Inside Volume 26 | Number 9 May 9 2016

PENNSYLVANIA BAR NEWS • MAY 9 2016

People .................................................................................................... 2

Member Benefi t News: Comcast Business..................................... 3

Inside-Outside Counsel Summit in Gettysburg ............................. 3

Court Summaries ................................................................................. 5

PBF Seeking Nominations for Bednarik Scholarship .................... 7

Legal Marketplace ............................................................................. 10

Notice to the Bar ............................................................................... 14

4Law Practice ManagementData Breach Prevention and Due Diligence

PBA Leadership for 2016-17 Takes Offi ce May 13 in Hershey

continued on Page 12

Sara A. Austin, PresidentYork County lawyer Sara A. Austin, a partner in the Aus-tin Law Firm LLC, will be-come the 122nd president of the PBA at the conclusion of the PBA Annual Meeting, May 13 in Hershey. She will be the fi rst woman PBA presi-dent from York County and the third woman president in PBA history.

Austin served on the PBA Board of Governors from 2009 to 2012 as the Zone 3 governor for Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York counties. She is a member of the PBA House of Delegates. She is also a past president of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute (PBI).

She serves as chair-elect of the PBA Solo and Small Firm Practice Section and treasurer of the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession (WIP). Austin is a former PBA Young Lawyers Division (YLD) Zone 3 co-chair and former chair of the YLD Public Service Announcement Committee and Young Lawyers Network Project. She is a past chair of the PBA Bylaws Committee and a past co-vice chair of the PBA Planning Committee. She is a member of the PBA Membership Development Commit-tee and the PBA Labor and Employment Law Section. She is a life fellow of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation (PBF).

Austin was president of the York County Bar Association (YCBA) in 2006. She is a former chair of the YCBA Young Lawyers Section and former treasurer and board member of the York County Bar Foundation (YCBF). She is also a member of numerous YCBA and YCBF committees.

She is a Pennsylvania delegate to the American Bar Associa-tion (ABA) House of Delegates and has been active in the ABA YLD and the ABA Labor and Employment Law, Gen-eral Practice, Solo and Small Firm Practice, and Tort Trial and Insurance Practice sections, along with various ABA committees. She is an American Bar Foundation life fellow.

Austin is a former president of the Middle District Bank-ruptcy Bar Association and a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute. She is an adjunct professor at Wid-ener University Commonwealth Law School in Harris-burg. She was honored as a Pennsylvania “Super Lawyer” in employment and labor law in 2009 and 2012-15. She was named a Central Pennsylvania Business Journal “Wom-an of Infl uence” in 2015.

She has served on the board of directors of the Commu-nity First Fund. She is a former president of and current solicitor for the York Spanish American Center. She has also served on the board of directors of the York Sympho-ny Orchestra and the Rotary Club of York. She is a former president of Leadership York.

Austin is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at The College of William & Mary.

Sharon R. López, President-electSharon R. López, a partner in Lancaster’s Triquetra Law, will become president-elect of the PBA. She will be the fi rst Latina president in PBA history when she takes offi ce in 2017.

López is the co-chair of the PBA Membership Develop-ment Committee. She is a past co-chair of the PBA Civil and Equal Rights Committee. A member of the WIP and PBA GLBT Rights and Minority Bar committees, López served as the fi rst editor of Open Court, the GLBT Rights

Committee’s electronic news-letter. She is the fi rst editor of Houston’s Legacy, the PBA Minority Bar Committee’s electronic newsletter. She also serves on the PBA’s Diversity Team, Federal Practice Com-mittee and Judicial Evalua-tion Commission. She is a member of the PBA Civil Litigation, Labor and Em-ployment Law, and Solo and Small Firm Practice sections.

López served as president of the PBA Conference of County Bar Leaders (CCBL) in 2013-14. In 2007, she was elected as the fi rst minority representative to the CCBL Executive Committee. She is a PBF life fellow. López is a member of the Lancaster Bar Association (LBA) and has served as chair of the LBA Diversity Committee. She is a member of the LBA Employment Law Section and is an elected member of the LBA Judiciary Committee.

She has served on the boards of directors of Family Ser-vice, Community Hospital of Lancaster, and the YWCA of Lancaster, serving as chair of its Racial Justice Committee. She is a founding board member of the Lancaster AIDS Project.

López holds an undergraduate degree from Eastern Men-nonite College and a juris doctorate degree from Widener University School of Law, which honored her in 2014 for her efforts to promote diversity in the legal profession. She received the Widener University School of Law Alumni Outstanding Service Award in 2008. She was named a “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer” for 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Austin López

12 PENNSYLVANIA BAR NEWS • MAY 9 2016

Charles Eppolito III, Vice PresidentPhiladelphia lawyer Charles Eppolito III, a partner at White and Williams LLP, will become vice president of the PBA. He will take office as PBA president in 2018.

Eppolito served as PBA secre-tary from 2007 to 2010 and as chair of the PBA House of Delegates from 2011 to 2013. He has served as a member of the PBA House of Delegates since 2001. He was the 2002-03 chair of the PBA YLD and is active in the PBA YLD Statewide High School Mock Trial Competition for Penn-sylvania high school students.

Currently co-chair of the PBA Bar Leadership Institute, Eppolito has also served as chair of the PBA Membership Development Committee, of which he is the current co-vice chair. He has served as chair of the PBA Quality of Life/Balance Committee, vice chair of the PBA Health Care Law Committee, co-chair of the 2005-06 PBA An-nual Meeting Task Force and co-chair of the PBA Midyear Meeting. He received a PBA President’s Award in 2009, the PBA YLD Michael K. Smith Excellence in Service Award in 2007, and a PBA Special Achievement Award in 2006. He is a PBF fellow. He is an investigative-panel member for the Pennsylvania Judicial Evaluation Com-mission.

He has been active in the ABA, serving in its House of Delegates and on the House Select Committee and the Tellers Committee. He is also a member of the ABA’s Medical Professional Liability Standing Committee, and Bioethics and the Law Special Committee.

He has served as chair of the Medicine and Law Commit-tee of the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section and received its Exceptional Achievement Award in 2010. He previously held a number of leadership positions in the ABA YLD.

A member of the Philadelphia Bar Association, Eppolito is co-chair of its Environmental and Energy Law Commit-tee and previously served on its YLD executive board. He is a member of the Montgomery Bar Association (MBA) and serves on its Medical-Legal Committee. He is a board member of the Justinian Society of Philadelphia.

He has been named a Pennsylvania “Rising Star” attorney numerous times since 2005 by Law & Politics magazine as a result of a survey of his peers. He has been named a “Lawyer on the Fast Track” by Pennsylvania Law Weekly,

The Legal Intelligencer and a panel of judges from through-out Pennsylvania. He has also been a speaker or panelist for a number of professional programs, including effective trial advocacy, trial strategy and tips, alternative dispute resolution, effective use and cross-examination of medical experts, mentoring, diversity and quality of life/balance. Eppolito has served as a Hearing Committee member for the Disciplinary Board of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Eppolito is a cum laude graduate of Villanova University and the Villanova University School of Law.

William H. Pugh V, Immediate Past PresidentWilliam H. Pugh V of Erdenheim, Montgomery County, managing partner of the law firm of Kane, Pugh, Knoell, Troy & Kramer LLP in Norristown and Philadelphia, will become the PBA’s immediate past president.

Pugh is a former Zone 9 governor on the PBA Board of Governors representing Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery County law-yers. He served as co-chair of the PBA Diversity Task Force. Pugh is a member of the PBA Planning Committee, House of Delegates and Civil Litiga-tion Section. He is a PBF life fellow and a member of the Keystone Society.

Pugh is a former president of the MBA, where he chaired the CLE, Judiciary, Program and Events, and Montgom-ery County Law Reporter committees. He was the editor of the Montgomery County Law Reporter from 1992 to 1994. He has also served as president of the MBA Political Ac-tion Committee. In 2007, Pugh was the president of the Montgomery Bar Foundation (MBF), of which he is a life fellow and a member of the Stefan and Taxis circles.

Pugh is a fellow of the American College of Trial Law-yers and a fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America. He was named “Trial Lawyer of the Year” in 2007 by the Montgomery County Trial Lawyers Association, of which he served as president in 1999. He is also a member of the Pennsylvania Defense Institute, the Defense Research In-stitute and the American Board of Trial Advocates. He has been named a “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer” from 2005 through 2015.

Pugh is a member of the board of directors of the Mont-gomery Child Advocacy Project. He is on the pastoral

council of St. Genevieve Parish, where he served as presi-dent of the Catholic Youth Organization from 1999 to 2006. He is also a member of the President’s Council and the Purple and Gold Club of Mount Saint Joseph Acad-emy and is a member of the Development Advisory Board of the Sisters of Saint Joseph.

Pugh is a graduate of the University of Richmond and the Villanova University School of Law.

Donald J. Martin, Chair, House of DelegatesDonald J. Martin, a sole practitioner in Norristown, will begin the second year of his term as chair of the PBA House of Delegates.

A member of the PBA House of Delegates since 2001, Mar-tin is a member of the PBA Solo and Small Firm Practice Section, of which he served as chair from 2002 to 2004. He is chair of the PBA By-laws Committee, a past chair of the PBA Senior Lawyers Committee and a member of the PBA GLBT Rights Com-mittee. He has served on the PBA Nominating and Plan-ning committees and the PBA

Lawyer Advertising and Health Care Law task forces. He is a PBF life fellow and is a frequent lecturer and course organizer for PBI.

Martin is active in the MBA and served as its president in 2012 and on its board of directors. He chaired the MBA Lawyer Referral/Legal Access Committee and served on the editorial board of the Montgomery County Law Re-porter. He is also a member of the Trial Lawyers Section of the MBA. He has served as a MBF director, officer and trustee. He is a member of the ABA.

Martin is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago Law School. He served the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas in various capacities from 1981 through 2015, including as law clerk for asbestos litigation, law clerk to the senior judges and appointed judicial officer for complex litigation.

Michael J. McDonald, SecretaryLackawanna County lawyer Michael J. McDonald, a founding partner in the Scranton law firm of McDonald and MacGregor PC, will begin a one-year term as PBA

Martin

Eppolito

Pugh

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PBA Leadership Continued from Page 1

13PENNSYLVANIA BAR NEWS • MAY 9 2016

secretary. He will be eligible to run for two additional one-year terms.

McDonald has served as PBA Zone 5 governor representing lawyers from Bradford, Lack-awanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming coun-ties. He is a member of the PBA House of Delegates and has served as a zone delegate and a county delegate to the PBA YLD. He is co-chair of the PBA Membership Development Committee and re-ceived a PBA Special Achievement Award in 2015 for his leadership and service. He is the PBF vice president and a member of the Commonwealth Club.

McDonald is a former president of the Lackawanna Coun-ty Bar Association and its YLD. He received the associa-tion’s President’s Award for outstanding service to the legal profession. He is also a former president of the Federal Bar Association of the Middle District of Pennsylvania chapter and a former president of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers’ Association.

McDonald has been chosen for certification and/or mem-bership in the National Board of Trial Advocacy, the National Board of Civil Pretrial Practice Advocacy, the American Board of Trial Advocates and the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. He has also been selected as a “Pennsyl-vania Super Lawyer” for many years. Since 2011, he has been named a Top 100 Trial Lawyer by the National Trial Lawyers.

McDonald has served as vice chair and as a member of the board of directors for Fidelity Deposit and Discount Bank, a community bank located in Dunmore with offices throughout northeastern Pennsylvania. He has also served on the board of trustees for Scranton Preparatory School, the board of directors for Meals on Wheels of Lackawanna County and the board of directors for Lackawanna Pro Bono Inc., which provides legal services to low-income residents.

He is a graduate of Villanova University and the Penn State Dickinson School of Law, which awarded him the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Award for distin-guished achievement in trial advocacy.

David E. Schwager, TreasurerLuzerne County lawyer David E. Schwager, a partner in the Wilkes-Barre law firm of Chariton, Schwager & Mal-ak, will begin his third one-year term as PBA treasurer.

Schwager served from 2010 to 2013 as PBA Zone 5 gov-ernor for Bradford, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties. Schwager is a member of the PBI board of directors and the PBF. He serves as chair of the PBA Bylaws Committee. He is a past chair of the PBA Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section and a past chair of its Financing of Real Estate and Real Estate Taxation committees. A member of the PBA House of Delegates, Schwager previously served as chair of the PBA Statutory Law Committee. He is also a PBF life fellow.

Schwager’s practice focuses on real estate, title insurance, real estate taxation, business law, commercial litigation, munic-ipal law and creditors’ rights. Named a “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer” by Philadelphia Mag-azine every year since 2010, he is a member of the Adviso-ry Committee on Real Prop-erty Law of the Joint State Government Commission of the Pennsylvania General

Assembly. He is serving a second consecutive three-year term on the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, of which he is vice chair. He is a past vice chair of the ABA YLD’s Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Committee. He is the treasurer of the Middle District (Pa.) Bankruptcy Bar Association. A member of the ex-ecutive committee of the Luzerne County Bar Association (LCBA), he is a LCBA YLD past president.

A past assistant district attorney for Luzerne County, Schwager is chair of the Kingston Borough Zoning Hear-ing Board and an assistant Luzerne County solicitor and has represented various municipal authorities and munici-palities.

Schwager serves as president of the B’nai B’rith Apart-ments Housing Foundation, chair of the board of trustees of Temple Israel in Wilkes-Barre and treasurer of Ecumen-ical Enterprises Inc. He is a member of the board of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry and a past president of the Jewish Community Center of Wyoming Valley, Temple Israel of Wilkes-Barre, the S.J. Strauss Lodge of B’nai B’rith and the Wyoming Seminary Alumni Association. He has served as chair of the United Hebrew Institute School Board and the 2007 Jewish Fed-eration campaign.

Schwager is a graduate of Lafayette College and the Penn State Dickinson School of Law. He has served on the exec-utive committee of the Lafayette College Alumni Associa-

tion and on the board of the General Alumni Association of the Penn State Dickinson School of Law. Joel C. Seelye, YLD ChairJoel C. Seelye of Hollidaysburg, Blair County, a partner in the Altoona law firm of Grabill & Seelye PLLC, will become the chair of the PBA YLD.

Seelye has served as the PBA YLD Zone 8 chair on the PBA YLD Executive Council. He is also the PBA YLD liaison to the PBI board of directors.

He serves as the regional co-ordinator for the PBA YLD Statewide High School Mock Trial Competition. He is the Blair County coordinator for the PBA YLD Wills for He-roes program, which provides free basic estate planning documents to first responders and military veterans in Penn-sylvania.

Seelye is a member of the Blair County Bar Association (BCBA) and has served as president of the BCBA Young Lawyers Committee. He is a member of the executive committee of the J.S. Black American Inn of Court. Seelye serves as vice president of the board of directors of the Hollidaysburg YMCA and on the advisory committee for the criminal justice program at the YTI Career Institute. The Altoona Mirror selected him for its list of “20 under 40” in 2012, a distinction recognizing business success, entrepreneurial spirit and community involvement. He is a 2014 graduate of “Leadership Blair County” and serves on the program’s planning committee.

Seelye is a summa cum laude graduate of California Uni-versity of Pennsylvania and the Duquesne University School of Law. He attended the International Study of Law program in Ireland.

Jonathan D. Koltash, YLD Chair-electJonathan D. Koltash of Mechanicsburg, senior counsel at the Pennsylvania Department of Health, will become the YLD chair-elect.

Koltash is the co-chair of the PBA YLD Statewide Mock Trial Competition Committee, YLD delegate to the PBA House of Delegates, and editor of the YLD’s electronic newsletter, At Issue. He also serves as the YLD representa-tive to the PBA Nominating Committee. He is the chair

McDonald

Seelye

Schwager

continued on Page 14

PBA Leadership Continued from Page 12

14 PENNSYLVANIA BAR NEWS • MAY 9 2016

continued on Page 15

• N O T I C E T O T H E B A R •

From time to time the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania publishes a list of decisions regarding appeals from the courts of common pleas that the Commonwealth Court has addressed in unpublished memorandum opinions. This practice, which began with decisions filed on Dec. 1, 1988, permits more complete research of the disposition of appeals from common pleas courts. Such a list appears below for decisions filed between March 1 and March 31, 2016. Unreported memorandum opinions can be found on the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System’s website at www.pacourts.us. Prior to Jan. 15, 2008, unreported opinions were maintained on the website for only a three-month period from the date of filing. Beginning Jan. 15, 2008, all unreported opinions reside on the website indefinitely. Citation to opinions of the Commonwealth Court is governed by Section 414 of the Internal Operating Procedures of the Commonwealth Court, 210 Pa. Code §69.414.

Caption Docket number Date Trial court/docket number Disposition

Vanessa Martin v. 285 CD 15 03-02-16 Philadelphia County AffirmedCity of Philadelphia and Brian Mussaw January Term, 2013 No. 2953

The Robert Nicoletti Family Trust v. 1262 CD 15 03-02-16 Philadelphia County AffirmedThe School District of Philadelphia September Term, 2014 No. 1539

York Road Realty Co. LP, Appellant 1513 CD 15 03-02-16 Montgomery County Affirmedv. Cheltenham Township 2014-25389

Richard Keller Sr. v. 1016 CD 15 03-02-16 Bradford County ReversedComm. of PA, Dept. of Transp., Bureau of Motor Vehicles 2014 DL 0010

Wlodzimier Ziemlewicz v. 1088 CD 15 03-03-16 Philadelphia County AffirmedBoard of License and Inspection Review August Term, 2014 No. 3055

Judith G. Samer, Executrix of the Estate of William R. Samer, 1319 CD 15 03-03-16 Northampton County AffirmedDeceased v. Frank Dashner IV, et al. C48-CV-2010-5548 C48-CV-2010-10805

BayerKoltash

PBA Leadership Continued from Page 13

of the PBA Administrative Law Section and the PBA Government Lawyers Com-mittee. He was a member of the PBA Bar Leadership Insti-tute, class of 2012-13.

He is president of the Wid-ener University Common-wealth School of Law Alumni Association Board of Direc-tors and a member of the law school’s Board of Advisors.

He is a volunteer income tax association site coordina-tor for Widener University and a Widener moot court team coach. He is the law-school chapter chair and gov-ernment-relations chair for the Federal Bar Association, Middle District chapter. He is the programming co-chair for the James S. Bowman Inn of Court and a member

of the Commonwealth Court Historical Society Board of Directors.

Koltash is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State Univer-sity and a cum laude graduate of the Widener University School of Law, from which he received the Outstanding Recent Alumni Award in 2010. He studied at the Nation-al University of Ireland in Galway. He received the Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.

Justin A. Bayer,YLD Immediate Past ChairJustin A. Bayer of Worcester Township, Montgomery County, a partner in the Norristown law firm of Kane, Pugh, Knoell, Troy and Kramer LLP, will become the im-mediate past chair of the PBA YLD. Bayer has served on the PBA YLD Council since 2010. He is a member of the PBA House of Delegates.

Bayer is a past member of the MBA board of directors and has served as a member of the MBA Executive Board. He is chair of the MBA Medical-Legal Committee and a past chair of the MBA Young Law-yers’ Section. Bayer has lec-tured for PBI and for a variety of legal education programs for lawyers, law students and professionals. In 2007 and 2008 and from 2010 to 2015, both Philadelphia Magazine and Law and Politics selected him as a “Rising Star” attorney.

Bayer is a graduate of Lehigh University and the Villanova University School of Law.