ReportSpring 2008

Rothman Gordon, P.C.Attorneys At Law310 Grant Street

Third Floor, Grant BuildingPittsburgh, PA 15219(phone) 412.338.1100

(fax) 412.281.7304www.rothmangordon.com

© 2008 Rothman Gordon, P.C. The contents of this newsletter are intended for general information purposes only, and should not be relied upon as a substitute for obtaining legal advice applicable to your

situation.

In this issue

Colleen Ramage Johnston wins age/sex discrimination case for teachers Page 1

Steve Jordan’s arbitration award upheld Page 2

Lisa Gaiser participates in ACBA’s Law Day Page 2

In the News...Page 2

Firm embraces fitnessPage 3

New Faces Page 4

Page 1

Colleen Ramage Johnston, a partner in the Employment Litigation Department, and one of the firm’s associates, Nikki Velisaris Lykos, recently represented 13 teachers who worked for the Elizabeth Forward School District (DeFurio v. Elizabeth Forward School District) and won a $1.2 million jury verdict for 12 of the teachers based on their allegations of age and sex discrimination and equal pay violations.

All of the teachers were hired at the lowest pay scale even though they all had prior teaching experience varying from four to 21 years. The School District claimed it was its policy to hire all new teachers at the lowest pay step, regardless of age, gender or experience. However, the teachers claimed that the School District violated the policy when hiring other new teachers who were younger and/or male, starting them on higher pay steps. All the plaintiffs in the case were female and over 40.

A complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in September 2005 which alleged that the School District violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Equal Pay Act, and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act when it hired these teachers at the lowest pay scale. On September 19, 2007, Judge Nora Barry Fischer denied the School District’s motion for summary judgment, stating that there was sufficient evidence to be heard by a jury at trial regarding the School District’s explanations for paying other teachers higher wages and if those explanations were a pretext for age and sex discrimination.

At trial, the jury found not only that the School District violated the age and gender discrimination laws, but that the employer did so willfully. That finding permits the teachers to ask the trial court to double their back pay awards.

Colleen believes that this may be the first verdict on an ADEA disparate impact claim in the Western District of Pennsylvania. Rothman Gordon is immensely proud of Colleen’s work on this case. The firm would also like to recognize the outstanding contributions of associate, Cami Davis, paralegal Chuck Vrscak, firm administrator Craig Hinkle, and legal assistants, Judy Houy and Lisa Weber, in being part of this trial team.

Colleen Ramage Johnston wins age/sex discrimination case for teachers

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Debbie Lestitian Re-appointed to the Stadium Authority

Debbie Lestitian has been reappointed to the Stadium Authority Board by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. Debbie was first ap-pointed to the Authority Board, which oversees development between Heinz

Field and PNC Park, by Mayor O’Connor in 2006. She served as Chairwoman in 2007.

Chad Tomosovich Promoted to Partner

Chad D. Tomosovich has been promoted to partner of the firm. Chad joined Rothman Gordon as an associate in the Corporate & Business department in 2003. He counsels businesses on all aspects of business planning as well as the structuring and facilitating of various types of business transactions. Chad’s area of concentration also includes corporate finance and he advises individuals and businesses in the procurement and structuring of commercial and private financing.

Chad received his B.S. in Business Administration from Elon University and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. He is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association, the Association for Corporate Growth and Rainmakers of Pennsylvania, where he serves on the Board of Directors. Chad is also the founder of the Young Entrepreneurs of Pittsburgh. Chad served as an instructor for the Entrepreneur Development Program at Robert Morris University, is a graduate of LDI XIV, and was named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer Rising Star for 2005 and 2006.

The firm celebrated Chad’s achievement with a wine and cheese party on May 8th.

Cami Davis Elected Secretary of the Women in Law Division

Cami Davis was elected secretary of the Allegheny County Bar Association’s Women in Law Division. Cami has been a member of the Women in Law Division

since 2005. During that time she served as co-chair of the annual meeting and Mansmann Award committees and has also served as a member of numerous other committees.

In the News...

On May 1, 2008, the Allegheny County Bar Association/Allegheny County Bar Foundation hosted “Law Day” at Allegheny Middle School. Associate Lisa Gaiser participated in the program, which was designed to help middle school children understand the need for clearly articulated laws and differentiate the letter of the law, the intent of the law, and what the law was designed to do. The children worked through an exercise where a law stated that no vehicles were allowed in the park. Then they were posed a variety of scenarios, such as an ambulance that had to take a shortcut through the park or a mother was walking her baby carriage through the park. The children had to decide how to interpret the law and whether it had been broken.

Lisa was impressed with the students’ enthusiasm and willingness to participate in the activity. A member of the Estates & Trusts and Taxation & Employee Benefits groups, Lisa explained to the children that part of her job is to help people with tax related issues. One of the more interesting questions that arose was “Why do we even have to pay taxes?”

Lisa looks forward to participating again next year. She says, “I think they gained more of an understanding of the difficulty of creating and interpreting laws. The students also used the exercise as an opportunity to ask questions about practicing law and how to become an attorney.” Who knows, perhaps someday, one of those middle school students may be an attorney at Rothman Gordon!

Steve Jordan’s arbitration award upheld

Lisa Gaiser participates in ACBA’s Law Day

Steve Jordan, a partner in the Labor & Employment and ADR practice groups, recently received affirmation of his arbitration skills. In Allegheny Valley School District v. Allegheny Valley Education Ass’n, an appellate court confirmed the award he had arbitrated that interpreted the parties’ collective bargaining agreement as allowing employees to use sick leave to attend a family member’s medical appointment. Steve had relied on undisputed testimony which indicated that the parties agreed an employee could use sick leave for family members’ medical appointments and that granting of such leave was included under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Commonwealth Court affirmed the lower court’s decision that the award was rationally derived and should stand.

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Seven Rothman Gordon Attorneys Named Penn-sylvania Super Lawyers for 2008Seven attorneys at Rothman Gordon P.C. have been named Pennsylvania Super Lawyers for 2008. Rec-ognized lawyers include R. Douglas (Doug) DeNardo, James W. Ummer, and K. Sidney (Casey) Neuman for Estates Planning and Probate; Thomas R. Solomich for Real Estate; and James W. Carroll, Jr., Stephen H. Jordan, and Louis B. Kushner for Labor & Employment. Law and Politics Magazine and Philadelphia Magazine mailed more than 39,000 ballots to attorneys across Pennsylvania, asking them to vote for the best lawyers that they had personally observed in action. The nomi-nees were reviewed and scored, with only the top 5% of Pennsylvania lawyers receiving the distinction.

Louis and Tom were also named to the Top 100 Penn-sylvania Super Lawyers, which is a list of the 100 at-torneys who received the highest point totals in the state, and the Top 50 Pittsburgh Super Lawyers, which is a list of the lawyers within the Pittsburgh area who received the highest point totals in the balloting and review process.

Notice: Invalid Subpoenas(from www.uscourts.gov)Reports have been received of bogus e-mail grand jury subpoenas, purportedly sent by a United States District Court. The e-mails are not a valid communication from a federal court and may contain harmful links. Recipients are warned not to open any links or download any information relat-ing to this e-mail notice. The Federal Judiciary’s email address is uscourts.gov. The e-mails in ques-tion appear to be sent from a similar address that is not owned and operated by the federal courts. Law enforcement authorities have been notified.

Chad Tomosovich and Managing Shareholder Bill Lestitian as Bill announces Chad’s advancement to partner.

Doug DeNardo, Bob Galanter and Chad Tomosovich

Jaymie McElroy and Cami Davis

Firm Embraces FitnessWith summer just around the corner, Rothman

Gordon is getting into shape. The firm has joined the Grant Club, the new fitness center in the Grant Building, so attorneys and staff can take advantage of its workout facilities and classes. And to further motivate our people, legal assistant and Team Fun Captain Trisha Cooper has organized a Biggest Loser contest. More details and an announcement of the who is The Biggest Loser will be featured in our Summer issue.

Scenes from the Rothman Gordon Wine & Cheese Party Celebrating Chad Tomosovich’s Promotion to Partner

Rothman GoRdon: Just RiGht

Rothman Gordon P.C.310 Grant StreetThird Floor, Grant BuildingPittsburgh, PA 15219

PRSRT STDUS POSTAGE

PAIDPGH PA

PERMIT NO 1276New Faces

Charles J. Vrscak, Jr. recent-ly joined the firm as a paralegal. Chuck will be working with the Labor & Employment and Em-ployment Litigation departments, drawing on his 16 years of trial preparation experience.

Chuck graduated from Penn Hills High School and holds a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh. He resides in Verona with his wife, Christine, and their daughters, Emily and Ashley.

Diane Vogelsberger also re-cently joined the firm as Office Manager, where she will help to manage the daily operations for over 60 attorneys and staff. Diane brings over seven years of experi-ence as the Accounting Manager for a multiple attorney North Hills

practice.

Diane resides in Greenfield with her husband, Kurt. Diane is Co-director of Greenfield Organized Against Drugs and The Reality Tour. The group holds programs for children 10-18 at the Allegheny County Jail every other month to emphasize the consequences of drug use.

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