A plaintiff must give a defendant access to private postings from two social networking sites that could contradict claims she made in a personal injury action, a Suffolk County, N.Y., judge has ruled.

Acting Justice Jeffrey Arlen Spinner (See Profile) of New York’s Suffolk County Supreme Court held that precluding defendant Steelcase Inc. from accessing Kathleen Romano’s private postings on Facebook and MySpace “not only would go against the liberal discovery policies of New York favoring pretrial disclosure, but would condone Plaintiff’s attempt to hide relevant information behind self-regulated privacy settings.” (more…)

September 9, 2010

PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit today issued a sweeping decision striking down as unconstitutional the city of Hazleton’s law that would punish landlords and employers who are accused of renting to or hiring anyone the city classifies as an “illegal alien.” (more…)

By JEFFREY ROSEN
Published: July 19, 2010

Four years ago, Stacy Snyder, then a 25-year-old teacher in training at Conestoga Valley High School in Lancaster, Pa., posted a photo on her MySpace page that showed her at a party wearing a pirate hat and drinking from a plastic cup, with the caption “Drunken Pirate.” After discovering the page, her supervisor at the high school told her the photo was “unprofessional,” and the dean of Millersville University School of Education, where Snyder was enrolled, said she was promoting drinking in virtual view of her under-age students. As a result, days before Snyder’s scheduled graduation, the university denied her a teaching degree. Snyder sued, arguing that the university had violated her First Amendment rights by penalizing her for her (perfectly legal) after-hours behavior. But in 2008, a federal district judge rejected the claim, saying that because Snyder was a public employee whose photo didn’t relate to matters of public concern, her “Drunken Pirate” post was not protected speech.
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On April 16, 2010, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted Attorney Andrew Shubin’s petition for allocatur in Commonwealth v. Zortman, a 2006 drug trafficking case prosecuted by the Attorney General’s office. The Supreme Court will hear argument on whether Zortman, the then girlfriend of a Clearfield County drug dealer, should be hit with a five year mandatory minimum state prison sentence based upon the presence of an inoperable firearm in the residence. Shubin, who represented Zortman in the appellate proceedings, expects the case to be briefed and argued before the end of the year.

Former Daily Collegian photographer Maxwell Kruger, Class of 2009, entered the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) program Monday at the Centre County Courthouse, ending the two years he spent in the Centre County legal system in connection to the 2008 Ohio State riot.

Kruger, who was not on the Collegian staff at the time of the riot, was charged in 2008 with two counts of felony riot, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief, according to court documents.

But in September 2009 both felony counts and the count of misdemeanor failure to disperse were dismissed, according to court documents.

Kruger’s attorney Andrew Shubin did not comment on the terms of Kruger’s entrance into the ARD program, but he said this leaves Kruger with no criminal history in connection to the riot.

Proposed act unconstitutional, group says
Mike Joseph
STATE COLLEGE — A proposed borough ordinance to curb the impact of rowdy parties by holding hosts responsible for the illegal activities of guests has come under fire from a national organization that advocates individual rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union told State College in a letter Friday that the borough’s proposed “nuisance gathering ordinance,” which is scheduled for a public hearing Monday night, violates the U.S. Constitution.

(more…)

ORDINANCE NO.

NUISANCE GATHERING ORDINANCE

Be it ENACTED AND ORDAINED by the Borough Council of the Borough of State College, and it is hereby Enacted and Ordained by authority of same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Amend the State College Borough Codification of Ordinances, Chapter V. Conduct. To add a new Part J. Nuisance Gathering Ordinance, to read as follows:

PART  J

NUISANCE GATHERING

Section 1001. Purpose and Findings. The Borough of State College intends to preserve the peace, health, safety, and welfare of the residents and neighborhoods in the municipality by reducing the illegal behavior and conduct often occurring at events or gatherings that
seriously detracts from the peace, health, safety, and welfare of the community.

The Borough of State College finds that:

a. Events and gatherings held on private or public property where persons gather and where Liquor or Malt or Brewed beverages are consumed and/or illegal controlled substances are used by persons attending such events or gatherings often results in disruptive, disorderly, destructive, violent, and hazardous conditions that constitute a threat to peace, health, safety, and welfare of the community that require prevention, response to, and/or abatement.

b. Often events and gatherings held on private or public property where persons gather and where Liquor or Malt or Brewed beverages are consumed and/or illegal controlled substances are used by persons attending such events or gatherings result in one or more of the following:

(1) Liquor or Malt or Brewed beverage-related or illegal controlled substance-related traffic crashes; or

(2) Liquor or Malt or Brewed beverage-related or illegal controlled substance-related injuries from falls and other accidents; or

(3) Overconsumption of Liquor or Malt or Brewed beverage requiring emergency medical treatment; or

(4)  Providing Liquor or Malt or Brewed beverage to persons under 21 years of age; or

(5)  Residents being awakened overnight from loud noises; or

(6)  Violent outbursts that result in physical injury to persons; or

(7)  Residents having their property damaged or stolen.

c. These events and gatherings that become unlawful public nuisances result in an inordinate amount of police service resources deployed to these events or gatherings resulting in additional costs to the Borough of State College taxpayers. Because of these inordinate costs, it is necessary to recover the police service costs for certain unlawful public nuisances.

Section 1002. Authority. This ordinance is enacted pursuant to XXXXXXXX

Section 1003. Definitions. For purposes of this ordinance, the following terms have the following meanings:

Event or gathering. Event or gathering means any group of three (3) or more persons who have assembled or gathered together for a social function or other activity on public or private property whether indoors or outdoors.

Host.    Host means to aid, conduct, allow, entertain, organize, supervise, control, or overtly permit a gathering or event.

Liquor. Liquor as defined by Title 18 – Pennsylvania Crimes Code Section 6310.6

Malt or brewed beverages. Malt or brewed beverages as defined by Title 18 — Pennsylvania Crimes Code Section 6310.6

Person. Person means any individual, partnership, co-partnership, corporation, or any association of one or more individuals.

Police Service Costs. Police Service Costs means the cost to the Borough of State College for police services rendered in responding to a call at a nuisance gathering or otherwise maintaining order and public peace and safety and stopping public disturbances at a nuisance
gathering, including, but not limited to, the salaries and other compensation of police officers, appropriate administrative costs allocable thereto, the cost of repairing damaged Borough of State College equipment and property, and the cost of any medical treatment of injured police officers. The cost for salaries and other compensation of police officers plus the administrative costs shall be established annually by the Borough of State College Finance Department. Cost of
repairing damaged equipment and the cost of any medical treatment of injured police officers shall be based on actual costs.

Premise. Premise means any home, yard, fraternity house, farm, field, land, apartment, condominium, hotel or motel room, or other dwelling unit. or a hall or meeting room, park, or any other place of assembly,public or private, whether occupied on a temporary or permanent basis, whether occupied as a dwelling or specifically for a party or other social function, and whether owned, leased, rented, or used with or without permission or compensation.

Underage Person. Underage person is any individual under twenty-one (21) years of age.

Section 1004. Declaration of nuisance gathering. An event or gathering that results in one or more of the following illegal activities at a premise or on neighboring public or private property is hereby declared to be an unlawful public nuisance as defined herein:

a.  Excessive, unnecessary, or unreasonably loud noise which does or is likely to disturb the comfort, quiet, or repose of the neighborhood  (Section 5503 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code – Title 18) and/or (Chapter V, Part A, Section 103 of the Borough of State College
Codification of Ordinances); or

b.  Public disturbances, brawls, fights, or quarrels or Indecent or obscene conduct (Section 5503 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code – Title 18); or

c.  Open container – (Chapter V, Part C., Section 302 c. of the Borough of State College Codification of Ordinances); or

d.  Purchase, consumption, possession, or  transportation of Liquor or Malt or Brewed beverages (Section 6308 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code -Title 18); or

e.  Public drunkenness (Section 5505 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code – Title 18); or

f.  Public urination or defecation (Section 5503 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code – Title 18); or

g. Unlawful sale, furnishing, or consumption of intoxicating beverages (Section 6310.1 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code – Title 18); or,

h. Unlawful deposit of trash or litter – Section 6501 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code (Title 18); or

I. Criminal mischief (Section 3304 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code -Title 18); or

j. Sale, manufacture, possession of any controlled substances as defined in The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act” Act of 1972, P.L. 233, No. 64; or

k.  Open lewdness or indecent exposure (Section 5901 or Section 3127 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code – Title 18); or

1.  Other illegal conduct or condition which injures, or endangers the safety, health, or welfare of the neighborhood.

Section 1005. Prohibited Act. Any premise owner, occupant, tenant, or other person having any possessory control, individually or jointly with others, of any premise who sponsors, conducts, hosts, invites, or overtly permits an event or gathering that at any time of the event or gathering to become an unlawful public nuisance as defined in Section 4 is hereby deemed to have committed a violation of this section.

Section 1006. Penalty for violation.

(a) Any person who violates Section 5 is guilty of a summary offense punishable a fine of not less than $300 nor more than $600 or by imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or both.

(b) For a second or subsequent violation of Section 5 in a l2-month period, the person is guilty of a summary offense punishable by a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $1,000 or by imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both.

(c) A criminal penalty provided for under subsections (a) and (b) of this section may be imposed in addition to any penalty that may be imposed for any other criminal offense arising from the same conduct.

Each act of violation and every day upon which such violation occurs shall constitute a separate offense.

Section 1007. Payment for Police Service Costs Required. Any premise owner, occupant, tenant, or other person having any possessory control, individually or jointly with others, of any premise who sponsors, conducts, hosts, invites, or overtly permits an unlawful public nuisance
event or gathering shall pay the police service costs for the response, investigation, documentation, and prosecution of the second and any subsequent unlawful public nuisance events or gatherings within a 180 day period of time.

Section 1008. Notice of Police Service Costs. Whenever the police are called to respond to and declare a property in violation of this ordinance, a representative of the Police Department shall notify the owner of the private property where the nuisance gathering took place
and also the Person in Charge (PIC) of such property if the owner has designated a “PIC” in accordance with the Borough of State College’s Property Maintenance Code (Chapter IV, Part L, Section 1204, Chapter 9, Section 901.2), by regular mail at the last known address of such owner
and/or Person in Charge. This notification will include at a minimum that the police identified a nuisance gathering at the owner’s property and that if the police are again called to respond to a nuisance gathering at such property within 180 days after their initial response, such owner shall be required to pay police service costs to the Borough of State College for such responses.

Section 1009. Collection of Police Service Costs. For the second and all subsequent responses to unlawful public nuisance events or gatherings within 180 days as provided for in Section 7 of this Ordinance, the Chief of Police or his/her duly authorized designee shall notify the Borough of State College Finance Department in writing of the name and address of the owner of the private property where the nuisance gathering took place, the dates of the initial and subsequent
response(s), and necessary details related to the billable costs as listed in Section 3, (f) for the subsequent response. The Borough of State College Finance Director or his/her duly authorized designee shall then bill the owner for the appropriate amount and which shall be due and payable to the Borough of State College within thirty (30) days of such billing.

Section 1010. Failure to Pay Police Service Costs. Any police service costs which have not been paid within thirty (30) days of the billing therefore maybe collected, together with a penalty of ten percent (10%) thereof and interest at the rate of ten percent (10%) per annum added thereto, by civil action against the owner and/or may be imposed or assessed against the owner’s private property as a municipal claim as provided by law.

Section 1011. Severability. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, word, or other portion of this ordinance is, for any reason, held to be unconstitutional or invalid, in whole, or in part, by any court of competent jurisdiction, such portion shall be deemed severable, and such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance, which remaining portions shall continue in full force and effect.

SECTION 3. Effective Date. This ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days following its final passage and adoption.

STATE COLLEGE — Council on Monday began to look at a “nuisance gathering ordinance” intended to give police a new way to cite hosts with summary offenses if their guests break the law.

Police Chief Tom King told council the intent is not to replace laws but to add to what police have to work with now.

“We’re looking for additional ways for a local ordinance to supplement the crimes code,” he said. “When we can’t absolutely prove who furnished the alcohol … then tenants or property owners are responsible.” (more…)

Attorney Andrew Shubin called the case “doomed from the beginning,” yet a Daily Collegian photographer faced misdemeanor charges for months after the October 2008 downtown State College riot.
(more…)

On Oct. 25 last year, thousands of students rushed into Beaver Canyon to celebrate Penn State’s victory over rival Ohio State.

We didn’t know it, but the First Amendment was on the line.

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