MEETING MINUTES

July 7, 2004
By C. Edward S. Mitchell, Chairman

Present were: Judge Brown, Judge Kieser, Judge Gray, Kevin Way, Rita Alexyn, Brian Bluth, Joseph Campagna, Jack Humphrey, Edward Mitchell, Joseph Rider, Darryl Wishard.

Judge Brown – Judge Brown was complemented for his presentation to the Board of Transitional Living Center and for the publicity that was generated as a result.

Judge Brown reported the Court calendar is being prepared. Suggestions should be made to the Court Administrator by the end of the summer. There will be no changes in judicial assignments. Judge Gray will supervise Children and Youth matters. Judge Anderson will also handle Children and Youth matters. Judge Anderson will be used in both civil and criminal cases. There will be more days on the calendar for criminal trials. Judge Anderson will start a DUI court beginning in 2005. There will be more supervision of individuals with DUI convictions.

Judge Kieser – September civil list has 46 cases. Several are lengthy and complicated. Judge Kieser wants to be able to dispose of the cases which are ready for trial.

Requests by PFA plaintiffs for continuance of the second abuse hearings cannot be granted without contact with the defendant and are therefore being denied. It is requested that attorneys representing defendants in PFA matters promptly enter their appearances so that such requests can be decided on their merits.

The Court will not be routinely imposing a requirement of evaluation of male defendants in abuse cases by Men Against Abuse. Evaluations are expensive. There are not available statistics showing success. The Court will consider a requirement for such evaluations in connection with contempt hearings.

There is a need for a revision of the local rules pertaining to discovery motions. The Rules of Civil Procedure no longer permit disposition of discovery motions without a hearing.

Judge Gray – Domestic relations practitioners are reminded of the requirement of having exhibits pre-marked in compliance with the pretrial requirements. There are scheduling problems created by emergency custody petitions. Domestic relations practitioners are urged to file Plowman petitions promptly after learning of the intent of the custodial parent to leave the state.

Rita Alexyn – Rita Alexyn commented on the difficulty of resolving PFA’s if there is a requirement of an evaluation by Men Against Abuse. She also commented about the problem of PFA defendants having repeat offenses with different victims.

Jack Humphrey – Jack reported that the LLA has received a $500 award from the PBA for its pro bono program. The award will be used toward an education program in education law.

The LLA picnic is July 21. There will be a horseshoe tournament. There will also be a golf tournament in the morning prior to the picnic. There is also an LLA family social in connection with the Crosscutters game on July 9.

The new executive director is becoming involved in all aspects of the LLA’s business.

Kevin Way – The jury pool is being expanded by including censuses from school districts. Not all school districts have responded. Other sources are voters registration and drivers license lists.

There have been positive comments concerning the early jury selection in civil cases.

Conflicts in family court scheduling would be reduced if attorneys would promptly enter their appearances upon becoming involved in the cases.

There needs to be a meeting of the domestic violence task force in connection with the procedures for filing PFA’s. There is not now a known way of measuring recidivism in domestic violence with the current computer generated reports.

The next meeting will be October 13, 2004, at noon at the Ross Club.