How Appealing



Wednesday, April 14, 2010

“A Shortcut to Appeal for Civil Cases Pending in Pa. State Court”: That’s the title of this month’s installment of my “Upon Further Review” column published in The Legal Intelligencer, Philadelphia’s daily newspaper for lawyers.

In essence, as I describe in more detail in the column, a Pennsylvania state Rule of Civil Procedure allows any party to send a case immediately to appeal if the trial judge takes more than 120 days to decide post-trial motions. Whether this shortcut is available depends on what sort of post-trial motions remain pending. But when the shortcut is available and is invoked, the trial judge loses jurisdiction to rule on the post-trial motions that have yet to be decided.

I’d be curious to hear from readers of this blog whether any similar post-trial shortcuts to appeal are available in other States.

Posted at 3:52 PM by Howard Bashman



“Scalia’s Retirement Party: Looking ahead to a conservative vacancy can help the Democrats at the polls.” Law professor Richard L. Hasen, author of the “Election Law Blog,” has this essay online at Slate.

Posted at 3:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“Alito is one Phillies fan whose opinions really matter”: This article, the second in a two-part series, appeared yesterday in The Philadelphia Daily News.

Posted at 3:07 PM by Howard Bashman



“Defining Radical Down: Are Judge Diane Wood’s abortion rulings truly indefensible?” Emily Bazelon has this essay online at Slate.

Posted at 8:20 AM by Howard Bashman



“A feud worthy of the Bard: The Zappala and Orie clans are at each other’s throats in Western Pa.” Columnist Karen Heller has this essay today in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Posted at 8:05 AM by Howard Bashman