In a case docketed in York County at 5131 C.A. 2006, a client had retained an attorney for a DUI charge in 2006. That attorney entered the defendant into ARD for a case involving a Tier 2 DUI, possession of a small amount of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. The case was a Mason-Dixon case involving an intersection that may or may not lie inside of Pennsylvania. Client was observed stopping suddenly behind a car at the intersection while on his way out of Pennsylvania into Maryland. A Pennsylvania State Trooper stopped the driver and found the driver to be intoxicated and in possession of a bag or marijuana and a smoking device. A Maryland police officer was never summoned to the scene. The client's prior attorney did not raise the issue of the stop and whether it occurred in Maryland or Pennsylvania.

The client entered ARD and was later removed from ARD for picking up a new DUI charge in Pennsylvania outside of York County. The client then retained Attorney Gothie. Client at this point faced a year and a half of license suspension just for the York County case (one year for the DUI and six months for the bag of marijuana). Attorney Gothie commenced an investigation that ultimately revealed that the conduct giving rise to the traffic stop occurred outside of Pennsylvania and was thus illegal. A motion was filed for suppression which the trial judge denied as untimely filed since the prior attorney had not raised the issue within thirty days of the client's arraignment, approximately a year prior to Attorney Gothie's involvement of the case.

A bench trial loomed, along with the prospect of a lengthy appeal involving ineffective assistance of prior counsel. Attorney Gothie negotiated a compromise agreement with the (quite reasonable) attorney for the Commonwealth reducing the York DUI charge to a tier one offense (which, as a first offense, carried no license suspension) and a "Section 17" disposition of the marijuana offense (resulting in no license suspension). The client's driver's license was not suspended for any of the conduct in York and he incurred a much lower fine for the DUI as a result.

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