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Mergl Law Protecting your rights throughout Western Pennsylvania. Trial Attorney

A jury in Philadelphia agreed a woman hurt by a state-run bus deserved $7 million. She's walking away with nothing.Here'...
10/06/2026

A jury in Philadelphia agreed a woman hurt by a state-run bus deserved $7 million. She's walking away with nothing.

Here's why. Pennsylvania has a law — on the books since 1978 — that caps what you can collect from the state at $250,000, no matter what a jury says. On October 1, our Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the cap stands. After legal costs and her health insurer's lien, that $250,000 disappeared.

This matters in Western PA too. A Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus, a PennDOT plow truck, a state vehicle on Route 8 — same cap. Most folks never hear about it until it's too late.

Did you know the state caps what it'll pay when it hurts you?

Not legal advice. Every case is different.

https://mergllaw.com/blog/a-7-million-verdict-capped-at-250-000-suing-the-state-in-pa.html

Here's a question a Pennsylvania court is about to take up: can the state charge pollution as a crime without proving th...
09/14/2026

Here's a question a Pennsylvania court is about to take up: can the state charge pollution as a crime without proving the polluter meant to do it — or even knew?

It comes out of a lawsuit by the pipeline company Energy Transfer, which is asking Commonwealth Court to strike down part of the 1937 Clean Streams Law. The company says the provision is unconstitutionally vague because it carries criminal penalties without requiring a "guilty mind." The Attorney General has moved to dismiss, arguing the challenge is premature and that strict liability is a legitimate choice for pollution offenses.

Two real legal principles, pulling against each other. We broke down both sides in plain English — what's actually being argued, and why it matters whether you're downstream of an industrial site or someone who could face a charge.

Not legal advice. Every case is different.

https://mergllaw.com/blog/when-is-pollution-a-crime-in-pennsylvania.html

Twenty-five years ago today, we lost nearly 3,000 people. Some of them came down 90 minutes east of here, in a field out...
09/11/2026

Twenty-five years ago today, we lost nearly 3,000 people. Some of them came down 90 minutes east of here, in a field outside Shanksville, Somerset County, when the passengers of United Flight 93 fought back. There's a national memorial there now. Worth the drive.

Here's something most folks never think about: that day quietly rewrote a whole layer of American law that still touches you. Ever wonder why your bank demands a stack of ID and ownership papers just to open a business account? Why your commercial policy has a "terrorism" line item? Why your driver's license had to change? All of it traces back.

We broke down the four laws — and what they mean for a Western PA business owner today. Respect first, then the plain-English version.

What questions do you still have about any of it?

https://mergllaw.com/blog/25-years-after-9-11-the-everyday-laws-it-left-behind.html

Here's a phrase your insurance company loves when it doesn't want to pay: "public policy."On July 21, 2026, the Pennsylv...
09/10/2026

Here's a phrase your insurance company loves when it doesn't want to pay: "public policy."

On July 21, 2026, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court shut that door. In a unanimous ruling, the justices said an insurer can't wipe out its promise to defend and cover you just by arguing the claim touches something the law frowns on. If the company wanted that risk excluded, it had to write a clear exclusion into the policy. It didn't get to invent one after the claim came in.

Translation for every business owner in Mercer, Butler, and Lawrence County: your coverage lives or dies by the words on the page. Not by a slogan. So when's the last time you actually read your exclusions?

Not legal advice. Every case is different.

https://mergllaw.com/blog/pa-insurers-can-t-cry-public-policy-to-dodge-a-claim.html

We took the last week of summer off — closed it out with the Labor Day weekend and shut the laptop for a few days. Back ...
09/09/2026

We took the last week of summer off — closed it out with the Labor Day weekend and shut the laptop for a few days. Back at it now, so the Mandatum's coming to you a day late. Worth the wait, because this one lands on every business owner in Western PA.

If you run an LLC or a corporation in Pennsylvania, the rules changed under you and nobody sent a loud enough memo.

For years, your business filed a report with the state once a decade. Blink and you'd miss it. That's gone. Pennsylvania now wants an annual report — every year — with your business name, your addresses, and who runs the place. For an LLC, this year's is due September 30. That's about three weeks out. The fee is seven dollars.

Here's the part that matters: right now there's no penalty. But starting with the reports due in 2027, if you don't file, the state can administratively dissolve your company — and you lose the exclusive rights to your own business name.

Seven dollars and ten minutes now beats untangling a dissolved company later. Full breakdown below.

Do you know if your LLC's report is filed for this year?

Not legal advice. Every case is different.

https://mergllaw.com/blog/pennsylvania-now-makes-your-business-file-every-year.html

Someone messages you. They've got a photo — or they say they do. Then the line drops: pay up, send more, or I send it to...
08/29/2026

Someone messages you. They've got a photo — or they say they do. Then the line drops: pay up, send more, or I send it to your family and your boss.

That's not a prank. In Pennsylvania it's a crime with a name — sexual extortion. Doesn't matter if the photo is real. Doesn't matter if you sent it yourself once. The crime is the threat and the demand.

First move: don't pay, don't send more, and screenshot everything before you touch that thread. Then talk to a lawyer.

Have you ever gotten a message like this — or known someone who did?

Not legal advice. Every case is different.

https://mergllaw.com/blog/sextortion-is-a-crime-in-pennsylvania-here-s-what-to-do.html

This week's Mergl's Law: Clearing a PA Criminal Record: Clean Slate vs Expungement. The Pennsylvania legal news that act...
08/22/2026

This week's Mergl's Law: Clearing a PA Criminal Record: Clean Slate vs Expungement. The Pennsylvania legal news that actually affects you — plain English, a five-minute read, free every Saturday. Read it or subscribe.

https://mergllaw.com/newsletter

Our phone's been ringing off the hook lately with one question: "How do I get this old charge off my record?" A dismisse...
08/21/2026

Our phone's been ringing off the hook lately with one question: "How do I get this old charge off my record?" A dismissed case from ten years ago. A summary offense from college. An ARD you finished and forgot about. All of it can cost you a job, an apartment, or a license today.

Here's the short version: Pennsylvania's Clean Slate law seals a lot of this automatically — no lawyer, no petition, no filing fee. But not everything qualifies, and "sealed" isn't the same as "gone." Some records still need you to file. Some never clear at all.

What's sitting on your record that you thought was handled years ago? Tell us below.

Not legal advice. Every case is different.

https://mergllaw.com/blog/clearing-a-pa-criminal-record-clean-slate-vs-expungement.html

Got a DUI in Mercer, Butler, or Lawrence County and your license got suspended because of it? Listen close, because this...
08/19/2026

Got a DUI in Mercer, Butler, or Lawrence County and your license got suspended because of it? Listen close, because this changed. Driving on that suspended license used to be a headache. Now it's mandatory jail. Pennsylvania's Act 58 sets a 60-day minimum for a first violation and 90 days for a second — and the judge cannot go below that, no matter how good your reason is. Needed to get to work. Needed to pick up your kid. Doesn't matter. The floor is the floor.

If your license is suspended right now, do not get behind the wheel on a hope and a prayer. There may be ways to handle this the right way — call before you drive, not after you get pulled over.

Ever had to figure out how to get to work with a suspended license? How'd you make it work?

https://mergllaw.com/blog/driving-on-a-dui-suspended-license-in-pennsylvania-now-means.html

You file a Right-to-Know request with your township, your school board, your police department — and they tell you no re...
08/18/2026

You file a Right-to-Know request with your township, your school board, your police department — and they tell you no records exist. What happens next? Not much, and that's the problem.

Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law sounds strong on paper: agencies have to search, and if they don't, you can appeal to the Office of Open Records. But once the OOR rules and closes the file, it has zero power to check if the agency actually did what it was told. Your only move left is Commonwealth Court — filing fees, lawyers, and a year or two of waiting. Most people just walk away.

There's a Pennsylvania Supreme Court case out of Fayette County that says agencies can't get away with a shrug and a "trust us." It's still good law. It just needs someone willing to use it.

Ever had a records request from a local government go nowhere? Tell us about it below.

https://mergllaw.com/blog/pa-s-right-to-know-law-has-a-loophole-and-agencies-use-it.html

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301 Grant Street, , STE 270
Pittsburgh, PA
15219

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Thursday 8:30am - 5pm
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