Archive for the ‘DLP Law’ Category

Reports today in the Allentown Morning Call note that pro natural gas drilling groups spent over $3.3 BILLION dollars between January and September 2011 for lobby efforts promoting pro gas industry legislation in Harrisburg and Washington DC. The numbers are significant considering the nature of gas drilling legislation pending in Harrisburg. Republican majorities in the House and Senate are negotiating with Governor Corbett to pass natural gas legislation. Meanwhile, the Morning Call reports that some of the lobby money was spent on Super Bowl trips and similar events. Environmental groups spent less than $200 THOUSAND dollars advocating their positions. Governor Corbett spokesman issued a statement noting that the Governor is committed to supporting fair natural gas legislation. The 13 Trial Lawyers at DOUGHERTY LEVENTHAL PRICE LLP—DLP—continue to follow these and other Marcellus shale gas drilling issues in NEPA, Central and other parts of Pennsylvania and New York.

The Social Security Administration applies a five step sequential process to determine if the person requesting benefits- the claimant- is disabled.
The first step considers the claimant’s work activity, if any. If the claimant is performing “substantial gainful activity”, the claim will be denied. If the claimant is not performing “substantial gainful activity, the process moves to step 2.
At the second step, the medical severity of the claimant’s medical condition or impairment is reviewed. At this step, the claimant must establish that he has a severe,  medically determinable physical or mental impairment that has lasted 12 months or can be expected to last 12 months (the duration requirement) or result in death. If that is established, the process moves to the third step.
The third step considers the medical severity of the claimant’s condition or impairment. If the impairment (or impairments) meets or equals one of the “listings” published by the Social Security Administration ( and also meets the duration requirement) the claimant will be found “disabled”.
If the claimant’s impairment does not meet a “listing”, the sequential process moves on to the fourth step where the claimant’s residual functional capacity and his past relevant work is assessed. If the claimant can still perform his “past relevant work”, he will be determined to be “not disabled” under the Social Security guidelines.
If the claimant cannot perform his “past relevant work”, the process moves to the fifth and final step where the claimant’s “residual functional capacity”, his age, education, and work experience is assessed to determine if the claimant can make an adjustment to perform other work. If the claimant can make the adjustment to perform alternative work that falls within his transferable skills, the claimant will be found “not disabled”.
If you have any questions about a claim for Social security benefits, call me at 570-347-1011 or email me at [email protected]

The Federal Government through the Environmental Protection Agency–EPA–has defied Pennsylvania DEP officials and has agreed to supply fresh water to residents of Dimock Towship Susquehanna County. The property owners receiving water had their wells contaminated by methane due to alleged faulty drilling procedures of Cabot Oil and Gas. Cabot believes that the well water of the residents is safe at this point. EPA officials have determined that clean water is necessary under the circumstances. The 13 Trial Lawyers at Dougherty Leventhal Price LLP continue to follow this and other Marcellus Shale issues in NEPA and Central Pennsylvania.

Reports today note that a New York natural gas company and Pennsylvania natural gas company are at odds over the distribution of natural gas to residential and business consumers in Susquehanna County Pennsylvania. Both companies are trying to capitalize on the Marcellus Shale gas boom taking place it NEPA and elsewhere throughout the state. Proponents of natural gas drilling have predicted that competition from companies would occur and would benefit users with lower gas prices. The right to distribute natural gas by the two companies is being reviewed by the PUC.

The 13 trial lawyers at DOUGHERTY LEVENTHAL PRICE LLP–DLP—PENNSYLVANIA GAS TRUCK, AUTOMOBILE, GAS DRILLING RIG AND EXPLOSION ACCIDENT LAWYERS—-continue to follow this and other gas drilling stories in NEPA and Central Pennsylvania.

Under Pennsylvania law, certain workers are excluded from the Workers Compensation act and are precluded from filing workers compensation claims. Those excluded include workers who are deemed to be independent contractors, licensed real estate agents, casual workers, home workers, domestic service workers, certain agricultural workers, and conscientious objectors.

Republican legislators in Harrisburg continue to push for elimination of local control through traditional zoning laws and regulations of the location of drill rig pads in city, towns and boroughs throughout the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania. Although local zoning has controlled municipal planning for decades of all businesses, the Republican leadership is seeking to carve out exceptions for the natural gas industry. Under proposed legislation local towns that enforce zoning laws would not receive funding from taxes (or “impact fees) imposed on gas drillers per gas drilling rigs in a town. The new law would give authority to the State Attorney General over where a drilling site can be located. Many residents, both Republican and Democrat are protesting the proposed law.

The 13 trial lawyers at DOUGHERTY LEVENTHAL PRICE LLP–DLP—NEPA serious auto and truck accident lawyers, are investigating a serious truck accident case which occurred recently in Mountaintop, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The accident resulted in serious injuries. Details will be forthcoming.

As natural gas drilling and pipeline construction races on at full speed in Pennsylvania and Legislators fight over some type of regulation, officials in New York are predicting a continued moratorium on gas drilling in their state through 2012. Reports out of Albany indicate that Governor Cuomo does not expect natural gas drilling regulations to be in place before the end of the year. Natural gas industry leaders anxious to commence drilling in New York expressed continued frustration over the delays. Residents with natural gas leases also are frustrated. On the other hand, environmental groups praised the deliberate fashion in which New York is approaching Marcellus Shale gas exploration in the state. The 13 trial lawyers at DOUGHERTY LEVENTHAL PRICE LLP==DLP—continue to follow closely these and other natural gas drilling issues in NEPA , Central Pennsylvania and neighboring states. DLP handles serious and catastrophic auto, gas truck, drilling rig, quarry blasting and other serious personal injury cases.

Each year thousands of our seniors suffer from falls while living in nursing homes. Often times these falls are the result of understaffing in these facilities. The lawyers at DLP are very familiar with the federal and state regulations that govern the requirements for staffing levels in personal care homes and nursing homes. If you believe that a loved one has suffered an accident or an injury because there was an insufficient number of competent nursing staff contact the attorneys at DLP for guidance on how to address the problem.

A deer ran into Carol’s car causing extensive damage. Carol took the car into the “We-Fix-‘Em-Right” Body Shop as instructed by her insurance agent. After about one week, Carol got a call from the body shop stating that her vehicle was ready but also advising her that there were additional repairs made on her vehicle that were not caused by the accident. The repairman stated that the repairs were done in order to make the vehicle safe to drive. The cost of these additional repairs was almost $1,300 and was not going to be covered by Carol’s insurance. Carol was upset that the repairman never contacted her to get preauthorization to make these repairs.

Carol went down to the body shop and requested the keys to her car at which time the manager of the body shop advised her that the car would not be released until the outstanding bill was paid.

ISSUE: Does the body shop have a right to retain possession of Carol’s car?

ANSWER: No. Carol is protected by the Consumer Protection Act. This Act specifically has a provision that states that it is an unfair practice for a person to use his or her’s custody or control over a consumer’s goods to pressure that consumer into renegotiating the terms of a consumer transaction. In this particular case, the repair shop owner clearly had no authorization to perform any further work on Carol’s car without Carol’s permission. This was true even if the repair shop felt that it was not safe for Carol to drive the car without the additional non-accident related repairs.

Carol would not be responsible for the additional charges and if her vehicle was not released to her promptly, she will have a right to also be reimbursed for all expenses incurred to rent a vehicle until her own vehicle is returned.

Disclaimer: The above article is for instructive purposes only and each case is fact sensitive. Consultation with an attorney should be obtained instead of reliance upon the legal issues discussed in this column.