Sadly for the residents of the City of Harrisburg, their elected leaders have continued in their bold defiance of the law and have sought to appeal the temporary injunction to the appellate courts. You can’t say that we did not warn them as seen in the documents and court filings.
3-21-15 rejection of no fees offer
3-26-15 Notes of Transcription of Testimony
3-26-2015 Motion to reconsider
We sent an email to them informing them that if they chose this path given the standard of review, that the idea of settlement with no attorney’s fees would be forever gone.We sent this email to them on March 19, 2015.
Counselors,
Earlier this week, you provided us with a proposed motion for our concurrence or opposition. As we cancelled the deposition, submission of said motion ultimately became unnecessary. However, in the motion, Defendants indicated the intent to file an appeal with respect to the Preliminary Injunction.
In fairness to your clients, we would like to inform you that if an appeal is filed, our clients intend to permanently revoke their offer to forego attorney fees. As discussed in chambers, “an appellate court reviews an order granting or denying a preliminary injunction for an abuse of discretion . . . . Under this highly deferential standard of review, an appellate court does not inquire into the merits of the controversy, but examines the record to determine if there were any apparently reasonable grounds for the action of the court below.” SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania v. Com., 104 A.3d 495, 501 (Pa. 2014) (internal citations and quotations omitted).
Provided the resources required to defend an appeal at this stage of the litigation, and the unlikelihood that the outcome would change, a decision to appeal would evidence an utmost unwillingness to settle on the part of your clients. As such, while our clients have made good faith strides toward an amicable resolution of this matter, the same would become unfeasible after defending an appeal at such an early stage.
As always, if you have any questions, or wish to discuss this matter further, please feel free to contact us.
Best,
Mike Giaramita
The response was a confirmation that their attorneys told their clients.
Thank you. Your email below has been passed onto the client.
Frank J. Lavery, Jr., Esquire
Lavery Law
225 Market Street, Suite 304
Harrisburg, PA 17101
(717) 233-6633
So be it.
We offered to fast track the litigation to save money on their attorneys. They refused. The City leadership has shown its true colors. They do not care about public safety or combating crime or else they would have spent this money on putting police in patrol cars. Instead, they act cavalierly with other people’s money in an act of defiance, an act of lawlessness, and in an act of hubris. Mayor Papenfuse is a real life Don Quixote– delusion, sad, and out of touch with reality.
