Mac Lawyers User’s Group.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle

Any Pittsburgh area lawyer who is interested in helping to form a Macintosh Users Group, give me a call at 412-561-6303.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Then Who?

Dwelling House Savings ended 119 years of service last Friday, August 14, 2009, when the FDIC took it over. This morning it reopened as a branch of PNC Bank, one of the largest retail banking institutions in America. Dwelling House depositors don’t have to worry about safety and soundness — they never really did — but safety and soundness isn’t everything in life. And Dwelling House did not exist merely to be a safe place to make a deposit. It had a mission.

So now who will perform the mission of Dwelling House? Who will provide affordable loans for home ownership in the neighborhood that Dwelling House served? Will PNC Bank do it?

Thrifts grew up in response to big banks, like PNC’s predecessors, who wouldn’t lend to certain ethnic groups or in certain neighborhoods. At the turn of the 20th century, it was said that there were building and loan associations on every corner. There were associations whose members were predominantly German, Italian, Polish, Serbian, Croatian — you name it, we had them. They kept their communities alive. And we had one for African Americans, too.

When PNC acquired Dwelling House, for better or worse, it acquired its mission. So now we ask PNC this critical question: What are you doing to keep the dream of home ownership alive in the Hill District? Every Pittsburgher should ask the bank that bears this city’s name that question.

If not PNC, then who?

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

G-20, the Agonizing Reappraisal.

Suppose you were offered a great job. You were really happy and could hardly wait to start work. Then you discovered that several of your friends had been offered the same job and turned it down. Are you feeling less happy than you did originally? Do you reconsider?

Word surfaced recently that Chicago and a few other American cities had a crack at hosting the G-20 before Pittsburgh. Speculation is that they had a more realistic view of the problems, especially security and paying for it. But does the fact that someone passed on it make the deal less desirable? And is it thereby exposed to be a lousy deal?

Maybe for Chicago. Not for Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh has been trying to attract the attention of opinion-makers and corporate leaders in European markets for generations. Now, the same group we have been trying to impress is coming here. They know all about Chicago but most of them know precious little about Pittsburgh. We can change that in a hurry. Yes, there are risks. Didn’t your grandfather teach you that big opportunities mean equivalent risks?

As the Visa commercial might say: “Having the G-20 meet in your City — priceless!”

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Why Do You Care? Or, Putting It More Bluntly, Why Aren’t You Minding Your Business?

So, Michael Vick was back on the labor market this past week and, sure enough, somebody hired him. Then, talk show hosts and their callers spent the next day or so discussing whether Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles should have been permitted to strike a deal.

Of course, everybody knows that if he hadn’t been a premium NFL quarterback, he would have probably been unable to get a job taking tickets at the gate or selling popcorn in the stands. Does that actually mean something?

An employer can, generally speaking, hire whomever he wants, except for jobs requiring a government license. There are risks hiring people with a record of serious crime. It may not be worth the risk when there are plenty of others willing and able to take tickets or sell popcorn. But there are not plenty of other Michael Vicks.

And he couldn’t get a job as a teacher, either. But that involves close personal contact with students — something the state prohibits by regulation and school boards prevent by policy. Fortunately for us, we and our families don’t have to interact with him at all. Behind the television screen (the only I’ll ever see him, if I do) he can do you or me no harm.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Anonymous Lawyer Follow Up: Working Mom/Lawyer Competition.

“Working Mother” recently released its list of the 50 Best Law Firms for Women to Work. Its always good to hear that someplace is a nice place to work and working mothers deserve all the breaks they can get. But . . . the topic is just crying out for satire. You’ll be happy to know that the Anonymous Lawyer has answered the call.

Last week PLBT ran a post in the WSJ Law Blog of an satirical internal memo written by Jeremy Blachman, the Anonymous Lawyer. Apparently, this was so popular that Ashby Jones, the WSJ Law Blogger, asked Blachman to write another. This one is about not being rated among the 50 best law firms on the Working Mother list.

Equally interesting, was Jones’ comment that he received a large number of formulaic press releases from many of the fifty firms who actually were named by Working Mother, begging for a mention. That kind of PR doesn’t get the attention of the WSJ Blog. You gotta have some imagination. (PS, law firms, that’s how you win hard cases, too.)

In case you missed last week’s internal memo, here’s the PLBT post with the link. Of course, you can read the Anonymous lawyer anytime through our blogroll. You know the drill. Look right, scroll down.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

In Denial and Sticking to It.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied a stay of its order to Allegheny County to promptly reassess real estate. Well, no surprise there.

But perhaps County Executive Dan Onorato’s comments as reported in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette should raise some eyebrows.

“Hold tight. Nothing has changed. I’m disappointed. I think the worse thing that could happen in this county is a government-mandated reassessment. I’m a lawyer, and as county executive I don’t believe judges should order something that the people in the county don’t want.”

He then went on to say that he didn’t want to see a reassessment in Allegheny County until every other County is required to do the same.

Well, the State House did pass a moratorium until 2011, until the legislature is able to address the problem. Its a reasonable guess that the Senate will go along. So Onorato probably gets his moratorium.

But that only postpones the problem. It is unclear whether this or any legislature can adopt legislation that fulfills both the constitutional mandate of equality and the political agenda of Onorato and many others.

It may take a decade, but in the end, Pennsylvania is going to have to adopt a practical system for assessing properties from top to bottom at fair market value.

It is an interesting psychological phenomenon that fear of loss is far more motivating than hope of gain. The people who are going to absorb the economic burden of a changing system will become politically motivated while those who stand to have a reduction in assessments remain indifferent and politically unorganized. This has happened in the recent past. Spot reassessments in Mt. Lebanon and Sewickley, seen as an expedient to balance the county budget, created such a groundswell that the Republicans were swept into office for the first time since 1932. Onorato can see that coming again if he energizes the opposition by making the wrong political move.

See also: Pittsburgh Tribune Review, August 13, 2009.
Infinonymous Blog, August 13, 2009.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Foreclosure Court

I went to civil division motions this morning. Just about all of the local lawyers representing mortgage foreclosure firms were there. They all had a few motions, mostly unopposed. Very few lawyers were there with motions or arguments on any other kind of case. I’ve seen this phenomenon occur many times in recent years. This despite the fact that so many cases are going to mediation. Before then, it was typical for the foreclosure lawyers to bring in ten motions and orders in a day. At least the flow is slowing a bit.

Perhaps motions practice will come back to life in September.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Getting Stuck With The Tab For G20 Security: a Modest Proposal.

Well, we all got of taste of what it might be like when the G20 meets in Pittsburgh next month. There was a motivational seminar at the Mellon Arena today and the seminar attendees (probably over 20,000 of them) attacked downtown Pittsburgh from every direction. It was a gridlock in a town that doesn’t have too many. Then they swamped all of the eateries at lunch time (at least those near the Arena). Who knows what other mischief they performed just by being here?

Meanwhile sinister tales were being told that even now professional demonstrators, the hardball kind, were seen scoping out the G20 venues. These kids tied Seattle and London in knots. They get better with every outing. What are they going to do to poor little Pittsburgh?

And, on top of that, our civic leaders — Broke, Broker and Brokest — are slowly coming to the understanding that the feds do not intend to pay one cent towards security for the event*. On the contrary, our leaders have been told that every available law enforcement officer will be needed at the City, County and Commonwealth’s expense. The latter is in a death struggle to appropriate enough funds to make payroll next week.

What to do? I have a modest proposal.

Call up the Pennsylvania National Guard. That’s right, the whole Pennsylvania National Guard.

As I recollect, the Federal Government pays most of the cost when that happens.

Why the Guard? Because there are a lot of them. They can stand guard on every street corner, line the corridors of the airport, direct traffic at every intersection and run endless errands for the other law enforcement dudes. That’s what we did back in the day, when my unit, together with many others, patrolled the streets of Pittsburgh during riots in the 60’s.

There are still a few weekends left for riot training. It wasn’t very hard. You used a baton to jab protesters. They taught you how to do it so the protesters couldn’t grab the baton from you or pull you out of line. It was jolly fun.

Of course carrying M16’s with bayonettes or even bullets is out of the question. You don’t want another Kent State incident. Moreover, when you don’t have bullets, little kids taunt you about it. Better to stick to riot batons.

There’s been a lot of talk about where the protesters might hit. The City County Building and the Courthouse have been mentioned. That won’t happen. Those buildings will be empty — court is cancelled due to traffic problems.

Now think hard. If you wanted to hit a building that is brand new and beautiful and had lots of money inside, where would you go?

That’s right! You would cross the river to disrupt, deface and overrun the brand new Rivers Casino.

Here’s the brilliant part. Station artillery at the Casino entrance and shoot pennies at the protesters. They will soon be busy picking them up and carrying them to the one cent and two cent slots. Keep feeding them pennies, day and night, until finally the G20 is over and everybody can go home. Moreover, the Casino can afford to hire enough security to babysit the children and if they commit acts of vandalism, to repair it. And here’s the best part: half of the artillery ammunition taken as profits will go to the Casino to repair damage and half will go to the governments to pay security costs. Everybody wins, even the protesters who will get nine cents back for every ten free pennies they play.

Who knows? Some of the graffiti might be able to be moved down the street to the Warhol or the Mattress Factory and put on display. Proceeds could defray the cost of G20 Security.

Additional thoughts: Move those decorated dinosaurs around town inside to a secure warehouse. It is unlikely that the graffiti artists will improve them. Another civic treasure, the Carnegie Science Center, which is too close to the Casino for comfort, could be guarded by robots with ray guns — set on stun, of course.

CLT

*”Millions for tribute but not one cent for defense.”

Category: Uncategorized

A Second Life? What Would You Do?

Pittsburghers are saying their final goodbyes to the three women who died in the massacre last week at LA Fitness.

But if there is any good news that came from this tragedy, it is that many others did not die. All of the wounded are expected to recover. Others who were in that dark room when the shooting began were spared by fate. And there were many others who heard the shots and experienced various degrees of awareness that their time on earth might come to an abrupt end.

Then there was the story of Stanley Lowe. The Pittsburgh community activist was left for dead by two men who broke into his home and took him to an ATM to draw out money. While recovering, he recently told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review that he had been given a new life and he intended to make good use of it.

Death’s aim is not always perfect. Sometimes we dodge the bullet. Sometimes we recover. Sometimes we are just lucky.

Suppose you recently had come close to death and were pulled back, given a new life — what would you do with your new life?

Why aren’t you doing it now?

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Pittsburgh Legal Newslog: Attorney General May Preemptively Challenge Ordinances That Violate State Agricultural Law.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle

August 9, 2009 Law of the Land Blog.

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.

1410 Posts and Counting

Categories

Mac Lawyers User’s Group.

Then Who?

G-20, the Agonizing Reappraisal.

Why Do You Care? Or, Putting It More Bluntly, Why Aren’t You Minding Your Business?

Anonymous Lawyer Follow Up: Working Mom/Lawyer Competition.

In Denial and Sticking to It.

Foreclosure Court

Getting Stuck With The Tab For G20 Security: a Modest Proposal.

A Second Life? What Would You Do?

Pittsburgh Legal Newslog: Attorney General May Preemptively Challenge Ordinances That Violate State Agricultural Law.

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