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I recently participated in a Continuing Legal Education program organized by the New York State Trial Lawyers Institute entitled “Affordable Care Act and Future Medicals”.  From its adoption, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), also known as Obamacare, has been and continues to be politically controversial, particularly so in the run up to the 2016 Presidential Election, with most Republican candidates vowing to dismantle it if elected, Hilary Clinton promising to expand on the programs put into place under Obamacare, and Bernie Sanders looking to create universal healthcare coverage by expanding the Medicare program.  The ACA is no stranger to the legal system, being the subject of a landmark 2012 Supreme Court decision in which the constitutionality of the individual mandate and its corresponding tax was upheld.

As Part of Philadelphia Bar Association’s Advancing Civics Education Program

Attorneys from Locks Law Firm recently offered a presentation on the Magna Carta to students at the Girard Academic Music Program in South Philadelphia as part of the Advancing Civics Education (ACE) program sponsored by the Philadelphia Bar Association and the School District of Philadelphia. The program was developed to provide students with supplemental civics education in areas such as fundamental principles of citizenship, democracy and dispute resolution. Shown are (from left), Locks Law attorneys Mark Weinstein and Melanie Garner; Brendon Jobs, a history teacher at GAMP and whose class hosted the forum; and Locks Law Partner Marc Weingarten. Locks Law has been participating in the program for the past seven years.

The NFL Head Trauma litigation resulted in an uncapped settlement in record speed.  Unfortunately, as that settlement has been pending in the appeals court, an unusual and disheartening number of players are changing counsel.  Some players have left our firm for other lawyers, and some have come to us and requested that we replace their current lawyers.  But most players change counsel because lawyers, unconnected to this case at the beginning, have improperly solicited players to leave their original lawyers.  Sadly, the lawyers who are doing this are new to the litigation and were uninvolved in the extraordinary efforts that brought the cases in 2011 and 2012 and developed the viable, large, and uncapped settlement for the players.  To be clear, these new lawyers entered the litigation after Judge Brody approved the settlement.  None of them understand the science, diagnostics, and requirements of the settlement agreement as well as the men and women who filed the first cases, consolidated those cases before Judge Brody, and brought the NFL to the negotiating table.  In our opinion, they are opportunists, and we caution all players to beware of what they are selling.

Ken Stabler is the most recent of many professional football players to have been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (C.T.E.) This morning The New York Times reported that Stabler has joined more than one-hundred former N.F.L. players to have been diagnosed with the life-altering disorder.

Yesterday the Fourth Circuit refused to enforce the arbitration agreement in a Western Sky payday loan agreement in the case Hayes v. Delbert Services Corp.  The Court’s holding is an important reminder that despite the current anti-consumer state of the law on arbitration agreements, these clauses are not invitations to companies to imagine new and exciting ways to strip consumers of their substantive rights.

The Court’s holding on both the issue of the agreements purported waiver of rights as well as severability is instructive on the kinds of challenges that can be brought against unconscionable arbitration agreements.

Alfred M. Anthony, one of New Jersey’s most prominent mass tort and class action attorneys, has joined Locks Law Firm as a partner working out of the firm’s planned North Jersey office, as well as its Cherry Hill, NJ, and New York City offices.

Anthony comes to Locks Law Firm from Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A., where he spent the last 23 years developing a practice specializing in environmental contamination, chemical exposure, benzene exposure, asbestos exposure, pharmaceutical torts and products liability litigation.

Even though the United States banned the use of lead-based paints in homes, toys and furniture in 1978, lead poisoning continues to be a serious problem. Lead is most often found in lead-based paints used in older homes of families in more urban and underdeveloped areas. Lead poisoning can affect both children and adults but is most detrimental to children under the age of 6 years old.

Lead is most often ingested by children putting lead-based toys, paint chips or their contaminated fingers in their mouths. Lead poisoning can be diagnosed with a blood test and is measured in micrograms per deciliter. No safe level of exposure has been identified, and children with levels of 5 mcg/dL or higher may be at risk.

In Los Angeles, California, the neighborhood of Porter Ranch has been enduring an environmental catastrophe of historic proportions in the form of a natural gas leak since mid-October 2015. On a normal day, the sun shines brightly over Porter Ranch, which is surrounded by the Santa Susana Mountains to the north, the Granada Hills to the north and east, and Brown’s Canyon to the south and west. Unfortunately, the bliss of the neighborhood came to an abrupt halt on October 23, 2015, when employees of the Southern California Gas Company (“SoCalGas”) noticed a leak from the ground caused by the malfunction of a well.

Leon Carelli, Chief Technology Officer at The Locks Law Firm, has been quoted in Forbes. Alongside a group of other tech experts, Carelli was asked how businesses can future-proof their IT Departments, preparing them for tomorrow's technological challenges.

Responding to this question, Carelli said, "There are few better tools than a curious mind. At Locks Law Firm, we encourage our employees to take initiative and ask questions — allowing every member of our team to better navigate a given challenge. Educational entertainment in the form of YouTube playlists and podcasts serve as the 'music' of our IT department. We then couple this edutainment with hands-on projects that put new ideas into practice."

The Superior Court of Pennsylvania has upheld a $2.3 million judgment awarded to a concrete laborer against Trans-Fleet Concrete, Inc. for injuries sustained when he was knocked off a nine-foot wall by a hose of a negligently operated concrete pump truck at the work site. Andrew DuPont, Esq. of the Locks Law Firm represented the injured worker in a November 2013 jury trial.

Trans-Fleet Concrete, Inc. delivered concrete to the work site and hired the affiliated company, 5 Star, as its agent for the pump truck services. Trans-Fleet was found liable for its own negligence as well as liable for the negligence of its agent 5 Star.