stanleycheiken

I am licensed to practice in the state courts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and in the federal courts of the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania and the District of New Jersey. This means I do not have the right to practice in 48 states, or the federal...

Many of my clients are aware of the fact that personal injury recoveries, whether by settlement or verdict, are not taxable as income. Invariably, even if they were not aware of this, a friend or loved one will so inform them. When I first began to work for a law firm...

As I enjoy Memorial Day Weekend with my family, my thoughts turn to the nature of the law practice when I first started 30 years ago. The biggest difference is the technological advances that have come along. As a young lawyer, my boss would occasionally call me on a...

Many common contractual situations involve a mutual exchange of performance. For instance, you agree to paint my house and I agree to pay you upon completion. But there are occasions when, after reaching an initial agreement, the parties decide to modify its terms. On...

It is counterintuitive to business people. When they put their arrangement into contract form, they are focused on a successful outcome. For many business people, the contract never gets looked at again unless times are tough. When things are not working out, that's...

When can someone be legally liable for the unlawful conduct of someone else? There are several circumstances in which this is true. One of them is in the case of a civil conspiracy. A civil conspiracy occurs when two or more persons agree to commit an unlawful act and...

The purpose of damages in breach of contract disputes is to put the non-breaching party in the same place it would have occupied if the contract had not been breached. This can be accomplished in several ways, depending upon the specifics of the transaction. At times,...

I watched a good deal of the Derek Chauvin jury trial that wrapped up last week. Based upon the evidence presented, I was not surprised by the verdict. Perhaps if Chauvin had testified that he was ignorant, scared and poorly trained, he may have been able to avoid the...

Tough question, right? Not really. Your business should settle its case if the cost and exposure of moving forward with litigation substantially outweighs the cost of the settlement that can be achieved. So we're done here, right? Not really. The difficulty, of...

I spent four days in Chester County handling a jury trial this week. Everyone in the Courthouse wore masks, except the witnesses on the stand who wore face shields. Wearing masks is a bit uncomfortable, and it is certainly harder to emote and to observe others'...