Yearly Archives: 2017
What is a Temporary Restraining Order?
Recently in the news there has been much talk about “temporary restraining orders”, particularly in connection with the suspension of the President’s “travel ban” by various federal courts. So what is a temporary restraining order (“TRO”)? A TRO is a type of injunction issued by… Continue reading
The Queen’s English Beware the Dangling Modifier
In English where a word appears in a sentence is most important. By misplacing a word or phrase, you may cause it to dangle; dangling words or phrases “occur in a sentence without having a normally expected syntactic relation to the rest of the sentence”… Continue reading
Expanded Wine Sales in the Commonwealth
In August of 2016, Act 39 of 2016 went into effect changing the Pennsylvania Liquor Code substantially. The act included dozens of changes which impacted licensees, consumers and the Pennsylvania LCB (“LCB”). One area most affected by the changes to the law involves how Pennsylvanians… Continue reading
Penalty Points
As most drivers in Pennsylvania know, the Commonwealth maintains a point system for driver education and control which provides for the assessment of points against your license following a conviction of certain motor vehicle offenses. As a service to our readers we set forth below… Continue reading
Derivative Actions – II
In last February’s issue of the Newsletter we touched on the right of a shareholder of a corporation to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the corporation against a third party, when the corporation refused to do so. These so-called derivative lawsuits are most often… Continue reading
Delaware County Reassessment
In January 17, 2017 , Judge Burr of the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas ordered a county-wide reassessment for all real property in Delaware County. The County has been using 1998 “base year” values for all properties, which certain taxpayers alleged was no longer… Continue reading
Enforcing Judgments Against Personal Property
If you bring a lawsuit and obtain a money judgment against someone, the judgment itself does not require him or her to actually pay you. If the defendant does not pay you voluntarily, you would still have to seek the court’s help to enforce your… Continue reading
Liquor License Citations
Sale of alcohol is regulated by both the federal government and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (in the latter case via the Liquor Control Board). Before a restaurant, bar, deli, brewery, hotel or similar establishment can legally sell alcohol in Pennsylvania, it must obtain a proper… Continue reading
Protection from Mortgage Due on Sale Clauses
Mortgages almost universally have “due on sale” clauses in the event that a mortgaged property is transferred, which require that the entire “accelerated” balance of the mortgage be paid at the time of the transfer. This is fine in the case of a sale of… Continue reading
Update: The Pennsylvania Superior Court Decides Landlord/Tenant and Real Estate Liability Law
The Pennsylvania Superior Court, which is an intermediate level appellate Court, recently issued two decisions which should be of interest to persons who are landlords, tenants or customers at business real property. In a case entitled Echeverria v. Holly, the Court was faced with the… Continue reading