COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA 2016 BAR MEMORIALS MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2017 9:00 o'clock a.m. Courtroom No. 2 A Lehigh County Courthouse Allentown, Pennsylvania SEAN HART JOHN R. GREISAMER HOWARD S. EPSTEIN JOHN R. MONDSCHEIN CHARLES S. HANNA HON. FRANKLIN VAN ANTWERPEN MURRAY MILKMAN HONORABLE EDWARD D. REIBMAN, P.J. HONORABLE CAROL K. McGINLEY, J. HONORABLE ROBERT L. STEINBERG, J. HONORABLE KELLY L. BANACH, J. HONORABLE JAMES T. ANTHONY, J. HONORABLE MARIA L. DANTOS, J. HONORABLE MICHELE A. VARRICCHIO, J. HONORABLE DOUGLAS G. REICHLEY, J. HONORABLE DANIEL K. McCARTHY, J. Matthew Giovannini, Jr. RPR Official Court Reporter 1 INDEX Memorial Page SEAN HART By Wally Flamm, Esquire: 6 JOHN R. GREISAMER By John Ashcraft, Esquire: 12 HOWARD S. EPSTEIN By Hon. Daniel K. McCarthy: 15 JOHN R. MONDSCHEIN By Melissa Pavlack, Esquire: 22 CHARLES S. HANNA By Michelle Forsell, Esquire: 27 HON. FRANKLIN VAN ANTWERPEN By Zachary Cohen, Esquire: 30 MURRAY MILKMAN By Michelle Forsell, Esquire: 38 2 1 Monday, February 13, 2017 2 9:00 o'clock a.m. 3 Courtroom No. 2 A 4 Lehigh County Courthouse 5 MS. KEIPER: All rise. 6 Oyez, Oyez, Oyez. All manner 7 of persons having anything to do before the Honorable 8 Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County, 9 which had its origin in Westminster, was created under 10 the Constitution of 1790, and which has been in 11 continuous session since December 21, 1812, and which 12 is here holden this day, let them come forward and they 13 shall be heard. God save the Commonwealth, and this 14 Honorable Court. 15 Please be seated. 16 PRESIDENT JUDGE REIBMAN: Good morning. 17 AUDIENCE RESPONSE: Good morning, Your Honor. 18 PRESIDENT JUDGE REIBMAN: On behalf of my 19 colleagues on the Court of Common Pleas, and 20 personally, I welcome you to the Annual Bar Memorials 21 sponsored jointly by the Bar Association of Lehigh 22 County and the Court. 23 Our profession and this Court have many 24 traditions. One is recognizing seniority on the Court, 25 and we do that by order of seating. The Judge to my 3 1 immediate right is the most Senior Judge to the 2 President Judge, and the Judge to my immediate left is 3 the next most Senior Judge. We continue that pattern 4 from right to left. 5 Joining me on the Bench in order of 6 seniority, are the Honorable Carol K. McGinley, Robert 7 L. Steinberg, Kelly L. Banach, James T. Anthony, Maria 8 L. Dantos, Michele A. Varricchio, Douglas G. Reichley 9 and Daniel K. McCarthy. 10 I would also like to recognize at this time, 11 former members of our Court, the Honorable Robert 12 Young, Attorney William Ford, the Honorable William H. 13 Platt, a former President Judge of this Court, and now 14 a Senior Judge on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 15 District Attorney James Martin, Chief Public Defender 16 Kimberly Makoul, and Sheriff Joseph Hanna. 17 In this special session of the Court, we 18 pause to remember and pay respect to those members of 19 our Bar Association, our colleagues, who have passed 20 away during the previous year. 21 Those of us in the legal profession and those 22 who live or work among us, know that our days in this 23 profession are often long. It is at this time; 24 however, that we are reminded that our years are short. 25 A little more than a week ago, we admitted 4 1 new members to our Bar with great joy as they commenced 2 their professional lives, and with great hope that they 3 will do well for themselves and their clients, and do 4 good for our community and our profession. 5 Now, we have a more somber, but no less 6 important duty, of paying respects to our departed 7 colleagues. In remembering them, we also remind 8 ourselves of our own mortality, the kind of life we 9 lived, and the legacy we will leave behind. 10 The Court recognizes the President of the Bar 11 Association of Lehigh County, Attorney Michelle 12 Forsell. 13 MS. FORSELL: Thank you, President Judge 14 Reibman. 15 May it please the Court, it is my pleasure 16 on behalf of the Bar Association of Lehigh County to 17 welcome each of you to one of our most time honored 18 traditions, and also a warm welcome and a thank you to 19 the family members who are in attendance this morning. 20 Today we remember those who have come before 21 us, and we reflect on their contributions to society. 22 This morning we will be memorializing seven 23 individuals. 24 First we will honor Attorney Sean Hart, who 25 will be remembered by Attorney Wally Flamm. Attorney 5 1 Flamm? 2 MR. FLAMM: Thank you. May it please the 3 Court? 4 PRESIDENT JUDGE REIBMAN: Mr. Flamm. 5 MR. FLAMM: Sean's mom Pat asked that I 6 deliver this eulogy. Two things sort of characterize 7 my relationship with Sean, one of which was -- both of 8 them were kidding -- one of which was his hair, which I 9 am personally challenged with, and have been most of my 10 life. But my last memory of Sean, was after prepping 11 for an arbitration with PPL and it's union, watching 12 him walk down the hall of the Holiday Inn over in 13 Fogelsville, and seeing nothing but this big bushy head 14 of magnificent hair, and I said to him, Sean, would you 15 cut that and give it to me? 16 We are here today to honor Sean, and a number 17 of our brethren who have passed away this year. Sean 18 passed on January 30th. Each of them is special in one 19 way or another. Each is loved by his family. Each was 20 honored by his colleagues. Each will achieve eternal 21 glory in the eyes of his beholder. And I would just 22 like to take a couple of minutes to try and separate 23 Sean from all the others, and consider what made him 24 special to those of us who knew and loved him. 25 Sean grew up here in the Valley. He was the 6 1 only child of Carson and Pat Hart, who are here in 2 attendance. Sean went to Catasauqua Elementary School 3 and Saucon Valley High School. His only educational 4 mistake seems to be his choice of college. He went to 5 Lehigh. He could have gone to a college in Easton, a 6 real one. While in high school, Sean achieved 7 something that -- You might have figured out where I 8 went to college. 9 While he was in high school, Sean achieved 10 something that very few high school kids could ever 11 dream of, much less achieve, and that was, he became an 12 excellent boxer. His father, Carson, was a pretty good 13 trainer in his own right. And he schooled Sean in the 14 skills of the pugilist. 15 Carson did an excellent job, not only of 16 raising his son, but also in being in his corner as a 17 boxer. By the time that Sean was in high school, he 18 was literally knocking them out all over the place. 19 He accumulated an amateur record -- this is really 20 impressive -- of 60 and 4, and won the Golden Gloves 21 Championship, and the New Jersey amateur heavyweight 22 title. 23 He graduated from that other college in 24 1990 with dual degrees in History and Urban Studies. 25 He decided at that point to try his luck at being a 7 1 pro boxer. And once again, with his dad Carson in his 2 corner, Sean was fighting in the ranks of legends. 3 He trained and fought at Joe Frazier's 4 vaunted Blue Horizon Gym in Philadelphia, and Joe's son 5 Marvis called him -- called Sean, "the white Ali". 6 Sean was 6' 1 1/2", and at 204 pounds, he was just ten 7 pounds short of his ideal heavyweight fighting trim 8 according to his dad. When asked why he didn't have 9 the washboard abs that were coming into vogue in the 10 90's there, Sean remarked that all of those folks with 11 the photogenic bellies, just couldn't take punches like 12 the heavyweights do. He went pro in 1990. His ring 13 robe said "Hart Attack". And he amassed an amazing 14 professional record of 19 and 4 before his retirement 15 in 1995. 16 Although Sean retired from the ring, he did 17 not retire from fighting. He decided to go to law 18 school, and he attended Temple Law School, graduating 19 with honors in 1996. From law school, Sean chose to 20 specialize in labor and employment law, starting first 21 as a sports agent, representing professional athletes. 22 After about a year, he joined the exclusive labor law 23 boutique, is what they were called then, Heimbach 24 Spitko and Heckman, which subsequently merged with my 25 firm, Flamm Walton. Sean formed an important part of 8 1 the labor and employment law capabilities that my firm 2 has today. 3 To our regret, Sean left the firm to work for 4 PPL, specializing again in labor and employment law, 5 where I had the honor of continuing to work with him as 6 outside counsel once in a while.