Municipal, Land Use & Zoning

By: Amanda Sundquist

The United States Supreme Court heard oral argument in City of Ontario v. Quon, regarding whether a member of the police SWAT team had a reasonable expectation of privacy in text messages transmitted on a SWAT pager. The Court’s decision in this case may have wide spread impact on public and private employers and in the area of discovery. Please check back for the Court’s decision or if you have questions regarding this case, please contact Amanda Sundquist in our West Chester office.

By: Anthony T. Verwey

In an opinion and order dated March 16, 2010, the Commonwealth Court concluded that a property leased by a Pennsylvania charter school was not eligible for an exemption from the payment of real estate taxes. In the case of In Re: Appeal of Collegium Foundation and Collegium Charter School, the court concluded that while the charter school was a public school under state law, the use of the property in question as a school building did not control the outcome of the case because the landlord was a for-profit entity. The court made clear that the provisions of the General County Assessment Law did not provide for an exemption under the facts of this case because the charter school did not own the property and the lease generated income for the property owner. If you have questions concerning real estate taxation or school law issues, please contact Anthony Verwey in our West Chester office.