Welsey J. Oler jr

The case involved Shanyong G. Wu, who worked as a table games dealer at a casino until his termination in July 2014 for leaving his assigned table unattended, in violation of employer policies after multiple prior warnings. Wu applied for unemployment compensation benefits, reporting that he had been laid off due to lack of work, but the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review denied benefits under Section 402(e) of the Unemployment Compensation Law for willful misconduct and imposed fault overpayment penalties under Sections 804(a), 801(b), and 801(c) for misrepresenting the reason for separation. The Commonwealth Court affirmed the Board's decision, finding substantial evidence that Wu had intentionally misled the agency about his discharge and that his primary language did not excuse the misrepresentation given evidence he could understand English.

labor & employment

The case involved the City of Lancaster and the Lancaster School District challenging the tax-exempt status of a parcel owned by the Red Rose Transit Authority (RRTA), a municipal authority, that contains bus waiting areas, bays, a roadway, and a 398-space parking garage integrated into the Queen Street Transit Center. The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania affirmed the trial court's order upholding the parcel's tax immunity and denying the cities' appeal from the county assessment board. The court applied the public-use test under the Municipality Authorities Act, noting that such authorities are presumed immune from taxes on property used for authorized governmental purposes, and found the parcel's facilities served RRTA's transit operations without being leased to private for-profit entities.

taxesproperty

This case involved J.C.'s petition to expunge an indicated report of child abuse placed on Pennsylvania's ChildLine Registry after allegations by his young son Ja.C. amid a contentious custody dispute with the child's mother. The Department of Human Services upheld the report following an administrative hearing, but the Commonwealth Court reversed that decision. The court concluded that the child's out-of-court statements and testimony were unreliable due to taint from repeated adult questioning, the parents' acrimonious relationship, and the mother's heightened suspicions, and that the remaining evidence failed to prove abuse by a preponderance. As a result, the Secretary's order was reversed and the matter remanded for expungement.

family law

Jewel Lee Camacho sued the West Chester Area School District for injuries sustained when she tripped over a movable concrete parking barrier on school property while leaving an event. The trial court granted the district's motion for summary judgment under the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act, which provides governmental immunity to local agencies except in limited circumstances. The Commonwealth Court affirmed, holding that the barrier was personal property rather than real property because it was not attached to the ground, so the real property exception to immunity did not apply. The court further concluded that the barrier did not qualify as a traffic control device under the Act's traffic control exception, as it merely delineated parking spaces without regulating traffic in the manner of signs or signals. The decision rested on precedent distinguishing affixed fixtures from movable items and on the facts showing the barrier's design and placement.

torts & liabilityprocedure

The case involved Cardiff Heights, L.P. and related parties appealing the Ross Township Board of Commissioners' denial of a planned residential development application to build 72 townhomes on a 19.7-acre split-zoned property with steep slopes in Allegheny County. The trial court affirmed the Board's decision, and the Commonwealth Court consolidated and reviewed the appeals. The court held that the plan was not deemed approved by operation of law and that the Board properly denied it due to noncompliance with subdivision and land development ordinance requirements on street design including cul-de-sacs, density and use, steep slope disturbance, and usable open space. The court further found no lack of good faith by the Township in processing the application. Accordingly, the trial court's order was affirmed.

property

School Express, a student transportation provider, sued Lincoln Intermediate Unit No. 12 for breach of contract and violation of the implied duty of good faith after the IU assigned far fewer students for transport under a 2012 three-year agreement than it had under prior contracts. The trial court granted summary judgment to the IU, and the Commonwealth Court affirmed. The court held that the contract language was unambiguous in requiring School Express to transport only those students designated by the IU, without obligating the IU to assign any particular volume or number of students, and explicitly allowing alterations to routes and assignments. Because the agreement did not guarantee a minimum number of students, the reduction in assignments did not constitute a breach. The court rejected arguments that the missing schedule created ambiguity requiring consideration of prior dealings.

business & regulatoryprocedure

TowerCo 2013 LLC applied for conditional use approval to build a communications tower facility on leased property in Cecil Township's R-1 zoning district to address a coverage gap for Verizon Wireless. The township board deemed the application incomplete after hearings, citing failures to provide required neighbor notices within 300 feet, proof of FCC licensing and safety compliance, FAA review documentation, and evidence of a dust-proof all-weather access road surface under the zoning ordinance. The trial court affirmed the board's decision on these grounds without reaching Telecommunications Act claims, and the Commonwealth Court upheld the ruling, holding that the board properly exercised its fact-finding role and that unpreserved issues were waived.

propertybusiness & regulatory

The case involved Neil Price, acting individually and on behalf of Freedom Ring Land Management Trust, suing Menallen Township, its supervisor and Right-to-Know officer John R. Yantko, and Lee's Plumbing & Excavating, Inc., over the 2013 demolition of a residence on trust property at the township's direction. Price raised federal constitutional claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, negligence claims, and a conversion claim after learning of the demolition in 2014. The trial court dismissed all claims as barred by the statute of limitations. The Commonwealth Court reversed, holding that the statute of limitations defense was not clearly established on the face of the pleadings to allow dismissal via preliminary objections and that material factual questions remained regarding the applicability of the discovery rule to when Price could have reasonably discovered the injury.

civil rightspropertyproceduretorts & liability

The case involved an inmate who claimed injury from a defective water faucet in a Philadelphia correctional facility and initiated a lawsuit against the City of Philadelphia and prison officials by filing a praecipe for writ of summons but never filed a formal complaint. The trial court entered a judgment of non pros for failure to file the complaint as ordered and later denied the plaintiff's motion to open the judgment. On appeal, the Commonwealth Court affirmed the denial, holding that the plaintiff failed to properly preserve challenges to the underlying judgment in his petition to open it, resulting in waiver of those issues under Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 3051.

procedure

Leroy London sought a zoning variance from the Philadelphia Zoning Board to operate an adult cabaret in a Neighborhood Commercial Mixed-Use-2 district, where such uses are prohibited and also restricted near residential areas or protected uses. The Board denied the variance, and after procedural history involving remands, the Commonwealth Court addressed London's constitutional challenge to the zoning code's definition of 'adult cabaret' under Section 14-601(7)(a)(.1), claiming it was overbroad and vague in violation of the First Amendment and Pennsylvania Constitution. The court affirmed the denial of the variance and upheld the ordinance, reasoning that nude dancing receives limited First Amendment protection and the zoning rules constitute a permissible time, place, and manner restriction aimed at secondary effects of sexually oriented businesses, without banning them entirely or affecting substantial protected speech. It further held the definition was not unconstitutionally vague when read in context.

business & regulatoryfree speechproperty

The case involved Yves A. Eliscar challenging the denial of unemployment compensation benefits after his termination from employment as a janitor with GCA Nuclear Facility Services. The Unemployment Compensation Board of Review denied benefits under Section 402(e) of the Unemployment Compensation Law for willful misconduct, finding that Eliscar violated the employer's call-in policy for absences by failing to report while incarcerated for over a week. The Commonwealth Court affirmed the Board's decision, concluding that the policy violation constituted willful misconduct without good cause and that the Board's credibility determinations regarding Eliscar's testimony were controlling.

labor & employment

This case involved a preliminary injunction issued by the trial court against Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) like Lyft operating taxi-like services in Philadelphia, on the grounds that such services violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the city's Fair Practices Ordinance by failing to accommodate riders with disabilities. Lyft appealed the order, which had directed the Philadelphia Parking Authority to enforce regulations treating TNCs as unauthorized taxis and to cease operations. The Commonwealth Court vacated the injunction as applied to Lyft, reasoning that new state legislation effective November 2016 regulating TNCs fundamentally altered the legal context and prerequisites for the injunction, such as the likelihood of success on the merits and the balance of harms. The court noted that no responsive briefs were filed and that the underlying litigation remained pending.

civil rightsbusiness & regulatory

Emerald Johnson, a worker at Philadelphia Coca-Cola, sustained a right foot injury in 2013 that the employer accepted as a sprain under a Notice of Compensation Payable. The employer later filed a termination petition asserting full recovery as of February 2015, while Johnson filed a review petition seeking to add conditions including complex regional pain syndrome to the injury description. The Workers' Compensation Judge granted the termination petition and denied the review petition, findings affirmed by the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board. The Commonwealth Court affirmed, holding that the WCJ acted within its role as factfinder in crediting the employer's medical expert testimony that showed no objective evidence of ongoing injury or the additional claimed conditions.

labor & employment