A Pennsylvania appellate court yesterday handed a victory to Pittsburgh Episcopalians in their long-running dispute with their former diocesan leadership (read the full opinion here). Observers of the Anglican scene will recall that the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, as well as a majority of its member parishes, several years ago effected changes to its constitution…
Category Archives: Appellate issues
Shankopotamus Not Liable for Failing to Yell “Fore”
A recent issue of the New York Law Journal contains a report on a recent case in which the New York Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a personal injury suit filed against a golfer who failed to yell “fore” after hitting an errant shot and seriosuly injuring one of his playing partners. Seems…
Supreme Court to Hear Skilling Appeal
The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling’s appeal. Now we’ll see if there is any prospect that reason and fairness will prevail in the Enron witch hunt.
Episcopal Church Takes a Kick in the Teeth in South Carolina Property Case
The South Carolina Supreme Court gave the national Episcopal Church (“TEC’) a good kick in the teeth last week when it ruled that one of the former parishes in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, All Saints Church on Pawley’s Island, is the rightful owner of its church buildings and other real property. All Saints, which…
Supreme Court OK’s Individual Lawsuits By 401(k) Participants
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that individual participants in the most common type of retirement plan can sue under a pension protection law to recover their losses. The unanimous decision has implications for 50 million workers with $2.7 trillion invested in 401(k) retirement plans. James LaRue of Southlake, Texas, said the value of his stock…
Key Hearing for Mumia Approaches. So Does Death
The Inquirer reported in yesterday’s paper on a critical argument that will be held in the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals this Thursday in the long running case of convicted cop killer Mumia Abu Jamal (and truthfully, have there been more than a handful of hot Broadway shows that have run longer than this…
Bernie Ebbers Will Likely Die in Prison
The United States Supreme Court yesterday refused to hear an appeal from former Wordcom CEO Bernard Ebbers, which means that, unless Ebbers is pardoned, he will serve most, if not all, of the rest of his life in prison. I’ve said it before and will say it now again – sentences in our criminal system,…
California Dog Mauling Homicide Case Reaches State High Court
The California Supreme Court is set to consider whether an intermediate appellate court properly reinstated a second degree murder conviction in the California pit bull presa canario (NB: Thank you, Rachel). mauling/murder case from a few years back. I remember this case when it was tried. Watched most of it on Court Tv. Cheered when…
High Court Throws Out Award Against Philip Morris
On a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court yesterday overturned a $79.5 million jury award against tobacco company Phillip Morris, holding that the damages award violated the company’s due process rights because, the punitive damages award was intended, at least in part, to punish Phillip Morris for harm allegedly cause to persons other than the plaintiff,…
Will the Supreme Court Review the 5th Circuit’s Divided En Banc Arbitration Opinion?
The Next Supreme Court Arbitration Case? Common law judges expressed a negative view toward arbitration, apparently based on a belief that such alternative dispute resolution ousted the court’s jurisdiction. In the United States, the legal landscape fundamentally changed with the passage in 1925 of the Federal Arbitration Act. The purpose of the FAA “was to…