• Townsend v. Northampton Twp.

    Publication Date: 2022-12-05
    Practice Area: Labor Law
    Industry: State and Local Government
    Court: Courts of Common Pleas, Bucks County
    Judge: Judge Trauger
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 2009-07868

    The court denied appellant's appeal, holding that funds the municipal employer contributed to appellant's deferred compensation plan were subject to forfeiture under the Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act. The court pointed to precedent holding that an employee who breaches his contract forfeits his right to deferred compensation for services rendered in the past.

  • Commonwealth v. Dunkowski

    Publication Date: 2022-11-14
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Courts of Common Pleas, Bucks County
    Judge: Judge Bateman
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: CP-09-0000248-2020

    The court sentenced defendant to a term of imprisonment outside her sentencing guidelines where the child neglect at issue, involving young victims who were lucky to be alive, was described by a treating physician as the worst case of neglect he had ever seen. The court recommended affirmance.

  • In re: Estate of Cassidy

    Publication Date: 2022-10-31
    Practice Area: Trusts and Estates
    Industry:
    Court: Courts of Common Pleas, Bucks County
    Judge: Judge Gilman
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 2020-E0433

    While a scrivener's error created a potential ambiguity in decedent's conditional bequest to his step-grandchildren, the record made clear that the bequest had been conditioned upon decedent still being married to the step-grandchildren's grandmother and, thus, the divorce and distribution of an equitable portion of the couple's marital assets rendered the bequest null and void. The court recommended affirmance.

  • Coppola v. Adobe Systems Inc.

    Publication Date: 2022-10-31
    Practice Area: Civil Procedure
    Industry: Technology Media and Telecom
    Court: Courts of Common Pleas, Bucks County
    Judge: Judge Bateman
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 2016-05367

    Defendant was entitled to a substantial award of attorney fees under the fee shifting provision of 42 Pa.C.S. §2503 based on dilatory, obdurate or vexatious conduct where the pro se plaintiff engaged in a lengthy campaign of filing harassing discovery requests for irrelevant information and repeatedly acting in bad faith by objecting to everything. The court recommended affirmance.

  • In re: Appeal of Dogwood Drive, L.P.

    Publication Date: 2022-09-05
    Practice Area: Civil Procedure
    Industry: Real Estate | State and Local Government
    Court: Courts of Common Pleas, Bucks County
    Judge: Judge Finely
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 22-0930

    While the COVID-19 pandemic presented some extraordinary circumstances, appellant was granted extra time to file a notice of appeal by emergency order and its failure to file within that extended period was due to its own misinterpretation of the order and decision to wait, not an administrative breakdown or other extraordinary circumstance. The court recommended affirmance.

  • Cao v. US Bank Nat'l Ass'n

    Publication Date: 2022-08-29
    Practice Area: Civil Procedure
    Industry: Financial Services and Banking
    Court: Courts of Common Pleas, Bucks County
    Judge: Judge Fritsch
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 22-0925

    Court denied petition to re-argue a foreclosure action where plaintiffs failed to show that notice was defective. The court held that the matter was barred under the doctrine of res judicata since plaintiffs' had already litigated the matter in bankruptcy proceedings in both Pennsylvania and New York.

  • In re Y.A.P.

    Publication Date: 2022-08-29
    Practice Area: Family Law
    Industry:
    Court: Courts of Common Pleas, Bucks County
    Judge: Judge Gilman
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 22-0932

    Court denied appeal in termination of parental rights matter holding that the state's agency showed by clear and convincing evidence that termination of rights was proper under §2511(a) and adoption was ultimately in the best interest of the minor, as expressed through the agency and the minor's attorney.

  • In re: Estate of Romano

    Publication Date: 2022-08-29
    Practice Area: Trusts and Estates
    Industry:
    Court: Courts of Common Pleas, Bucks County
    Judge: Judge Fritsch
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 22-0931

    Court requested that the Orphans' Court order denying a petition to remove an estate's administrator be affirmed. Specifically, the court emphasized the fact that the court is granted the discretion with reviewing an administrator's capacity, and in this instant matter, although the administrator had Parkinson's Disease, his condition did not further limit his cognitive or physical abilities.

  • Breen v. Breen

    Publication Date: 2022-08-29
    Practice Area: Family Law
    Industry:
    Court: Courts of Common Pleas, Bucks County
    Judge: Judge McMaster
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 22-0924

    Court affirmed previous order awarding alimony and 529 funds to an ex-wife, finding that the wife was the primary caregiver of the children, and the ex-husband's ability to significantly provide for himself weighed in the favor of wife receiving alimony for a period of four years while she continued to care for the children and look for employment.

  • Hanbicki v. Leader

    Publication Date: 2022-08-15
    Practice Area: Landlord Tenant Law
    Industry:
    Court: Courts of Common Pleas, Bucks County
    Judge: Judge Mellon
    Attorneys: For plaintiff:
    for defendant:

    Case Number: 22-0843

    Court affirmed trial court's ruling holding plaintiff landlord in contempt for refusal to allow defendant tenant the ability to retrieve personal belongings, in violation of a court order.