How much can the government tax amusement? According to the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court: As much as it wants to. Well, perhaps not quite that extreme. But the Court ruled that a municipality may tax an amusement park more than 5% under 53 Pa.C.S. § 8402(c)(2) as long as the tax rate is equal to or … Read more
The New Jersey Supreme Court held that dog owners do not have an objectively reasonable expectation of privacy such that the owner’s personal information in the dog licensing record is exempt from disclosure under the Open Public Records Act. Here, the owner of an invisible-fence company sought the address of all people who recently registered … Read more
The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court held that purchasers of a property at a tax sale were not indispensable parties to a later proceeding to set aside the tax sale of the property The Lehigh County Tax Claim Bureau conducted an upset tax sale of properties, including one where Owner resided. Purchasers successfully bid on the property. … Read more
Tighten your safety belts and keep your hands in the car because this opinion is a wild ride involving municipal law and statutory interpretation. In these consolidated appeals, the City of Chester and Aqua Pennsylvania, Inc. appealed from the trial court’s orders, which denied the motions for judgment on the pleadings filed by the City … Read more
The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court squeezed in two crucial holdings regarding driver’s license suspensions resulting from DUI convictions. Vellon was arrested for DUI and was accepted into ARD. But he violated the terms of ARD by picking up another DUI arrest. He was kicked out of ARD and subsequently pled to both charges. He was sentenced … Read more
The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court reviewed an Unemployment Compensation Board of Review order that denied the claimant unemployment compensation under Section 402(b) of the Unemployment Compensation Law. That provision generally prohibits payment to individuals who leave work without cause of a necessitous and compelling nature. The claimant was a school janitor and had an altercation with … Read more
An en banc panel of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court heard an appeal from an order of the Court of Common Pleas granting summary judgment in favor of the defendant. The defendants were contractors who completed improvements to Oil City public library’s exterior steps. Soon after completion of the project, the steps began to deteriorate. The … Read more
Barsky sells diamonds on Jeweler’s Row in Philadelphia and won an appeal in the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, too. Barsky Diamonds (“Employer”) employed Barsky (“Claimant”) until March 2020, when Governor Wolf mandated the closure of non-essential businesses because of the pandemic, which temporarily shuttered Employer. Claimant applied for and was granted unemployment compensation benefits. However, one … Read more
The moral of this appeal is “Keep your certifications current.” Mellott petitioned the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court to review the order denying his applications for certification and renewal under the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act and the Uniform Construction Code Training and Certification of Code Administrators. The crux of the dispute involved whether a code administrator whose … Read more
The New Jersey Appellate Division reviewed an order of the Chancery Division, requiring that a particular person be seated immediately to fill a vacant city council position. The dispute arose over the interpretation of the Municipal Vacancy Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:16-1 to -23. To resolve the conflict, the Appellate Division dove into the legislators’ intent in … Read more