289 (Pa. Commw. 2018), the Commonwealth Court held that the City of Philadelphia had lost title to a property that it had previously condemned to an adjacent property owner who adversely possessed the property.
Continue Reading Municipalities Can Lose Property Through Adverse Possession
We’ve covered issues related to eminent domain before on the blog. Interested in a refresher or new to the concept and just want the basics? McNees attorney Kandice Hull has you covered. Check out her podcast below:
Much like a business corporation, a municipality can only act through its employees. A municipal official may inadvertently (or advertently) make representations regarding municipality business, leading to unintended consequences. Municipalities must keep in mind that their agents and employees, including township supervisors and other officials, can bind municipalities to agreements and subject them to liability…
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…
Litigation can often be long and tiresome. Unfortunately, a successful verdict does not always lead to the desired outcome – the defendant paying up. Previous parts of this series addressed other aspects of collecting and enforcing judgments. Part I of this series discussed collecting a money judgment through the garnishment process. Part II explained a …
As if Counties could forget that Court employees are just a little different, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania sent us another reminder when the Court held that the Pennsylvania Whistleblower Law does not apply to judicial employees.
Gregory Thomas was a Juvenile Probation Officer serving with the Washington County Court of Common Pleas until October 2014, at which time he was allegedly forced to quit. Prior to his resignation, Thomas had been a participant in an investigation regarding the misappropriation of funds by the Juvenile Probation Office. During the investigation, it was revealed that the Chief of the Juvenile Probation Office had directed Thomas to email the County’s purchasing office in July 2014 to state that a mixed martial arts training session had taken place on June 6 and 7 in partial satisfaction of the state’s 40-hour annual training requirement. The email sought, and was granted, funding for the training. No such training actually occurred, and Thomas confirmed to the investigating detectives that he had not attended this training; he alleged that he had been told by the Chief Probation Officer to tell the detectives otherwise.Continue Reading Scope of Pennsylvania’s Whistleblower Law Examined
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.
