Michael J. Betts LLC News & Notes

The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania recently announced revised alternative dispute resolution policies and procedures for cases pending before the Court. The Court’s revised Early ADR Policies and Procedures will take effect on January 1, 2025. The substantive changes from the policies and procedures that are currently in effect are…

On November 22, 2024, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued its decision in Alpine Securities Corp. v. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and discussed, although largely avoided deciding, a host of constitutional challenges to FINRA.  The scope of the court’s decision was limited by various factors, including the fact that the…

On April 4, 2024, a FINRA arbitration panel in the case of Pirchesky, et al. v. Boustead Securities, LLC, et al., FINRA No. 22-01717, awarded damages of more than $200,000, including $125,000 of punitive damages, to clients of Michael J. Betts LLC, who were the claimants in the case. The Panel found in our clients’…

A ten-day jury trial in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania culminated in a jury verdict in favor of our client, upholding our client’s fudge-making formula as a legally protectable trade secret and awarding damages in the amount of $237,706 against the defendants for trade secret misappropriation and unjust enrichment.…

On February 18, 2020, following a three-day hearing in Pittsburgh, a FINRA arbitration panel issued an award in favor of a client represented by Michael J. Betts LLC, ordering a brokerage firm and a financial advisor to pay damages in the amount of $500,000. The claims arose from numerous unauthorized covered call trades made in…

Classwide arbitration is fundamentally different from individual arbitration, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled recently in the case of Lamps Plus, Inc., et al, v. Varela. The majority in the 5-4 decision held that classwide arbitration lacks many of the advantages of individual arbitration and undermines the central benefits of the process. Arbitration is a type of…

Two parties may have a dispute, but that does not mean that they are headed to court. Often used as an alternative to litigation, mediation is one of the most common and efficient forms of alternative dispute resolution. Many like it because it avoids the expense, stress and time involved in going to court. The…

In Dittman v. UPMC, No. 43 WAP 2017, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an opinion that addressed important issues concerning the scope of an employer’s duty to use reasonable care to safeguard its employees’ sensitive personal information. The Court also addressed and clarified the scope of the economic loss doctrine, as applied to negligence claims…

The federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) was enacted by Congress in May 2016 to provide, for the first time, a federal statutory claim for misappropriation of trade secrets. 18 U.S.C. §§ 1831, et seq. Until the DTSA became effective, claims of trade secret misappropriation were litigated exclusively in state courts under state trade secret…

A panel of the Superior Court recently issued a decision that could significantly expand the reach of the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, ruling for the first time that the “catchall” provision of the statute imposes strict liability. Gregg v. Ameriprise Financial, Inc., No. 1504 WDA 2017 (Pa. Super. Sept. 12, 2018). The…