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As with all strikes the recent SEPTA strike in Philadelphia this week brings with it debate over unions and the rights of workers to strike and bargain collectively.

The Philadelphia workers compensation lawyers of Galfand Berger in Pennslyvania have been handling workers comp claims for more than 60 years. Over the years the firm has won numerous verdicts and settlements in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. One of their most high profile cases involved the local steel workers union and the company Rohm and Haas. In this decision which was brought to the court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.   Galfand Berger represented the Union against Rohm and Haas with the argument that they did not allow denials of disability income benefits to be appealed through greivance and arbitration as was required by the collective  bargaining agreement. The court ruled in favor of the Union with the decision that the company had to honor the workers right to appeal denials of disability without having to bring a lawsuit everytime benefits were denied.

Related Resources:
Galfand Berger Legal Blog
Personal Injury in Philadlephia

The six day SEPTA strike in Philadelphia ended yesterday. When strikes such as these occur they often bring Philadelpha firms into the spotlight and highlight legal issues besides just the contract negotations at hand but also the other underlying issues such as the rights and the power of unions, not to mention workers compensation and labor law.

According to an article in the The Philadelphia Inquirer, many Philadelphia commuters were angry at the way it was handled by the Transport Union. The Inquirer ran another article about the package rejected by the workers that was titled "Rejected Package Wasn’t So Bad" citing Philadephia labor lawyers and quoting the national director of research and collective bargaining for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Kerri Korpo as saying:

"In general, we are in the throes of a serious budget problem among our employers, and we are seeing a lot of pressure to solve those problems on the backs of our members. We’ve seen a lot of wage freezes"

When a SEPTA strike loomed back in February of this year Paul Nussbaum wrote an article discussing the fact that in cases such as these SEPTA hires outside counsel from top Philadelphia firms that come with a price tag of about $7 million dollars a year in spite of having their own team of 31 lawyers in house.  Nussbaum points out:

When Regional Rail workers file injured-on-the-job claims, SEPTA turns to a small wife-and-husband Philadelphia firm to handle the cases. When contract disputes arise with contractors rebuilding the Market Street Elevated line in West Philadelphia, SEPTA hires a 10-lawyer practice to deal with them.

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San Francisco business lawyer, Glen Lerner has over 30 years of experience practicing law in California. A founder of Lerner Veit & Stanaland, he is known for his expertise as a San Francisco real estate lawyer and for his work in business creation, operation, dissolution, corporate governance and mergers and acquisitions.

Education
Mr. Lerner received his JD from University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Law and is a member of the California Bar Association.

Practice Areas:
Areas of practice include: business, corporate partnership law, real estate law, and mergers and acquisitions.  

San Francisco Real Estate & Business Law Resources
Lerner Law Blog
Commercial Real Estate Attorney in San Francisco
Residential Real Estate Attorney in San Francisco

In King County, Seattle criminal charges have been filed against the manager of a Kirkland eldercare facility, Effie Tutor.

87 year old Alzheimer’s patient Jean Rudolph was under Tutor’s care when she died in 2008. Her death is believed to be due in part to a bone condition related to severe bed sores. Tutor has been charged with first degree, criminal mistreatment and the owner of the home, Patti Goodwill has been charged with the misdemeanor, failure to report.

The home was closed following an investigation by the Department of Social and Health Services in May of 2008 revealed the details of Rudolphs’ death as well as document falsification in regards to employee records.

Gary Gosanko is a Seattle accident lawyer and founder of the Gosanko Law Firm. As a Seattle personal injury attorney Gary handles cases in Seattle, Bellevue and throughout Washington involving:

• Car Accident
• Bad Faith Insurance
• Brain Injury
• Bus and Taxi Cab Accidents
• Catastrophic Injuries
• Motor Vehicle Accidents
• Dog Bite & Animal Attacks
• Motorcycle Accidents
• Pedestrian Accidents
• Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect
• Premises Liability
• Spinal Cord Injury
• Worksite & Construction Accidents
• Trucking Accidents
• Wrongful Death

Bio: In 1983 Gary earned his JD at the University of Puget Sound School of Law (now Seattle University School of Law) in Tacoma, Washington. He graduated Magna Cum Laude in the top 3% of his class.  He is an Eagle member of the Washington State Association for Justice a member of  the American Association for Justice and the Million Dollar Advocates Program.

Bar Admissions

• Washington, 1983
• U.S. District Court Western District of Washington, 1983
• U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit, 2000

Resources and Related Links

Personal Injury Lawyers Bellevue
Gary Gosanko Law Blog

In a post on the WSJ Law Blog yesterday Ashby Jones discussed new legal developments regarding Google Books.  In a settlement last year an agreement was reached between the Search Engine and a number of American publishers who felt that Google’s efforts to digitize and make millions of books available online infringed their copyrights. As a a part of the settlement Google agreed to set up an online "Book Rights Registry" so that authors and publishers could claim and be compensated for their works.

Now, as detailed in an article in the New York Times on Monday, European publishers are objecting to the agreement as will allow Google to make a profit in American markets from European titles. In an earlier WSJ post Jones debated whether what has started out as a matter of copyright infringement will eventually end up as anti-trust:

A growing concern, according to the Globe, deals not with not copyright but antitrust: that Google will end up with monopolistic control of access to millions of scanned digital books. Google is creating a mega bookstore the likes of which we have never seen,’’ said Maura Marx, executive director of Open Knowledge Commons, a Boston nonprofit organization. “People are very uncomfortable with the idea that one corporation has so much power over such a large collection of knowledge.’’

Either way the legal questions raised by this case and the debates that will result will undoubtedly be interesting to follow.

Robert F. Prince is a Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer at Prince Glover Law Firm in Alabama.  His law firm practices cases that require Personal Injury Lawyers in Alabama.

Biography: Coach, University of Alabama Association for Justice. Recipient: Walter P. Gewin Award, 2001; Bench and Bar Outstanding Alumnus Award, 1987. Master Bencher, Tuscaloosa Inn of Court.

Robert F. Prince practices in the following areas of the law: Litigation; Personal Injury Law; Environmental Litigation; Trials in all Courts

Admissions: 1974, Alabama; 1975, Florida, U.S. District Court, Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama and U.S. Supreme Court

Education: