Matthew Santoni
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msantoni.bsky.social
Matthew Santoni
@msantoni.bsky.social
720 followers 740 following 480 posts
Journalist covering Pennsylvania courts for Law360. Incipient middle-aged Yinzer. Lover of dogs, books, and transportation stuff. Opinions are my own.
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msantoni.bsky.social
Calvin’s love waits for no deadline.
A large gray cat embracing a man’s arm while sleeping on a desk. His paws, which have white toes, are wrapped over and under the arm. He has neither cares nor thoughts; a Holy Fool.
October 31, 2025 at 3:50 AM
msantoni.bsky.social
Truly the Challenge of the GoBots is to know thyself.
Cover art for a collection of cartoons titled “Challenge of the Gobots,” a Tonka-owned series of toy robots that turn into cars and other vehicles, which debuted earlier but became an also-ran compared to the Transformers. A guy who looks like a cartoon Ryan Stiles is cowering in the foreground as something blasts the rampaging Gobots.
January 7, 2025 at 2:14 AM
msantoni.bsky.social
“You will be visited by three spirits.”

The three spirits:
Capt. Kirk, Dr. McCoy & Spock from the original Star Trek
December 24, 2024 at 4:37 PM
msantoni.bsky.social
I don’t think it out-awfuls Altoona-style, but the “Ohio Valley style” from Beto’s is its own brand of cursed regional pizza.
A rectangular slice of pizza from Beto’s in Pittsburgh, where “Ohio Valley style” pizza is a cooked crust and sauce with cold cheese and toppings thrown on top just before serving. This particular slice has pepperoni on both sides, and half also has peppers and large half-slices of tomato like you’d find in a salad.
December 16, 2024 at 2:13 AM
msantoni.bsky.social
Screenshot from “Untitled Goose Game,” with the (un)titular Horrible Goose standing in front of all five of the “no geese” signs that the game’s human characters have made in response to the player’s antics.
December 7, 2024 at 7:36 PM
msantoni.bsky.social
This opinion did not mince words, but it wasn't necessarily nasty in its denial, either:
Selection from a court opinion (citations & footnotes removed): “Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought.” Here, Plaintiff examined well-established court rules and Supreme Court precedent, and crafted an argument claiming the opposite. While creative, this Court disagrees with Plaintiff’s interpretations. This Court entered judgment in the instant case in favor of the Defendant and Intervenor-Defendant on July 16, 2024. On August 15, 2024, Plaintiff RBVetCo (“RBCG” or “Plaintiff”) filed a Motion for Recommendation of Partial Attorney’s Fees. This Court disagrees with Plaintiff’s broad interpretation of the Tucker Act and holds that 28 U.S.C. § 1491(b)(2) does not grant the ability for the Court to award attorney’s fees under the circumstances here. Nor may the Court repudiate established Supreme Court precedent to award attorney’s fees to a losing party. Finally, this Court cannot find any legal basis for issuing a nonbinding recommendation for partial attorney’s fees. Plaintiff’s Motion is therefore DENIED.
November 14, 2024 at 1:53 PM
msantoni.bsky.social
The Pennsylvania AG said in a lawsuit that a Pittsburgh-based robotics co. had failed to deliver or offer refunds for $2M worth of pre-orders, including new versions of the Cozmo and Vector robots and the (allegedly unlicensed) "butter robot" from "Rick and Morty": www.law360.com/pennsylvania...
The "butter robot" from the TV show "Rick and Morty," self-aware that it was created for a mundane purpose. A Pittsburgh robotics co. pre-sold versions of this robot that were never delivered, and possibly never even got permission to recreate it, according to a new lawsuit.
September 19, 2024 at 1:32 PM
msantoni.bsky.social
I am very happy to share with #LawsSky that, just as it began at midnight about a week ago, the Law360 strike ended at midnight last night with a tentative contract for the union staff! I am proud of my bargaining committee and the colleagues who stood on the picket lines across the US.
Press release from the Newsguild: "Law360 Union wins contract deal, ending weeklong ULP strike" Page 2 of the press release
September 18, 2024 at 1:08 PM
msantoni.bsky.social
It's day 4 of the Law360 Strike, and while mgmt only took a day to reject the union's earlier insurance offer, it's been 36+ hours since they got our latest counter. They say they'll reply today, but meanwhile #LawSky is still missing the full benefit of its @law360.bsky.social subscriptions!
Black and red text on a white background: "Don't click, don't read, don't comment, don't publish Law360 until workers get a fair contract."
September 13, 2024 at 1:08 PM
msantoni.bsky.social
It's Day 3 of the Law360 strike, if any #LawSky folks have noticed a change in the quality or quantity of their newsletters, though we strikers are urging readers not to cross our digital picket line and to support the union staff who bring you legal news and analysis.
Black and white text on a red background: "Don't click, don't read, don't comment, don't publish Law360 until workers get a fair contract."
September 12, 2024 at 4:08 PM
msantoni.bsky.social
Another strike day, another request that #LawSky respect our digital picket and not engage with any of @law360.bsky.social's content today. The Law360 union is on a ULP strike, so anything on that site today is either made by non-union staff/managers or dusted-off features and prewrites, anyway!
Logo of a raised white fist on a red background beneath the text "Law360 Union - On ULP Strike"
September 11, 2024 at 4:24 PM
msantoni.bsky.social
This inspired my first-day-of-school lunch note. Thanks!
A lunch note with the text “Did you know? Because Gummi Worms are made with gelatin and gelatin is made of processed bones, Gummi Worms technically have more bones than real worms!” It is accompanied by a hand-drawn cartoon of a worm screaming at another worm behind an “x-ray” screen with a cartoonish skull and a line of bones in its body.
August 27, 2024 at 1:56 AM
msantoni.bsky.social
Sean Parnell and PA Congressman Mike Kelly filed lawsuits in 2020 seeking to retroactively throw out all the mail-in votes cast in that election so the state legislature could choose the electors instead. www.law360.com/articles/133...
Tweet from journalist @RyanDeto about J.D. Vance's visit to a Pennsylvania VFW: "Vance shoutouts Sean Parnell, a decorated combat veteran and Pittsburgh- area native who ran for Congress and Senate. He said Parnell has been victim of media smears. Parnell dropped out of a senate race in 2021 after losing a custody battle that his ex-wife accused him of abuse"
August 15, 2024 at 5:40 PM
msantoni.bsky.social
The NLRB has filed a petition in federal court asking for an injunction that would compel the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette back to the bargaining table w/ striking unions, & make it go back to the terms of the contract that had expired in 2017. @law360.bsky.social story to come!
Court document: Upon information and belief, unless the continuation or repetition of the above described unfair labor practices is restrained, a serious flouting of the Act will continue with the result that enforcement of important provisions of the Act and of public policy will be impaired before PPG can be placed under legal restraint through the regular procedures of a Board order and enforcement degree. Unless injunctive relief is immediately obtained, it may fairly be anticipated that PPG will continue its unlawful conduct during the proceedings before the Board and during subsequent proceedings before a court of appeals for an enforcement decree with the result that PPG’s employees will continue to be deprived of their rights guaranteed in the Act. Court document describing the relief the NLRB wants, including that the Post-Gazette cease & desist from "failing and refusing to bargain in good faith," or "making unilateral changes to the Editorial Unit employees’ terms and conditions of employment from the status quo of the most recent collective-bargaining agreement." Court document where the NLRB wants the Post-Gazette to "make the affected employees in the Pressmen, Advertisers, and Full-Time Mailers Units whole prospectively for any direct or foreseeable pecuniary harms caused by the loss of health benefits, including prospective reimbursement for out-of-pocket medical and substitute health insurance expenses, suffered as a result of PPG's unlawful bad-faith bargaining and unilateral changes"
August 15, 2024 at 4:24 PM
msantoni.bsky.social
During arguments the AG conceded that it would only apply to crimes on SEPTA vehicles or property, but the dissenting opinions seemed to think that's still pretty vague and could be up to some pretty broad interpretation that would not be up for debate.
Here, Act 40’s reference to crimes occurring “within” SEPTA is impermissibly vague in prescribing the extent to which the Special Prosecutor may preempt the DA’s jurisdiction. SEPTA is an agency. It is an entity. It is not a specific place or a tangible thing. The meaning of “within” in relation to SEPTA conveys no concrete impression to the ordinary person; it is simply incomprehensible…. Act 40 does not define whether “within” SEPTA includes any or all of SEPTA headquarters, stations, trains, buses, bus stops, bus routes, train tracks, and rights-of-way. Similarly, Act 40 does not specify whether crimes in locations such as property leased to SEPTA, crimes on property subject to easements in favor of SEPTA, crimes commenced in one location and completed in another, or crimes where alleged perpetrators act in one location and flee to another, are crimes committed “within” SEPTA.
June 14, 2024 at 9:20 PM
msantoni.bsky.social
Every time my microwave does the little "reminder" beep after it's finished but I'm still cooking something else:
Still of Groundskeeper Willie from "The Simpsons," saying "Willie hears ya. Willie don't care."
May 9, 2024 at 7:44 PM
msantoni.bsky.social
Norfolk Southern announced to a federal court that it’s reached a $600M settlement for -all- the consolidated class actions stemming from the East Palestine derailment, though the rail car cos. may still be on the hook:
First paragraph of a court filing: Plaintiffs and Norfolk Southern Railway Company and Norfolk Southern Corporation (“Norfolk Southern”) are pleased to report they have reached an agreement in principle to resolve this putative class action lawsuit, including all consolidated cases before this Court, against Norfolk Southern and the Railcar Defendants (GATX Corporation, General American Marks Company, OxyVinyls LP, and Trinity Industries Leasing Company). Subject to this Court’s approval, this $600 million settlement would resolve all class action claims within a 20-mile radius from the derailment and, for those residents who choose to participate, personal injury claims within a 10-mile radius from the derailment. It follows extensive fact discovery, expert development, and three days of mediation before former federal district judge Layn Phillips.
April 9, 2024 at 12:39 PM
msantoni.bsky.social
Correction - I am the kind of insufferable writer who *has* slipped "erstwhile" into my articles. I take back my thrown gauntlet, and await your note to the copy desk adding me to a watchlist (if I'm not on one already).
After the verdict, POM and its erstwhile partner, Pennsylvania Skill Games LLC, negotiated a settlement of the damages and what to do with the trademarks for the games that the latter company had gotten from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. On Wednesday, the parties asked the court for an order making the results of those negotiations official and canceling Pennsylvania Skill Games' registration. Driller Wants Pa. Judge Dropped Over Gas Lease With Plaintiff By Matthew Santoni A Pennsylvania state court judge didn't disclose that she'd dealt with a gas driller as trustee for her family's Butler County estate before she made rulings on a partnership dispute involving that driller, the company's erstwhile partner said in a motion to disqualify the judge Thursday. Amerifirst allegedly also told the erstwhile employees of Patriot's Spring Hill office to withhold prospective clients' loan applications from Patriot on the grounds that Patriot "would soon be 'merging'" with Amerifirst, the complaint said. Other referrers that formerly did business with Patriot were told the company was no longer available to them. "On information and belief, the defendants communicated to Patriot's referral sources and others in the Florida mortgage market that Patriot ceased doing business without notice," the complaint said. "Such misrepresentations have damaged Patriot's reputation in the Florida mortgage market."
March 29, 2024 at 9:08 PM
msantoni.bsky.social
It's a busy day in Western PA courts today, but I've joined my Law360 colleagues in walking off the job -- our union's first ever daylong work stoppage -- to protest management's intransigence in bargaining. We've had some proposals on the table for a year; others they've threatened to go backward.
Law360 Union Walkout flyer: Picket Line starts at 10:30 a.m. ET outside LexisNexis HQ, 230 Park Ave, NYC; rally at 2 p.m. ET. Virtual coverage of rally live @law360union on X/Twitter
December 13, 2023 at 3:26 PM