John O'Brien News


Three sex-trafficking victims settle lawsuits against hotels for $17.5M

By John O'Brien |
PHILADELPHIA - Victims of sex-trafficking at Philadelphia hotels have won $17.5 million in settlements after filing suit in 2022.

New Jersey agency can't be dragged into Pa. court, Supreme Court holds

By John O'Brien |
PHILADELPHIA - Pennsylvania isn't the place for a lawsuit against a New Jersey agency, the state Supreme Court recently ruled.

Judge finds no sin in Villanova's firing of non-Catholic Black woman

By John O'Brien |
PHILADELPHIA - Villanova University has defeated a discrimination lawsuit from a fired non-Catholic Black employee who, among her allegations, cried racism when discussing a painting it commissioned depicting Saint Augustine as Black.

Hundreds of employees at TEKsystems grouped into four overtime pay class actions

By John O'Brien |
PITTSBURGH - A federal judge's ruling raises the stakes on a labor lawsuit against a global business and technology firm.

Plaintiff lawyers want judge off Zantac cases, but wife's job-switch could stonewall effort

By John O'Brien |
PHILADELPHIA - A Philadelphia judge with a reputation for keeping "junk science" out of his court is resisting calls from plaintiff lawyers with questionable evidence in Zantac cases to step down.

Man beaten, paralyzed in prison loses lawsuit against Philadelphia

By John O'Brien |
PHILADELPHIA - The City of Philadelphia won't be penalized for a prison attack that left one man paralyzed.

Columbia gas customers not on hook for the $300K it would cost to serve one customer

By John O'Brien |
HARRISBURG - A Fayette County funeral home is losing its natural gas as it tries to expand its operation to include a crematory and heat for available apartments on the property.

'Historic' case over future of Pa. elections tossed

By John O'Brien |
HARRISBURG - A group hoping to show Pennsylvania does not properly handle federal elections has failed in federal court, as a magistrate judge has found its plaintiffs lack standing to file suit.

Blowin' in the wind: Ex-PPD lieutenant accused of ignoring rape by detective can't ignore subpoena

By John O'Brien |
PHILADLPHIA - A former Philadelphia Police Department lieutenant can't rely on the wind to blow her problems away, a judge has ruled in lawsuits over a disgraced detective found guilty of rape and other crimes.

Lackawanna Co. escapes liability for St. Patrick's Day assault on inmate

By John O'Brien |
SCRANTON - A man arrested for public intoxication then tossed around a jail cell during Scranton's St. Patrick's Day celebration in 2023 has lost his lawsuit against the Lackawanna County Sheriff's Department.

Lab has 'whistleblower' settlement in place in Zantac case

By John O'Brien |
PHILADELPHIA - The product-testing lab whose research has created tens of thousands of lawsuits still works to settle a case it brought itself and received no support from the federal government and more than two dozen states refusing to participate.

Animal rescue fails to show Rostraver Twp. took revenge on her

By John O'Brien |
PITTSBURGH - A federal judge has tossed what's left of a lawsuit over a Westmoreland County neighborhood dispute, brought by a woman running an animal-and-people rescue in Rostraver Township.

Sextortion/suicide victim's case against Meta needs a home court

By John O'Brien |
PHILADELPHIA - A social media giant says a wrongful death lawsuit against it and several others over the suicide of a sextortion victim will be grouped with others in California, while the plaintiff wants it sent back to the Philadelphia state court in which it was first filed.

Jurors should hear case of gay teacher fired by Catholics, judge says

By John O'Brien |
PITTSBURGH - A federal magistrate judge says a gay teacher's discrimination lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg should head toward trial.

Owner of staffing firm in Charleroi pleads guilty to using, harboring illegal immigrants

By John O'Brien |
PITTSBURGH - The owner of a Pennsylvania company that supplies immigrant workers to an area that has seen its Haitian population explode faces prison time after pleading guilty to tax crimes.

Charleroi business owner using Haitian labor called 'big baby' after suing vocal critic

By John O'Brien |
WASHINGTON - The Washington County business owner who went to court over criticisms he filled his staff with cheap Haitian labor is acting like a "big baby," says the man he sued.

Pa. SC protects retailers from new consumer protection theory

By John O'Brien |
PITTSBURGH - Collecting sales tax does not open retailers to lawsuits under Pennsylvania's consumer protection law, the state Supreme Court has held in a proposed class action against companies like Kohl's and J. Crew.

Lawyers' tobacco playbook hits Big Food; How big can litigation get?

By John O'Brien |
PHILADELPHIA - It's no secret that plaintiff lawyers often try to emulate the successes they had in the 1990s suing tobacco companies, when they teamed with government officials to score billions of dollars in fees from massive settlements.

5 new cases to know: Where should the Amish use the bathroom?

By John O'Brien |
In recent cases of note filed in Pennsylvania courts, America is fighting for the rights of Old Order Amish persons to use outhouses, while a woman is suing the maker of a candle that set her hair on fire.

Appeal filed after Philadelphia wins wrongful death case over police shooting

By John O'Brien |
PHILADELPHIA - The estate of a man shot to death by Philadelphia police is appealing the loss of its wrongful death lawsuit that claimed officers should have tasered him instead.