Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk

Legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus.

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You can cite Non-precedential decisions for persuasive value, starting in May.

No. 1,674 The Superior Court has prohibited citation of non-precedential decisions for some time.  Unfortunately, there are a substantial number of them.  The Appellate Rules Committee, however, has amended the Rules and comments to permit citation of all non-precedential appellate cases for their persuasive value, beginning in May 2019.  This follows the practice of the […]

Is a new Act 6 or Act 91 Notice required when a second mortgage foreclosure is commenced?

No. 1,439 This issue was addressed in Wells Fargo Bank v. Spivak, 104 A.3d, 7 (2014) where there had been a voluntary discontinuance followed by the filing of a new case, without re-sending of the Act 6 Notice. The Superior Court apparently distinguished the facts in Spivak in a non-precidential decision in J. C. Morgan […]

Be sure to attach Certificates of Compliance to your pleadings.

No. 1,403 Section 7.0 of the “Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania: Case Records of the Appellate and Trial Courts” places the burden of screening documents on litigants and attorneys who file them and to exclude or redact certain confidential information (except when using a special Confidential Information Form). The clerks who […]

Excessively Rambling Briefs Do Not Persuade. No Kidding!

No. 1,352 How would you like to open your mail and receive an opinion on your appeal that begins like this? “We note at the outset that at seventy-eight pages, Appellant’s brief is more than two and a half times the ‘safe harbor’ maximum of thirty pages (2.6 times, to be precise). Counsel for Appellant […]

Rule Proposed to Permit Citation of Non-precedential Superior Court Opinions

No. 1,295 The Legal Intelligencer reports that a proposed rule is about to be published permitting citation of non-precedential Superior Court Opinions for their persuasive value, but not as authority.  The reason for the rule permitting non-precedential opinions is the heavy workload of the Court. Although these opinions do not appear in the official reports, […]

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CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

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