October 2011
Attorneys Joseph A. O’Brien and Erin A. Brennan successfully defended a Virginia corporation in an action brought in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The complaint stated claims for negligence, breach of contract, breach of warranty and products liability stemming from the alleged failure of a boom on a truck manufactured by the defendant corporation. The tree service company that purchased the boom truck alleged that its employee sustained injury when the boom collapsed while the employee was providing tree trimming services. The case was dismissed upon the defendant corporation’s motion to dismiss.
Attorney Karoline Mehalchick successfully represented the Howard Gardner School for Discovery in its application to become a regional charter school within the Abington Heights and Scranton School Districts. The Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Charter Appeal Board voted in a unanimous to grant the charter under the Pennsylvania Charter School Law. Charter Schools are self-managed public, nonsectarian schools that operate under an agreement between the charter school and the local school district. Charter Schools offer alternatives in education using strategies that may save money and improve student performance. This is the second time that the firm has successfully represented in obtaining its charter.
June 2011
Attorney Karoline Mehalchick, together with the University of Virginia School of Law’s Supreme Court Clinic, has succeeded in having the Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the case of Guarnieri v. Duryea, et al. overturned by the United States Supreme Court. On June 20, 2011, the Supreme Court issued its decision in this matter, vacating the Third Circuit’s decision and holding that a government employer’s allegedly retaliatory actions against an employee do not give rise to liability under the Petition Clause unless the employee’s petition relates to a matter of public concern. The Supreme Court remanded the case to the Third Circuit for consideration of whether there is any public interest or concern involved in Guarnieri’s petitions.
May 2011
Attorneys Joseph A. O’Brien, Karoline Mehalchick and Erin A. Brennan successfully defended a preeminent commercial litigation attorney in an action in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The claims for violations under the Dragonetti Act and abuse of process which were brought against the attorney were dismissed at the motion to dismiss level. The claims all stemmed from underlying litigation in which the attorney prosecuted anti-trust claims, Lanham Act claims and Sherman Act claims on behalf of a local industrial manufacturer. After extensive and lengthy litigation those claims were dismissed at the summary judgment level in a comprehensive hundred page opinion authored by then District Court Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie. The defendant in that underlying litigation then initiated suit against the local industrial manufacturing company and its attorney. An appeal followed the order dismissing the claims and the Third Circuit has affirmed the District Court’s holding.
February 2011
Attorney Erin A. Brennan, assisted by Attorney Michael J. O’Brien, obtained a jury verdict on behalf of a local financial institution in the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas. A customer of the financial institution presented a fraudulent check for payment and the financial institution sought recovery of the approximately $ 70, 000.00 which it conditionally advanced to the customer in payment on the check.
January 2011
Joseph A. O’Brien, assisted by Erin A. Brennan, obtained a non-jury verdict on behalf of a life insurance company in the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas on a matter related to the infamous 1991 Curley murder. The life insurance company conducted a 9 month investigation into the circumstances of its insured’s death and ultimately made payment of the policy proceeds to the insured’s wife, who was his named beneficiary. When it was subsequently determined that the beneficiary was the insured’s slayer, the insured’s estate brought negligence and bad faith claims against the life insurance company to recover the proceeds under the policy.
October 2010
Attorneys Karoline Mehalchick and Joseph O’Brien have successfully petitioned the United States Supreme Court to hear the case of Guarnieri v. Borough of Duryea, et al. This matter, which was tried in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and heard on appeal at the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, involves the issue of whether state and local government employees sue their employers for retaliation under the Petition Clause when they petitioned on matters of purely private concern. The Supreme Court only grants approximately one percent of all Petitions for Writ of Certiorari filed. It is expected that argument at the Supreme Court will take place early next year.
October 2011
Attorneys Joseph A. O’Brien and Erin A. Brennan successfully defended a Virginia corporation in an action brought in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The complaint stated claims for negligence, breach of contract, breach of warranty and products liability stemming from the alleged failure of a boom on a truck manufactured by the defendant corporation. The tree service company that purchased the boom truck alleged that its employee sustained injury when the boom collapsed while the employee was providing tree trimming services. The case was dismissed upon the defendant corporation’s motion to dismiss.
Attorney Karoline Mehalchick successfully represented the Howard Gardner School for Discovery in its application to become a regional charter school within the Abington Heights and Scranton School Districts. The Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Charter Appeal Board voted in a unanimous to grant the charter under the Pennsylvania Charter School Law. Charter Schools are self-managed public, nonsectarian schools that operate under an agreement between the charter school and the local school district. Charter Schools offer alternatives in education using strategies that may save money and improve student performance. This is the second time that the firm has successfully represented in obtaining its charter.
June 2011
Attorney Karoline Mehalchick, together with the University of Virginia School of Law’s Supreme Court Clinic, has succeeded in having the Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the case of Guarnieri v. Duryea, et al. overturned by the United States Supreme Court. On June 20, 2011, the Supreme Court issued its decision in this matter, vacating the Third Circuit’s decision and holding that a government employer’s allegedly retaliatory actions against an employee do not give rise to liability under the Petition Clause unless the employee’s petition relates to a matter of public concern. The Supreme Court remanded the case to the Third Circuit for consideration of whether there is any public interest or concern involved in Guarnieri’s petitions.
May 2011
Attorneys Joseph A. O’Brien, Karoline Mehalchick and Erin A. Brennan successfully defended a preeminent commercial litigation attorney in an action in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The claims for violations under the Dragonetti Act and abuse of process which were brought against the attorney were dismissed at the motion to dismiss level. The claims all stemmed from underlying litigation in which the attorney prosecuted anti-trust claims, Lanham Act claims and Sherman Act claims on behalf of a local industrial manufacturer. After extensive and lengthy litigation those claims were dismissed at the summary judgment level in a comprehensive hundred page opinion authored by then District Court Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie. The defendant in that underlying litigation then initiated suit against the local industrial manufacturing company and its attorney. An appeal followed the order dismissing the claims and the Third Circuit has affirmed the District Court’s holding.
February 2011
Attorney Erin A. Brennan, assisted by Attorney Michael J. O’Brien, obtained a jury verdict on behalf of a local financial institution in the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas. A customer of the financial institution presented a fraudulent check for payment and the financial institution sought recovery of the approximately $ 70, 000.00 which it conditionally advanced to the customer in payment on the check.
January 2011
Joseph A. O’Brien, assisted by Erin A. Brennan, obtained a non-jury verdict on behalf of a life insurance company in the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas on a matter related to the infamous 1991 Curley murder. The life insurance company conducted a 9 month investigation into the circumstances of its insured’s death and ultimately made payment of the policy proceeds to the insured’s wife, who was his named beneficiary. When it was subsequently determined that the beneficiary was the insured’s slayer, the insured’s estate brought negligence and bad faith claims against the life insurance company to recover the proceeds under the policy.
October 2010
Attorneys Karoline Mehalchick and Joseph O’Brien have successfully petitioned the United States Supreme Court to hear the case of Guarnieri v. Borough of Duryea, et al. This matter, which was tried in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and heard on appeal at the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, involves the issue of whether state and local government employees sue their employers for retaliation under the Petition Clause when they petitioned on matters of purely private concern. The Supreme Court only grants approximately one percent of all Petitions for Writ of Certiorari filed. It is expected that argument at the Supreme Court will take place early next year.