PLBT

Posted by Cliff Tuttle (c) 2009

Eveyone knows that the cost of higher education is enormous, too often burdening students with crippling debt before they begin their careers. By the time you add graduate school or professional school, the total can reach the size of a home mortgage, but without the home. Repayment, for a full time student with no break in studies, is usually deferred until school is out. But many get into trouble when their education is interrupted or becomes part-time, starting the payment clock running early.

The New York Times contains a story of a law graduate who triumphed over obstacles that would have discouraged anyone without the highest level of dedication. However, at the end of the road, a panel of appellate judges denied him admission to the New York Bar, rejecting the recommendation of lawyers who investigated the case. In the judges’ opinion, his $400,000 plus student loan debt with no payments, declared delinquent by Sallie Mae, evidenced a lack of character necessary to be a member of the bar. The term usually used for such a character deficit is “moral turpitude.” This, despite a bona-fide dispute over Sallie Mae’s administration of the debt, increasing it from $270,000 in a very short period. Denial of bar admission for student debt, when there is no attempt to discharge it through bankruptcy, is quite unusual and there is a small chance that it could be overturned on appeal. Other candidates with delinquent debts have not been denied admission to the Bar. Exactly at what point does the debt-ridden law graduate, who hasn’t landed a job, cross the murky line into “moral turpitude.”

With the rising cost of tuition and other educational costs and uncertain prospects of immediate employment after graduation, this case should give pause to anyone contemplating a career in the law.

CLT

Posted by Cliff Tuttle (c) 2009

When people we know die — especially when the death is sudden and unexpected — we may ponder the frailty and uncertainty of life. We all know something about the celebrities who recently died and the swift succession of these deaths seems to drive home the point. Yet, if you look at the obituaries in the newspaper on any day, it is apparent that dozens of people who recently lived a short drive from us are gone. This truth is always present, but we only consciously acknowledge it from time to time and then not often enough.

But there is an opposite side to that coin. While we may not have tomorrow, we have today. We should live it, cherish it and savor it. If we are given another day tomorrow, do the same.

Every new day is a gift.

CLT

Posted by Cliff Tuttle (c) 2009

Three cheers for civic-minded Pittsburghers!

Dollar Bank and a group of Pittsburgh-based foundations have provided the funding needed to restore sufficient regulatory capital on the deadline date set by the Office of Thrift Supervision, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

If you haven’t been reading this blog for a while, here’s the back story:

June 15: What Will It Take to Save Dwelling House?

June 17: Dwelling House Savings Update.

June 18: Its Starting to Happen at Dwelling House.

June 25: Dwelling House Makes Progress but Climb Steeper at the end.

June 27: Better News for Dwelling House?

June 30: D Day for Dwelling House

Posted by Cliff Tuttle (c) 2009

If you are a home improvement contractor (HIC) who does more than $5,000 worth of business per year in Pennsylvania, time has just run out to register. Click here and do it now.

Among other things, a home improvement contractor must display the state registration number on trucks used in the business and have written contracts containing certain information. The AG’s website has all of the details.

CLT

Posted by Cliff Tuttle (c) 2009

When you transfer real estate in Pennsylvania below fair market value in a non-arms-length transaction, the Department of Revenue usually requires you to do a calculation which is supposed to approximate fair market value for purposes of paying realty transfer tax.

In order to accomplish this feat, you are instructed to multiply the assessed value by the common level ratio factor. This common level ratio factor is a number generated by the State Tax Equalization Board. It is actually the reciprocal of the common level ratio, which is the ratio that the property assessments bear to sales data for the year preceding. During the period of between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009, the CLR factor for Allegheny County was 1.16. Beginning on July 1, 2009 and for the next year, the factor has been reduced to 1.14.

This is the first time this factor has decreased for Allegheny County since 2003. It had been 1.00 in 2001, reflecting the 2000 reassessment, which was by definition at 100% of fmv. Then, in 2002, the CLR factor shot up to 1.06.

The following year, 2003, reflected a downward turn in market prices as the factor sank to 1.03. However, by that time the County Council put a cap on assessments, using 2002 as the base year. This held assessment values steady while sales prices rose and the CLR factor has been rising steadily ever since.

7/1/04 1.07
7/1/05 1.10
7/1/06 1.10
7/1/07 1.15
7/1/08 1.16, and finally
7/1/09 1.14

The CLR factors in other counties reflect the assessment systems there. However, if you need to fill out a Statement of Value for another county, here are the CLR factors for around the State.

CLT

Posted by Cliff Tuttle (c) 2009

Today, June 30, 2009, is the day that the Office of Thrift Supervision has set for Dwelling House Savings to restore its regulatory capital, $3 Million of it stolen by cyber-thieves through fraudulent ACH (Automated Clearing House) transactions last year and discovered in January. Dwelling House has restored about $1 Million of those purloined funds to its account. Although Dwelling House could probably have raised more than the $2 Million the OTS required in savings and checking deposits, the OTS has required that this capitalization be in the form of funds that cannot be withdrawn. Bank deposits are recorded as liabilities on its balance sheet, since the depositor is “owed” those amounts and can withdraw them in accordance with the terms of the account agreement. By definition, capital required by regulation cannot be withdrawn, but stays with the institution. Most depositary institutions raise capital by issuing stock, but there is no time for that. Moreover, small institutions who convert from mutual to stock are almost always sold to a larger institution at some time in the future for the financial benefit of the stockholders. For the community’s benefit, Dwelling House should remain independent. That means that it must restore solvency without resort to stock sales.

It is very unusual, possibly unheard of, for there to be this degree of public discussion of regulatory compliance by an OTS regulated institution BEFORE it is taken over. But Dwelling House is a highly unusual thrift. It is the oldest minority-owned financial institution in the city and is well-known for promoting home ownership for generations in the Hill District and other black neighborhoods. Dwelling House is a community asset that Pittsburgh cannot afford to lose.

Let us hope and pray that OTS decides that Dwelling House has earned additional time to recover assets through negotiation and even litigation, if necessary.

Pittsburgh Post Gazette, June 28, 2008.

Pittsburgh Tribune Review, June 29, 2009.

CLT

Posted by Cliff Tuttle (c) 2009

Creative Briefing has just been added to the Blogroll of Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk. No, it is not a legal blog, it is about advertising. But it is Pittsburgh focused and written for the business community.

As you will see when you click on Brad Fisher’s site, there is a lot going on in advertising and you don’t need to hire one of those Madmen (or the local equivalent) to play.

Should you get involved in any of those social media like Twitter, Facebook or the like? The answer appears to be a qualified “yes.” A fellow lawyer reports that he regretted opening a Facebook page because he hadn’t anticipated the workload. But others have effectively used Twitter to broadcast their blog postings. Brad writes about social media as advertising in Creative Briefing and I for one, will be reading.

As my readers know, I often comment upon posts from the Blogroll. I have no particular obligation to any of these authors. I just like their work. They are there because I think they are in synch with the mission of Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk and are worth reading.

It so happens, this is post No. 201 on PLBT. The event snuck up on me. It has been almost a year now and I must say that almost all of the benefits that I recently proclaimed in Why Blog? 10.5 Good Reasons have come true for me.

CLT

Posted by Cliff Tuttle (c) 2009

I have been getting reader comments regarding Michael Jackson, even though I haven’t written anything about him. However, the Anonymous Lawyer has weighed in on the subject and I have seen tributes turning up on other blogs.

The readers want to know whether I will be commenting on the investigation into the star’s sudden and apparently premature death. The focus seems to be on whether Jackson’s physician bears some culpability, civil or criminal. At this point in time, I doubt if I will be able to add anything to the subject that Gretta Van Sustren and the other cable mavens won’t analyze to the point of absurdity. But who knows? Lets see what develops.

Nevertheless, the courts will probably be busy sorting out numerous other Jackson-related legal battles for years. If I find an interesting one — one that hasn’t been endlessly overworked on Fox News, I may weigh in on it.

CLT

Posted by Cliff Tuttle (c) 2009

A Pittsburgh-based legal blog, Philip Brooks’ Patent InfringementUpdates is celebrating it fourth blogaversary today.

This blog was named No. 20 among the top 25 patent law blogs by IP Watchdog earlier this year.

Among the cases recently reported by Brooks, the Pennsylvania Superior Court held that an attorneys fee claim by a competitor in a patent infringement suit was not recoverable from a professional liability carrier, since the coverage was intended only in the case where there was a lawyer-client relationship.

CLT

Posted by Cliff Tuttle

Here’s what the Pittsburgh Comet, a local politics blog, had to say about the decision by Judge James upholding the City of Pittsburgh’s Zoning Board of Adjustment decision denying the downtown electronic billboard application by Lamar Advertising for the Grant Street Transportation Center.

If you are interested enough to want to read the opinion of the Court and the opinion of the ZBA, the Comet has reproduced them both.

CLT