The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that Jonathan P. Wiktorchik, a Bucks County chiropractor, has been charged with lying to the IRS and arson yesterday in a March 2008 fire. The fire destroyed his office and neighboring businesses. At the time of the fire, Wiktorchik implicated a gang. He said ...

A recent post-Koken decision has been handed down in Philadelphia County in the case of Zerggan v. Rietman and Nationwide Insurance, No. 0906 o1752 June Term 2009 (Phila. Co. Jan. 20, 2010 McInerney, J.). Judge Patricia McInerney sustained the preliminary objections filed by the tortfeasor and trans ...

Here's some food for thought: A multi-millionaire who dies today in the US might not have to pay any estate tax. There may have been a silent and temporary estate tax repeal this year. Now, if you're thinking about drafting some estate planning documents, you might be left scratching your head. D ...

The First Two Delaware Decisions. In the past two months, I have reported on decisions by two Delaware bankruptcy judges in the In re Washington Mutual, Inc. case and in In re Premier International Holdings, Inc. (aka, the Six Flags case), taking opposing views on whether Federal Rule of Bankruptcy ...

Will the setback to President Obama's health-care reform efforts help BigLaw? It's possible, at least in one area, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer

NO-FAULT – DEFAMATION – QUALIFIED PRIVILEGE – MALICE Hame v. Lawson (2nd Dept., decided 2/2/2010) Can an insurer be sued for defamation in relation to statements it makes about the insured or claimant while it is investigating whether or after it has concluded that the claim is fraudulent?&nbs ...

Did you know that some of your gifts could be included in your income tax calculation? But only those that the IRS says are "not really" gifts. Let's break this concept down. Also, keep in mind that there is a tax that is entirely separate from income tax and it is called "gift tax." It has i ...

Hyman, Phelps & McNamara's (co-chief blogger at fdalawblog.net and self-described social media guru) will be speaking on the regulation of social media at the American Conference Institute’s 8th Expert Regulatory Guide to Advertising, eMarketing and Promotions for the Pharmaceutical Ind ...

Philadelphia - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will be arguing this Thursday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia, urging the court to block a government attempt to seize telephone company records detailing a cell phone user's past locations without first get ...

"Reserving Time for Rebuttal Oral Argument on Appeal": You can access at this link today's installment of my monthly "Upon Further Review" column published in The Legal Intelligencer, Philadelphia's daily newspaper for lawyers.