Pittsburgh Legal Newslog: It Will Be Tent City at Point State Park Next Week.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle

US District Court Judge Gary Lancaster granted a portion of the First Amendment peaceful assembly request of the ACLU in connection with planned demonstrations during the G-20 conference next week.

Jurist, September 17, 2009.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Pittsburgh Legal Newslog: Monthly Court Closure in California to reduce Budget Gap.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle

In what may become a trend, California is closing its courts one day per month until June 2010 to reduce the budget deficit. Courts in downtown Pittsburgh will close next Thursday and Friday due to traffic restrictions during the G-20. However, the G-20 closure will probably not save much money.

Jurist, September 17, 2009.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

You Lie!

Summary: Rude, insulting publicity hounds deserve to be treated in kind.

Why should anyone be civil in public when the payoff is so great for being a jerk?

Who even heard of Rep. Joe Wilson (outside of South Carolina, of course) before this week? Not me. So, he gets to apologize and receive forgiveness all over the news, is censured by his colleagues, is widely interviewed for several days running — all free publicity. He doesn’t deserve it.

I still don’t know who Conye West is. I don’t care, either. But I know the name. So do millions of others who didn’t care. The tape of his stupid unsolicited comment, destroying someone else’s moment in the sun, gets him wall-to-wall publicity. He gets to go on Leno and compound the offense with off-color jokes. He doesn’t deserve it.

Tennis doesn’t get much press compared to football, baseball and even hockey. But Serena Williams grabbed the sports headlines for several days running for bad behavior. Tennis hasn’t had this much coverage since Bobby Riggs challenged Billy Jean King. Serena doesn’t deserve it either.

So what do you say to a Joe Wilson, a Conye West or a Serena Williams when they wrongfully grab the spotlight and turn it into a personal publicity campaign?

Try this: “You lie!”

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Who Needs Librarians? Off With Their Heads!

SUMMARY: There are untried solutions to the Pennsylvania state budget conundrum.

AND NOW, the lack of a budget in Pennsylvania has caused the public libraries in Philadelphia to announce that they will soon close.

Wow, there’s an idea! Most grownups never go to the library anyway. So lets shut ’em down. Sell the books. We can all use the internet instead. And the buildings, with all those shelves, could be rented as warehouse space or turned into liquor stores.

Then there’s the problem of subsidized child care. Child care organizations that depend on state funding are closing, too. But, with a little creativity, this doesn’t have to happen. Just replace laid off child care workers with National Guardsmen, preferably young fathers and mothers with child care experience. Or draft laid-off child care workers into the National Guard. Either way, its a win-win proposition.

Don’t fret. The Federal Government pays most of that cost, especially if the Governor declares a child care state of emergency. The beautiful part is that these federalized parents could take their own children to work every day at no additional cost. The Guardsmen could also teach the little urchins to do a few useful tasks at the armory — like rotating tires on trucks at the motor pool, cleaning the grease trap at the mess hall and oiling the M16’s in the gun rack.

At some point, these and other creative economies will exceed the projected deficit and the legislature can pass a black ink budget. Then, safe in the knowledge that a tax increase has been averted, we can all go down to the casino and enjoy a little well-earned recreation.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Pittsburgh Legal Newslog: ACLU sues City of Pittsburgh over low number of protest permits issued for G-20, citing First Amendment.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle

Jurist, September 12, 2009.

Category: Uncategorized

Pittsburgh Legal Newslog: Richard Trumpka, Western PA coal miner – lawyer, expected to be elected AFL-CIO President.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle

Legal Blog Watch, September 11, 2009.

Category: Uncategorized

A meritorious idea whose time has come in Pennsylvania.

SUMMARY: The Pennsylvania requirement that a certificate of merit be filed in a professional malpractice case deters and frustrates frivolous claims.

In an effort to address the medical malpractice component of the high cost of medical insurance, The Wall Street Journal Law Blog reviewed provisions adopted in some states of referring medical malpractice claims to medical review boards or requiring “certificates of merit” to be filed early in the case.

Pennsylvania is one of those states that requires a certificate of merit, not just for medical malpractice, but in every case where professional liability is involved. This includes a wide range of licensed professionals, such as accountants, architects, dentists, lawyers, engineers, surveyors, therapists and veterinarians. It also applies to professional corporations, partnerships and other business entities formed by professionals to conduct their practice. And it applies to claims involving lack of informed consent.

Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1042.3 (a) states:

“In any action based upon an allegation that a licensed professional deviated from an acceptable professional standard, the attorney for plaintiff, or the plaintiff, if not represented, shall file with the complaint or within sixty days after the filing of the complaint, a certificate of merit signed by the attorney or party that either

(1) an appropriate licensed professional has supplied a written statement that there exists a reasonable probability that the care, skill or knowledge exercised or exhibited in the treatment, practice or work that is the subject of the complaint, fell outside acceptable professional standards and that such conduct was a cause in bringing about the harm, or

(2) the claim that the defendant deviated from an acceptable professional standard is based solely on allegations that other licensed professionals for whom this defendant is responsible deviated from an acceptable professional standard, or

(3) expert testimony of an appropriate licensed professional is unnecessary for prosecution of the claim.”

A separate certificate must be filed for each professional named as a defendant and each claim raised. A defendant asserting a counterclaim must also file a certificate.

Thus, when Dr. Drill, the painless dentist, sues Hardluck, his patient, for fees and Hardluck countersues, stating that Dr. Drill shouldn’t be paid because he did terrible work, Hardluck must file a certificate of merit or suffer the dismissal of the counterclaim sixty one days later.

People who call into talk shows complaining about frivolous medical malpractice suits driving up the cost of care almost never know about Rule 1042.3. This Rule makes filing a malpractice suit just to obtain a nuisance payment pretty difficult and very dangerous to the complaining party. If the attorney filing the claim loses the case and is unable to produce an expert report supporting the certificate, a judge can award sanctions against the lawyer.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Doesn’t it strike you as very strange when settlement offers are communicated between litigants in the press? Except on Boston Legal, of course.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Ladies in Red.

SUMMARY: Red is not a good color for professional attire for women.

If Secretary of State Hillary Clinton intended to be instantly recognized at the Presidential Address on Health Care, she achieved that goal. When television cameras panned the assembled senators, congress-people, cabinet members, Supreme Court justices and other dignitaries, there she was, first row, aisle seat, dressed in a bright red pantsuit. On the screen, it was like a beacon. To say that she stood out in a crowd would be an understatement.

There was another woman in red at the same assembly, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. She was on the dais behind the President. However, you couldn’t tell whether the Speaker was wearing a pants suit or a dress. Somehow, a red dress is more conventional than a pantsuit of the same color. Nevertheless, someone needs to inform the Speaker that bright red on camera behind the President is a distraction, unless the red object happens to be a flag.

The Secretary’s red pantsuit, by any measure, was way over the top. A pantsuit, which Clinton made her trademark during the 2008 campaign, is supposed to give a professional woman a feminine version of the look of a well-tailored business suit. As such, the range of colors in which this look works best is very limited — black, dark blue, grey, charcoal, sometimes brown — thats about it.

Sorry, Madame Secretary.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Does the First Amendment Protect Bell Ringing to Make a Joyful Noise?

SUMMARY: Does the First Amendment protect a church from government interference with its decisions of when, how long and how loud to ring the Church bells? A case in Federal Court may eventually provide the answer.

Is ringing the church bells protected by the First Amendment? The Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports a fascinating case arising in Phoenix Arizona that addresses the question. Read the WSJ Law Blog story for the details. Here’s the gist of it:

The Church rang its bells hourly during the day, including on week days. Some of the neighbors found this annoying and dragged the bishop of the congregation into court, leading to a criminal conviction and a suspended sentence. The court limited bell ringing to Sunday and certain religious holidays, restricting the loudness and duration of the sound.

But some people don’t look upon religion in general and bell-ringing to proclaim it in particular as a Sunday only activity. A group of neighboring churches have banded together and brought a complaint in Federal Court alleging that state law, as applied in this case, constitutes a violation of the First Amendment.

As pointed out in the WSJ Law Blog, ringing church bells is part of the exercise of religion. It is “what churches do.”

But ringing a church bell is more than a call to worship. Church bells sometimes chime hymns. They are rung to announce both joyful and sad events: the end of war, a funeral. And sometimes they simply mark the hour — a useful bit of information.

Since every bell has a unique sound, familiar to those living in the district, they act as a advertisement for the church where the bell is located. Just as we might forget that a Pizza chain is located nearby if the TV commercial at the beginning of a football game didn’t deliver a timely reminder, we could also fail to remember our weekly obligation to visit a house of worship while snug in bed on Sunday morning — that is, if the bell did not remind us.

The First Amendment, in addition to protecting the free exercise of religion, has also been invoked to protect the free exercise of the right to communicate ideas. Some forms of communication recognized by the courts as Constitutionally protected have been quite unique. And so too is communication of a message by ringing a bell. Yet, the right to express a religious message by ringing bells must have some limit. That’s what courts are for.

If you have an opinion on this subject, just chime in. Back Talk is always Welcome.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

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Welcome

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.

Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk

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

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Pittsburgh Legal Newslog: It Will Be Tent City at Point State Park Next Week.

Pittsburgh Legal Newslog: Monthly Court Closure in California to reduce Budget Gap.

You Lie!

Who Needs Librarians? Off With Their Heads!

Pittsburgh Legal Newslog: ACLU sues City of Pittsburgh over low number of protest permits issued for G-20, citing First Amendment.

Pittsburgh Legal Newslog: Richard Trumpka, Western PA coal miner – lawyer, expected to be elected AFL-CIO President.

A meritorious idea whose time has come in Pennsylvania.

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Ladies in Red.

Does the First Amendment Protect Bell Ringing to Make a Joyful Noise?

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