Have you been to court in PA and either plead guilty or have been found guilty of an offense?   If so, you may be wondering what are all those extra charges that are imposed by the court and are they legal? Fines for traffic citations and criminal offenses in PA are not always the most [...]

Recently, a client of ours was charged with obstructing his windshield with a radar detector.   This came of interest to me because I always use a radar detector while driving in the State of New Jersey. After reviewing the applicable NJ law, it appears that it would be difficult for a police officer or prosecutor [...]

Attached below is a chart of the penalties for PA DUI’s.  There are many other considerations that must be considered with a DUI charge such as the First Offenders Program commonly known as Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) and whether you are considered a first or second time offender. We highly advise you to consult an [...]

Whiplash is commonly used by the public to describe a neck-type injury that is sustained as a result of a car accident. Whiplash is technically called a cervical acceleration-deceleration injury in the medical and engineering fields.  When there is a rear impact and the occupant’s first motion is up.  This is called the ramping effect [...]

A Pennsylvania building contractor recently learned a hard lesson about the penalties for forgery.  The contractor completed work on a contract to make repairs to a motel property.  Upon completion of the work, the motel owner requested a certification of the work by the township zoning officer before he would make final payment to the [...]

There are thousands of people who have been charged with DUI in New Jersey whose cases are currently on hold waiting to hear the final decision by the NJ Supreme Court.   Below is the link to the live oral argument that occurred in Trenton on April 5, 2007.  We all expect a decision shortly. [...]

Pennsylvania’s Wiretap Act forbids the interception or recording of telephone and other communications without the permission of all participants to the conversation.  Because federal law and most states permit “one party consent” – the consent of the recorder only – some Pennsylvanians assume that they can use their answering machines or other devices surreptitiously to [...]

Recently, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court clarified the four categories of workers’ compensation injuries.  The first category is “physical-physical” injuries, where a physical stimulus causes a physical injury.  An example of a physical-physical injury is a broken bone from a fall at work. The second category is “psychic-physical” injuries, where a psychic stimulus causes a physical [...]

If you were involved in a New Jersey car accident and the accident was your fault, you probably were issued a NJ traffic ticket.  The most common traffic ticket that NJ police officers issue for an accident is careless driving  (N.J.S.A. 39:4-97).  Sometimes, if you were grossly negligent, such as speeding through an intersection at [...]

NJ law does not protect the public from drunken Zamboni drivers. In 2005, Zamboni operator, John Peragallo, was caught with a blood-alcohol level of 0.12 shortly after cleaning the ice at the Mennen Sports Arena in Morristown, NJ and was subsequently charged with a DWI.  (A level of 0.08 is considered legally drunk in NJ).  [...]

The Bucks County District Court system consists of 18 District Justices and 108 clerks. A District Justice’s civil jurisdiction is up to $8,000 in civil cases (breaches of contract, accidents, business and professional persons suing for nonpayment of bills, private individuals suing other individuals in landlord/tenant matters, and other related civil conflicts. District Justice jurisdiction [...]

This law blog entry will distinguish between the different types of ways that you can break a bone in the body. Compound Fracture:      The bone is broken and exposed through the skin. Oblique Fracture:           The line of the break runs diagonally to the axis of the bone Comminuted Fracture:    The separated parts of the bone [...]

After a lawsuit is filed in New Jersey, there is a period where the attorneys on both sides of the lawsuit share information about the case.   This part of the case is commonly known as “discovery”.  Discovery consists of several parts including: (i) interrogatories, (ii) requests for production, (iii) requests for admission, (iv) depositions, and [...]