Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk

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

1410 Posts and Counting

Advice for Lindsay Lohan.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle| July 8, 2010 | © 2026

Number 470

Your strategy is not working.  Hold a press conference before you go into the slammer and announce that you have decided to grow up and get off drugs.  Then serve your time with dignity and no complaints.  Get rid of the nail polish.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Advice for LeBron.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle| July 8, 2010 | © 2026

Number 469

So LeBron James has had a lot of fun watching all of his competitors fall all over each other trying to induce  him to play with a ball and hoop in their City. Now he must make a choice. Or does he?

Why should the great LeBron James work for any of them anyway?  He should demand the keys to the kingdom.  If a team’s owners want him badly enough, they should be willing to work for him. No, they should be willing to pay to work for him.  Or better yet, they should be willing to give him the whole team and go away.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Read the Complaint and Brief on DOJ Suit Against Arizona Immigration Law.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle| July 7, 2010 | © 2026

Number 468

The Department of Justice filed a Complaint and Brief in a suit to overturn the controversial Arizona Immigration Law. You can read the Complaint and Brief by clicking this link to Jurist, the University of Pittsburgh web site that covers legal events around the globe.  Talk show callers never mention the preemption doctrine, which, of course, this case is all about.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Second Anniversary of Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk!

Posted by Cliff Tuttle| July 7, 2010 | © 2026

No. 467

On July 7, 2008 the first post on Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk appeared. You can read it by clicking “About PLBT” in the left margin. Now, approaching 500 posts, I think this blog has proven that it it has the stuff to last.

This past February, we carried exclusive comments by paramedics concerning the accusation that they had not properly performed their duties during the great Snowmageddon. We started promoting the blog on Twitter.  We syndicated it on Network Pittsburgh.  And we gave this page a whole new look with expanded features.  And we didn’t use a single off-color word.

Its been great to have my own personal bully pulpit. I don’t have to write letters to the editor or call talk shows to air my viewpoint. Its been a pleasure but also a responsibility.  And it has introduced me to some exceptional people.

And of course, times like this serve to remind me that every new day is a gift.

Thanks for reading.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

The Original Article.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle| July 4, 2010 | © 2026

No. 466

Nobody could have known that the Great American Revolution and its Declaration would be the original in a world-wide cascade of events that are continuing even now. But Independence was never the end of the process, only the beginning.  In America and the world, over generations, independence has been continuously redefined, re-enacted, expanded and refined in subsequent generations. And that makes it not just the achievement of the Founding Fathers, but the achievement of all of us.

The  building blocks of this ongoing Revolution are the Rule of Law.  The cornerstone, the Declaration, announced our adherence to certain principles of Natural Law to a largely skeptical world.  And upon those sacred principles; inalienable rights, self evident rights, we Americans have constructed the entire edifice of American Government and Law, block on block.

The strength of this edifice has been tested at regular intervals, sometimes tested to the limit. And it still stands!

Three cheers for the founders!  Three cheers for the rest of us!

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

A Life Well Lived: Lisa Styles, mother, lawyer and far too young.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle| July 3, 2010 | © 2026

No. 465

The community where I live, Mt. Lebanon, near Pittsburgh, mourns the death this week of Lisa Styles.  She was struck by an SUV driven by an alleged intoxicated and speeding driver who reportedly failed to observe the stop sign. The tragedy could have been much greater.  She was jogging with two of her young children in a stroller, which was toppled over by the accident into busy Washington Road.  The children, thank God, were not seriously injured.

Mt. Lebanon resident and  lawyer Bill Labovitz posted on line an article on the vigil conducted at the fatal intersection last night as well as her obituary. They tell a story that brings the full force of this calamity down upon us.  They make me feel angry. And yet, when I think that my own daughter, married and living in another city, is only a little younger than Lisa, it makes me feel blessed and grateful for what I have. We must savor and treasure the gifts we have while we have them.  The fact that the people we love can be snatched away in a moment is what makes having them with us so precious.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

GOT RATS?

Posted by Cliff Tuttle| July 2, 2010 | © 2026

No. 464

If you are a residential tenant and have rats, read my AVVO Answer today.

CLT

Category: Uncategorized

Closing Deadline To Be Extended

Posted by Cliff Tuttle| July 2, 2010 | © 2026

No. 463

The closing deadline to qualify for the tax credit for  first time buyer transactions was set to expire on June 30.  However the Senate passed an extension, already passed by the House, to September 30.  The measure is expected to be signed by the President as early as today.

However, this only affects those who signed agreements before April 30. As every real estate savvy person knows, it is getting harder to close in 60 days and some kinds of deals, like short sales, may even take longer than the additional ninety days to close.  Thirty years ago, 90 days was the norm to get to  closing.  Competition in the go-go broker-driven era, when requirements were relaxed or waived, drove the approval times down and many closed in 30 days.  No longer.  Extreme compliance is back.  Plus, and this is important, the new loan disclosure regulations guarantee that the process will take longer, even if pushed.

There are undoubtedly many qualified and even proven borrowers out there who cannot find loans.  Banks have been cautioned to build up capital and that is what they are doing.  Some other sector of the economy is going to have to lead the economy back to health this time.  Real estate can’t handle the load. Not now

But in the long run — here’s the good news — demand for real estate does not decline, it just defers.  Some day, some way, all that pent up demand will burst  through the dams and happy days will be here again for the survivors of the great real estate bust of 2008 and following.

Category: Uncategorized

RESPA: Both Feet in the Tar Baby.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle| June 30, 2010 | © 2026

No. 462

HUD has just issued another interpretive ruling on RESPA kickback rules.  A real estate agent cannot accept compensation for “marketing” home warranties, but she can be paid for real services, like performing preliminary inspections.

It is surprising that HUD hasn’t just given up.  Some years ago, they rewrote the regs to enable real estate brokerage conglomerates to pay internal kickbacks.  But once Brer Rabbit got one foot stuck in the Tar Baby, he tried to use the other foot to extract himself and very soon he was stuck.  HUD has both feet in the Tar Baby.  Plus, enforcement of the rules has been so rare that there really aren’t any rules.  The only solution, as far as we see it is to throw HUD and its reg book into the briar patch.

Category: Uncategorized

Report from the Line: Recording a Deed in 2010.

Posted by Cliff Tuttle| June 30, 2010 | © 2026

No. 461

Who was it who said, “the faster I go the behinder I get?”

Whoever it was could have found inspiration in the Department of Real Estate (pronounced Recorder of Deeds in 66 Counties).

So here I am arriving at the DRE, running a bit late, but — mirabile dictu — there is no one in line to record  but me!  Al, who is now in command of the bridge, but I can remember his first day long ago, squints at my handful of documents with a clinical eye: “is there a deed in there?”

Of course there is, which means that before I can record I must visit that Chamber of Horrors, the Deed Certification Room.  This idea hatched by Deed Registry, is supposed to save a lot of trouble by catching bad deed descriptions before they are recorded.

Over in the far side there is a glass enclosure where the microfilm used to be.  I had never gotten used to the onset of microfilm, always needing help when I stumbled in there, and now all those shelves full of little boxes of Kodak film on spools are gone, the microfilm readers are gone too.

Lucky they kept some of the stools from the microfilm reading days, its nice to be able to sit in line after  a certain period of time.  Up at the front, Bill is telling some poor embarrassed lawyer that he will have to keep his deed overnight, so that he can properly diagnose what is wrong.  The meets and bounds are clearly wrong, but it will take another day to figure it out.

Despite this, nobody is in a hurry to leave. After a while, Bill discovers that the prior deed had the same mistake.  Back in the day, I might mention, lawyers checked descriptions against surveys and sometimes made corrections.  I remember those days and the lawyers who did such exemplary work.  They were true artists.  Unfortunately, most of them are dead.

Meanwhile, I notice that a large pile of deeds that either came in the mail or were left behind have not been processed.  Since it is almost 4 PM, they probably will await tomorrow — unless there is a night shift.

Eventually, I am next.  Bill is looking at a photogrametric assessment map, with property lines overlaid on an aerial photograph. He clicks on the parcel — confirms ownership, confirms the description.  I am outa there!

One of the bad things about getting old is that you remember things.  When I came on the scene, recording was backed up for weeks, working on months.  Mike Dellavecchia, now judge, was elected Recorder of Deeds on the pledge to use emerging technology to clean up the backlog.  Now they seem to be working on creating a new one.  That’s progress.

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.

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