Matthew Santoni
@msantoni.bsky.social
Journalist covering Pennsylvania courts for Law360. Incipient middle-aged Yinzer. Lover of dogs, books, and transportation stuff. Opinions are my own.
In additional East Palestine legal news, the Sixth Circuit largely upheld the fee payments for the plaintiffs' lawyers in the settlement, finding mega-firm Morgan & Morgan hadn't shown it was harmed by the "quick-pay" provision for the legal fees (by Rae Ann Varona): www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
November 26, 2025 at 2:05 PM
In additional East Palestine legal news, the Sixth Circuit largely upheld the fee payments for the plaintiffs' lawyers in the settlement, finding mega-firm Morgan & Morgan hadn't shown it was harmed by the "quick-pay" provision for the legal fees (by Rae Ann Varona): www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
Reposted by Matthew Santoni
The former administrator of Norfolk Southern's $600 million settlement over the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, said it had been following a plan of distribution, not defying it, when it paid personal injury claimants based on a starting amount of $25,000 each.
Ex-Admin Of Norfolk Southern Deal Denies Disobeying Court - Law360
The former administrator of Norfolk Southern's $600 million settlement over the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, said it had been following a federal court's plan of distribution, not defying it, when it paid personal injury claimants based on a starting amount of $25,000 each.
www.law360.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:45 PM
The former administrator of Norfolk Southern's $600 million settlement over the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, said it had been following a plan of distribution, not defying it, when it paid personal injury claimants based on a starting amount of $25,000 each.
The Third Circuit denied the Post-Gazette publisher's request to stay an order restoring newsroom employees to their 2020 union-backed health plans, as workers returned after three years on strike, @law360.bsky.social's Braden Campbell reports: www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
Pittsburgh Paper Can't Beat Healthcare Order As Strike Ends - Law360
Workers who returned to work at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday after a three-year strike must be reverted to their old healthcare plans, as the Third Circuit denied the company a stay of an ord...
www.law360.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:34 PM
The Third Circuit denied the Post-Gazette publisher's request to stay an order restoring newsroom employees to their 2020 union-backed health plans, as workers returned after three years on strike, @law360.bsky.social's Braden Campbell reports: www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
A federal judge blocked the DOJ's demand for transgender patients' records from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, reasoning they were trying to make the investigation of allegedly misbranded or mismarketed drugs into an investigation of state-regulated medical practice (via @law360.bsky.social):
DOJ Demand For Pa. Transgender Patient Records Blocked - Law360
A Pennsylvania federal judge partially quashed part of a U.S. Department of Justice subpoena seeking health records for minors receiving gender-affirming care at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphi...
www.law360.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:26 PM
A federal judge blocked the DOJ's demand for transgender patients' records from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, reasoning they were trying to make the investigation of allegedly misbranded or mismarketed drugs into an investigation of state-regulated medical practice (via @law360.bsky.social):
One of the engineering firms that inspected Pittsburgh's Fern Hollow Bridge before its 2022 collapse must turn over documents for lawsuits, after a judge ruled they weren't protected by rules surrounding safety investigations & planned improvements: www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
Engineers Must Share Documents For Bridge Collapse Suits - Law360
An engineering firm must turn over documents related to bridge inspections in Pittsburgh for a group of lawsuits contending that inspectors' negligence contributed to the 2022 Fern Hollow Bridge colla...
www.law360.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:53 PM
One of the engineering firms that inspected Pittsburgh's Fern Hollow Bridge before its 2022 collapse must turn over documents for lawsuits, after a judge ruled they weren't protected by rules surrounding safety investigations & planned improvements: www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
The 3rd Circuit ordered the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to restore newsroom employees' healthcare to the union-backed plan they had in 2020, but the publisher wants to pause that order while it seeks reconsideration of a ruling it had bargained in bad faith (via @law360.bsky.social's Braden Campbell:
Pa. Paper Asks 3rd Circ. To Stay Healthcare Restoration - Law360
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette urged the Third Circuit to pause its obligation to restore workers' union healthcare plan while it challenges a recent ruling that its shift to a company plan violated fede...
www.law360.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:55 PM
The 3rd Circuit ordered the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to restore newsroom employees' healthcare to the union-backed plan they had in 2020, but the publisher wants to pause that order while it seeks reconsideration of a ruling it had bargained in bad faith (via @law360.bsky.social's Braden Campbell:
At least four justices on the PA Supreme Court seemed inclined yesterday to think that "Pennsylvania Skill" machines were gambling or enabled gambling, given that the skill part of the game could be skipped but the chance part could not (or not without skipping play altogether):
Pa. Justices Suspect 'Skill Games' Are Gambling Devices - Law360
In a case poised to determine the legality of the Pennsylvania Skill games proliferating in gas stations and storefronts, at least four justices on the state Supreme Court seemed ready on Thursday to ...
www.law360.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:50 PM
At least four justices on the PA Supreme Court seemed inclined yesterday to think that "Pennsylvania Skill" machines were gambling or enabled gambling, given that the skill part of the game could be skipped but the chance part could not (or not without skipping play altogether):
A 4-3 PA Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors have "high public official immunity" from claims brought under the state Wiretap Act, as opposed to the "sovereign immunity" the law explicitly waives: www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
Split Pa. Justices Say Prosecutors Not Bound By Wiretap Law - Law360
Prosecutors like those at the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office can't be sued for using secret recordings obtained in violation of Pennsylvania's wiretap act, a split state Supreme Court ruled W...
www.law360.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:18 PM
A 4-3 PA Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors have "high public official immunity" from claims brought under the state Wiretap Act, as opposed to the "sovereign immunity" the law explicitly waives: www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
A Pittsburgh man who killed two people then set a house on fire as cops approached should have been sentenced for arson once, not for each of the police he endangered, the PA Supreme Court ruled (via @law360.bsky.social's Elizabeth Daley): www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
Pennsylvania Justices Order Resentencing For Arsonist - Law360
A Pittsburgh man sentenced to up to 52 years in prison for killing two men and igniting the house containing their bodies when police entered shouldn't have faced multiple arson counts, Pennsylvania's...
www.law360.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:14 PM
A Pittsburgh man who killed two people then set a house on fire as cops approached should have been sentenced for arson once, not for each of the police he endangered, the PA Supreme Court ruled (via @law360.bsky.social's Elizabeth Daley): www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
Young, conservative-leaning men are looking for discipline, early Christian traditions and mysticism? We need to bring back stylites.
“It’s so much harder than I thought it was going to be, but it speaks to me in a way that nothing else ever did.” I visited a growing Orthodox Christian parish in North Carolina to understand why so many young men are converting. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/u...
Orthodox Church Pews Are Overflowing With Converts
www.nytimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Young, conservative-leaning men are looking for discipline, early Christian traditions and mysticism? We need to bring back stylites.
Pennsylvania's $50.1B budget was secured in part by promising to withdraw PA from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and last week the DEP dropped an appeal pending in the state Supreme Court that was trying to keep PA in the multi-state CO2 cap & trade program: www.law360.com/articles/241...
Pa. Budget Ends State's Bid To Join Cap-And-Trade Compact - Law360
Pennsylvania legislators have announced that their long-awaited 2025 budget included provisions ending the state's bid to join a multistate carbon cap-and-trade compact, mooting years of litigation ov...
www.law360.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Pennsylvania's $50.1B budget was secured in part by promising to withdraw PA from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and last week the DEP dropped an appeal pending in the state Supreme Court that was trying to keep PA in the multi-state CO2 cap & trade program: www.law360.com/articles/241...
A group of Pittsburgh developers had their lawsuit over the city's "inclusionary zoning" requirements tossed, w/ a federal judge ruling they lacked standing/were unripe because no one had tried seeking exceptions, @law360.bsky.social's Isaac Monterose reports: www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
Judge Tosses Nonprofit's Pittsburgh Inclusionary Zoning Suit - Law360
A Pennsylvania federal judge has sided with Pittsburgh against a nonprofit real estate trade association's suit challenging the constitutionality of the city's inclusionary zoning ordinances, ruling t...
www.law360.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:59 PM
A group of Pittsburgh developers had their lawsuit over the city's "inclusionary zoning" requirements tossed, w/ a federal judge ruling they lacked standing/were unripe because no one had tried seeking exceptions, @law360.bsky.social's Isaac Monterose reports: www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
The Third Circuit ruled in favor of @pghguild.com and said the Post-Gazette bargained in bad faith by offering contracts that took away key reasons for being in the union. The union is declaring victory after 3 years on strike, as the court ordered the paper to roll back changes it made in 2020.
3rd Circ. Rules Post-Gazette Bargained In Bad Faith - Law360
The Third Circuit on Monday affirmed that the publisher of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had been bargaining with its unions in bad faith and should not have unilaterally imposed a new contract on newsr...
www.law360.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:31 PM
The Third Circuit ruled in favor of @pghguild.com and said the Post-Gazette bargained in bad faith by offering contracts that took away key reasons for being in the union. The union is declaring victory after 3 years on strike, as the court ordered the paper to roll back changes it made in 2020.
Pennsylvania Democrats swept all the statewide judicial seats tonight, including all three Supreme Court retention races after an unprecedented GOP effort to upend the court's 5-2 D majority. All the retention races ran better than 60-40 in favor: www.law360.com/articles/240...
Pa. Dem Justices Survive GOP Retention-Denial Campaign - Law360
Three Democratic Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justices will remain on the bench after surviving a Republican-led campaign to oust them via a retention vote, according to preliminary election results Tue...
www.law360.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:50 AM
Pennsylvania Democrats swept all the statewide judicial seats tonight, including all three Supreme Court retention races after an unprecedented GOP effort to upend the court's 5-2 D majority. All the retention races ran better than 60-40 in favor: www.law360.com/articles/240...
How many lawyers and journalists can hear this in Chief Justice Debra Todd's voice?
October 31, 2025 at 3:46 PM
How many lawyers and journalists can hear this in Chief Justice Debra Todd's voice?
Pennsylvanians have probably seen ads or signs about retaining 3 state Supreme Court justices, all Democrats whose seats are being targeted by Republican groups. But lawyers told @law360.bsky.social's James Boyle the 10-year retention system was meant to reduce the effect of politics on the court:
Retention Races For Pa. Justices Turn Into $8M Political Clash - Law360
Pennsylvania voters hoping for a quiet off-year election following last year's contentious presidential race have found themselves being targeted by millions of dollars worth of ads this fall over whe...
www.law360.com
October 31, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Pennsylvanians have probably seen ads or signs about retaining 3 state Supreme Court justices, all Democrats whose seats are being targeted by Republican groups. But lawyers told @law360.bsky.social's James Boyle the 10-year retention system was meant to reduce the effect of politics on the court:
Reposted by Matthew Santoni
The attorneys representing a class of residents in and around East Palestine, Ohio, have asked a federal court to let them move ahead with seeking penalties against the former administrator of Norfolk Southern's $600 million derailment settlement.
Attys Want Sanctions For Ex-Admin Of $600M Derailment Deal - Law360
The attorneys representing a class of residents in and around East Palestine, Ohio, have asked a federal court to let them move ahead with seeking penalties against the former administrator of Norfolk Southern's $600 million derailment settlement.
www.law360.com
October 7, 2025 at 1:15 AM
The attorneys representing a class of residents in and around East Palestine, Ohio, have asked a federal court to let them move ahead with seeking penalties against the former administrator of Norfolk Southern's $600 million derailment settlement.
Yesterday was a big one for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which released a BUNCH of opinions. Luckily, my @law360.bsky.social colleagues & I were all over it. The biggest news for Pittsburgh was a ruling that said its 3% income tax for nonresident athletes & performers was unfair under PA law:
Pa. Justices Affirm Pittsburgh's 'Jock Tax' Is Unconstitutional - Law360
Pittsburgh's 3% fee imposed on the income of nonresident professional athletes is unconstitutional and violates the state's uniformity clause, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed Thursday.
www.law360.com
September 26, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Yesterday was a big one for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which released a BUNCH of opinions. Luckily, my @law360.bsky.social colleagues & I were all over it. The biggest news for Pittsburgh was a ruling that said its 3% income tax for nonresident athletes & performers was unfair under PA law:
Richard Scaife's friend, attorney, trustee & media exec Yale Gutnick had conflicts of interest when Scaife signed agreements indemnifying him for OKing payments from a Mellon family trust, so Scaife's estate couldn't seek tax credit for a $200M settlement w/ his family over the drained account:
Atty-Trustee Conflicts Doom Scaife Estate's $26M Tax Refund - Law360
A Strassburger McKenna Gutnick & Gefsky attorney was also acting as Mellon heir Richard Scaife's lawyer, trustee and media executive when he signed releases that kept Scaife's spending of his inhe...
www.law360.com
September 24, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Richard Scaife's friend, attorney, trustee & media exec Yale Gutnick had conflicts of interest when Scaife signed agreements indemnifying him for OKing payments from a Mellon family trust, so Scaife's estate couldn't seek tax credit for a $200M settlement w/ his family over the drained account:
Reposted by Matthew Santoni
Pittsburgh! I’ll be discussing my work next Monday, Sept. 29th at the Mt. Lebanon library at 7pm— signing to follow.
Please spread the word, and I really hope to see you there!
Please spread the word, and I really hope to see you there!
September 24, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Pittsburgh! I’ll be discussing my work next Monday, Sept. 29th at the Mt. Lebanon library at 7pm— signing to follow.
Please spread the word, and I really hope to see you there!
Please spread the word, and I really hope to see you there!
Two Clairton Coke Works employees filed the 1st steps for lawsuits days after the Aug. 11 explosion that killed 2 & hurt 10; now U.S. Steel has moved their cases to federal court, arguing that federal investigators are overseeing the evidence the lawsuits want to see: www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
US Steel Wants Federal Court To Take Clairton Blast Suits - Law360
U.S. Steel claims that litigation by workers injured in an explosion at its Clairton Coke Works facility last month should be handled by a federal court, because federal investigators are overseeing t...
www.law360.com
September 4, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Two Clairton Coke Works employees filed the 1st steps for lawsuits days after the Aug. 11 explosion that killed 2 & hurt 10; now U.S. Steel has moved their cases to federal court, arguing that federal investigators are overseeing the evidence the lawsuits want to see: www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
The Third Circuit upheld a ruling that Pennsylvania's rule for tossing undated/misdated mail-in ballots is unconstitutional, finding that the state's claimed reasons for doing so - efficiency, fraud prevention, solemnity - aren't real or aren't enough to justify nixing thousands of votes:
3rd Circ. Says Tossing Undated Mail Votes Is Unconstitutional - Law360
The Third Circuit ruled Tuesday that Pennsylvania discarding mail-in ballots with missing or incorrect dates violates voters' constitutional rights, reasoning that preventing the loss of votes outweig...
www.law360.com
August 26, 2025 at 9:08 PM
The Third Circuit upheld a ruling that Pennsylvania's rule for tossing undated/misdated mail-in ballots is unconstitutional, finding that the state's claimed reasons for doing so - efficiency, fraud prevention, solemnity - aren't real or aren't enough to justify nixing thousands of votes:
BREAKING for @law360.bsky.social: A federal judge has ruled that former Trump attorney Alina Habba does not have the legal authority to be the Acting US Attorney for New Jersey, and hasn't since July 1: www.law360.com/articles/237...
BREAKING: Judge Finds Habba Unlawfully Serving As NJ US Atty - Law360
Alina Habba, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and his pick to remain the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, was unlawfully given an extension of her temporary post in the G...
www.law360.com
August 21, 2025 at 7:57 PM
BREAKING for @law360.bsky.social: A federal judge has ruled that former Trump attorney Alina Habba does not have the legal authority to be the Acting US Attorney for New Jersey, and hasn't since July 1: www.law360.com/articles/237...
A Walnut Capital affiliate has joined a real estate group's legal challenge to Pittsburgh's "inclusive zoning" rule - housing projects above a certain size must include affordable units - but the city challenged their standing, Law360's Isaac Monterose reports: www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
Pittsburgh Balks At Developer Joining Inclusive Zoning Fight - Law360
The city of Pittsburgh is urging a Pennsylvania federal court to reject a real estate trade association's bid to stop the city from enforcing an inclusionary zoning ordinance, arguing that the trade a...
www.law360.com
August 19, 2025 at 1:05 PM
A Walnut Capital affiliate has joined a real estate group's legal challenge to Pittsburgh's "inclusive zoning" rule - housing projects above a certain size must include affordable units - but the city challenged their standing, Law360's Isaac Monterose reports: www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
At a hearing in PA Friday, a federal judge peppered lawyers for the Trump administration with questions about how Alina Habba’s “temporary” term as US Attorney for New Jersey got extended by appointment as a “special attorney” and replacing the 1st Assistant picked by the court to take over:
Judge Questions How New Jersey US Atty Ascended To Role - Law360
A federal judge tasked with deciding if acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba was legitimately serving as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor was curious about how she ascended to the role in the first pla...
www.law360.com
August 18, 2025 at 1:14 PM
At a hearing in PA Friday, a federal judge peppered lawyers for the Trump administration with questions about how Alina Habba’s “temporary” term as US Attorney for New Jersey got extended by appointment as a “special attorney” and replacing the 1st Assistant picked by the court to take over: