Articles, Alerts & Perspectives

Washington, DC

Abigail M. Reecer recently joined Babst Calland as an associate in the Energy and Natural Resources Group and Pipeline and HazMat Safety Practice. Ms. Reecer represents client in pipeline safety matters before the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), state agencies, and federal courts.

Prior to joining Babst Calland, Ms. Reecer was an associate with Hollingsworth LLP. He is a 2021 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center.

Harrisburg, PA and Charleston, WV

Legal Intelligencer

(by Casey Coyle, Stefanie Mekilo and Austin Rogers)

1995 was a watershed year.  Michael Jordan returned to the NBA after a two-year hiatus, Brad Pitt was named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine, and the world met Buzz Lightyear for the first time.  Today, Buzz remains a constant fixture in pop culture, thanks largely to his signature catchphrase: “To Infinity and . . . Beyond!”  Indeed, Buzz himself may use that phrase to describe the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s recent decision in Bert Co. v. Turk, 298 A.3d 44 (Pa. 2023), which calls into question the presumptive constitutional limit for punitive damages awards.

Background

In 2017, four employees with non-solicitation agreements left their employment with The Bert Company d/b/a Northwest Insurance Services and joined First National Insurance Agency, LLC.  They moved as part of what is known in business parlance as a “lift-out,” a practice in which a group of employees from one company are hired by a competitor.  Northwest filed suit and obtained a preliminary injunction enforcing the agreements.  At the ensuing trial, the jury exonerated three employees from any liability and exonerated the corporate defendants on two claims.  While they found the remaining employee and corporate defendants liable on other claims, the jury only awarded Northwest $250,000 of the roughly $4 million in compensatory damages sought; the award was joint and several.  However, the jury awarded Northwest $2.8 million in punitive damages—representing an 11.2:1 ratio of punitive-to-compensatory damages on a per-judgment basis.

Appellants challenged the punitive damages award as unconstitutional.  Under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, courts must consider three guideposts when determining if a punitive damages award comports with the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. …

Pittsburgh, PA, Charleston, WV and Washington, DC

Babst Calland has been recognized in the 2024 edition of Best Law Firms®, ranked by Best Lawyers®, nationally in 8 practice areas and regionally in 31 practice areas:

• National Tier 1
  • Environmental Law
  • Litigation – Environmental
• National Tier 2
  • Land Use & Zoning Law
  • Natural Resources Law
  • Oil & Gas Law
• National Tier 3
  • Energy Law
  • Litigation – Construction
  • Mining Law
• Regional Tier 1
  • Pittsburgh
    • Bet-the-Company Litigation
    • Commercial Litigation
    • Construction Law
    • Corporate Law
    • Energy Law
    • Environmental Law
    • Information Technology Law
    • Land Use & Zoning Law
    • Litigation – Construction
    • Litigation – Environmental
    • Litigation – Land Use & Zoning
    • Municipal Law
    • Natural Resources Law
    • Water Law
  • Charleston-WV
    • Commercial Litigation
    • Energy Law
    • Environmental Law
    • Litigation – Environmental
    • Oil & Gas Law
• Regional Tier 2
  • Pittsburgh
    • Admiralty & Maritime Law
    • Labor Law – Management
  • Charleston-WV
    • Mining Law
    • Natural Resources Law
  • Washington, D.C.
    • Energy Law
    • Environmental Law
    • Litigation – Environmental
    • Oil & Gas Law
• Regional Tier 3
  • Pittsburgh
    • Mergers &

…

Harrisburg, PA

Babst Calland today announced the opening of its office in Harrisburg, Pa., and the addition of two experienced litigation attorneys, Michael Libuser and Stefanie Pitcavage Mekilo.

Led by Shareholder Casey Alan Coyle, who joined the firm in August 2022, the Harrisburg office provides legal counsel for local, regional, and national businesses, industry sectors, and trade associations with focused practices in litigation, energy and natural resources, environmental, and legislative and regulatory affairs, among others.

The Harrisburg team of attorneys offers deep litigation experience in matters pending before state and federal appellate courts, with a particular emphasis on appeals before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. They also represent clients in disputes pending before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and state trial courts throughout Central Pennsylvania and matters brought before the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court as part of its original jurisdiction.

“It is an exciting time for Michael and Stefanie to join Babst Calland and open a new office in Harrisburg,” said Mr. Coyle. “The Harrisburg office is uniquely poised to offer its clients the best of both worlds—pairing the service and pricing of a litigation boutique with the deep-bench expertise and resources of a law firm with more than 35 years of experience serving clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to small and mid-sized businesses nationwide.”

Mr. Libuser represents clients in state and federal trial and appellate courts, with a particular emphasis on cases before the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Yvette Kane, Senior United States District Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, where he drafted opinions for the Third and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals and handled a wide range of district court matters involving complex civil litigation, commercial contracts, administrative law, trade secrets, and various statutory claims. …

Pittsburgh, PA

Pretrial Practice & Discovery

American Bar Association Litigation Section

(by Joseph Schaeffer)

Whether attorneys have encountered an inadvertently produced privileged document in their own practice, it is a common enough occurrence that the procedure is well established: Suspend further review, sequester the document, and notify opposing counsel. What is not well-established is what attorneys should do when they encounter inadvertently produced non-privileged documents. A New York trial court recently dealt with this situation in a case of first impression.

In Pursuit Credit Special Opportunity Fund, L.P. v. Krunchcash, LLC et al., No. 615070/2022 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Oct. 4, 2023), the plaintiff’s financial consultant had responded to a subpoena from the defendants by producing multiple emails with a Dropbox link in the message body. As the defendants discovered early in their review, the Dropbox link not only was “live,” it provided access to a bevy of the plaintiff’s sensitive internal files—including folders named “Legal,” “Tax,” and “Financial.” Rather than immediately notify plaintiff’s counsel, though, the defendants reviewed the Dropbox (with the exception of the “Legal” folder) and sent the plaintiff a letter about a week later that referenced the internal documents as part of a demand for voluntary dismissal of the litigation. The plaintiff responded by moving the trial court to order the defendants to show cause why they should not be sanctioned for accessing the Dropbox files.

The trial court granted the plaintiff’s motion and entered a sanction against the defendants of nearly $156,000, representing the plaintiff’s costs in bringing the motion. Though acknowledging the absence of directly applicable authority, the trial court found guidance in Rule 4.4 of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct. …

Pittsburgh, PA

Pretrial Practice & Discovery

American Bar Association Litigation Section

(by Andy DeGory)

The process of researching and identifying an expert witness can be a daunting task in a complex commercial litigation setting. However, securing the appropriate expert tailored to your needs can be a critical component of a successful litigation strategy. While there is no exact formula for expert witness selection, the following pointers can help lead your team towards the right witness and a favorable outcome:

• Utilize your colleagues and network. When starting your search for an expert witness, polling your colleagues and other connections in the legal field can instantly provide you with multiple favorable candidates. Furthermore, your network may be able to significantly narrow your search down to a few options that will fit the needs of your case. This option is also particularly helpful for lesser-experienced attorneys who might be starting an expert search for the very first time.
• Google is your friend. Litigation attorneys may joke about relying on Google for legal research, however, an expert-witness search is actually an appropriate opportunity to fire up the search engine. Google (or another search engine) allows you to cast a wide net to build your list of expert candidates prior to a more formal vetting of your options.
• Vet your candidates with Westlaw or Lexis. Once you have narrowed your search down to your favorite expert candidates, Westlaw and Lexis provide excellent tools for vetting your candidates’ background and history serving as an expert witness. In particular, these legal databases allow you to examine past cases in which the candidate has provided expert testimony, prior expert reports submitted in those cases, deposition transcripts (if available), and any motions in limine/to exclude the candidate’s testimony.

…

Pittsburgh, PA

Smart Business

(By Adam Burroughs featuring Michael Fink)

A company’s capitalization table, simply put, details who has what ownership within a company. That’s straightforward when the company has a single owner. But as other equityholders are introduced, it can become much more complicated.

While an accurate cap table is crucial for determining who gets paid what when a company is sold, it’s also important every day of the company’s life.

“Companies should start dealing with their cap table from day one and will need to stay on top of it throughout the entire life of the enterprise,” says Michael E. Fink, a shareholder at Babst Calland. “An orderly, up-to-date cap table is central to well-informed business decisions.”

Smart Business spoke with Fink about the role of the cap table and how failing to accurately maintain it can be costly.

How are cap tables used?

Cap tables are critical when a company seeks new investment, such as via a private placement of preferred stock. That’s because every investor — both new ones as well as current investors, who typically need to approve new investment — needs to know its position on the cap table post-investment and what impact a contemplated investment would have on its position.

As companies get new funding and prior owners see their positions diluted, a cap table tracks who has how much equity and what type. Introducing multiple equity series often imposes multiple voting thresholds, so the cap table allows management and stakeholders to see what sort of voting blocs serve to approve any corporate action. Such actions can range from mundane to fundamental, such as approving a merger or replacing somebody on the board of directors. …

Pittsburgh, PA

Legal Intelligencer

(by Blaine Lucas and Anna Hosack)

A frequent, if folksy, recitation of the purpose behind zoning and land use restrictions is to prevent problems caused by the “pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard.”  In other words zoning regulations recognize sometimes a nuisance can be caused by putting the right thing in the wrong place.  Therefore, zoning ordinances attempt to keep more “offensive uses” away from more sensitive uses.  However, prohibiting a use on paper is one thing, ensuring ordinance compliance is another.  The Commonwealth Court in Township of Cranberry v. Randy J. Spencer, Nos. 568, 569, and 570-CD-2022 (Pa. Cmwlth. Aug. 30, 2023) (Spencer II)[1] recently considered one municipality’s decades long battle over operation of a junkyard in violation of its zoning ordinance.  A review of the history of this case provides the opportunity to consider the pros and cons of different enforcement options available to municipalities when faced with ongoing violations.

In Spencer, the owner of six parcels located in Cranberry Township, Butler County had been storing a multitude of junk vehicles (117 cars, 11 box trailers, 7 motorhomes, and 8 travel trailers) on his properties in violation of the Township zoning ordinance.  The Township had been trying for over a quarter century to induce the property owner to remove the junk vehicles, and he had even paid fines related to the same in the past – yet he never removed the vehicles.  In 2019, as authorized by Section 616.1 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. §616.1 (“MPC”) the Township served five “enforcement notices” (referred to herein as “notices of violation” or “NOVs”) against five of the properties for the unlawful operation of a junk yard in the Township’s A-1 Conservation District.  …

Washington, DC

Former transportation executive and veteran regulatory and environmental attorney, James C. Chen, has joined Babst Calland as a Shareholder in the Emerging Technologies practice in the law firm’s growing Washington, D.C. office.

Mr. Chen brings his deep experience in strategic planning and managing legal, policy and regulatory affairs for public and private companies with a focus on emerging technologies in the transportation sector, particularly electrification and sustainable energy.

“A revolution is occurring in the transportation and energy industries – from how we generate and store energy to power various modes of transportation to how those modes are operated with autonomous and artificial intelligence systems to the way we source, process and recycle the minerals needed to enable those modes,” said Mr. Chen. “Moreover, the challenge facing this revolution is not just figuring out how to best power new transportation technology, it’s also about how to best operate the factories that manufacture them.”

For the past decade, in his executive leadership roles for several new transportation technology companies, Mr. Chen was instrumental in the commercialization of modern electric vehicles and the way they are distributed and sold. Most recently, he was Vice President of Public Policy & Chief Regulatory Counsel for Rivian Automotive, LLC and previously, was Vice President of Regulatory Affairs & Deputy General Counsel at Tesla, Inc.

“We are delighted that Jim Chen is now a part of our firm and our Washington, D.C. office,” said Babst Calland Managing Shareholder Donald C. Bluedorn II. “Jim is a great person, and he has an outstanding reputation and track record as a leader in the electric transportation and sustainable energy space. His industry experience and focused approach to providing strategic and creative solutions utilizing new technologies will be a tremendous resource for our clients.”

In addition to managing his own private practice, Mr. …