THE COURTS
Title 210—APPELLATE PROCEDURE
PART II. INTERNAL OPERATING PROCEDURES
[ 210 PA. CODE CH. 63 ]
Amendment of Internal Operating Procedures of the Supreme Court; No. 365 Judicial Administration Doc.
[41 Pa.B. 2837]
[Saturday, June 4, 2011]
Order Per Curiam
And Now, this 18th day of May, 2011, It Is Ordered that the Internal Operating Procedures of the Supreme Court are amended as set forth in the following form.
Annex A
TITLE 210. APPELLATE PROCEDURE
PART II. INTERNAL OPERATING PROCEDURES
CHAPTER 63. INTERNAL OPERATING PROCEDURES OF THE SUPREME COURT § 63.4. Opinions.
A. Circulation Schedule.
1. Preparation of Opinions. Preparation of opinions and responses to circulating opinions shall be given the highest priority. The justice to whom the drafting of an opinion has been assigned shall, absent extraordinary circumstances, circulate a proposed opinion to all members of the Court, with contemporaneous notice to the prothonotary's office, within ninety (90) days of the assignment or within forty-five (45) days of the assignment of a Children's Fast Track appeal.
2. Concurrences and Dissents. Concurrences and dissents shall be circulated to all members of the Court within forty (40) days of the date on which votes on the proposed majority opinions are due. For Children's Fast Track appeals, concurrences and dissents shall be circulated to all members of the Court within twenty (20) days of the date on which votes on the proposed majority opinions are due. Such concurrences and dissents shall be placed on the next available voting list following their circulation to the Court. The prothonotary's office shall receive contemporaneous notice of concurrences or dissents.
3. Voting. Consideration of proposed opinions shall occur at a regularly scheduled opinion conference, either by written vote, or via telephone conference call. Lists of circulating opinions shall be supplied to the members of the Court and the prothonotary by the office of the Chief Justice on a regularly scheduled list date. The list date shall be set for the first Monday of every month, or, if that date is a holiday, on the Tuesday following the Monday holiday. The cases listed shall include all opinions submitted for the Court's consideration as of ten (10) days prior to the list date.
a. Written Votes. Written votes on listed cases shall be returned to the Chief Justice's office on the fifth business day following publication of the list. Within two (2) business days following submission of written votes, the office of the Chief Justice will circulate to all justices a compilation of all votes received. Within two (2) days after receipt of the compilation, the office of the Chief Justice must be advised of any correction to the voting list results. On the next business day, the fifth day following the voting conference, the office of the Chief Justice shall issue a confidential list to the prothonotary of all cases which are ready to be filed together with the votes of the justices. No case will appear on the confidential list unless all votes are recorded. Notice of the forthcoming filings shall be posted, by case name and number only, in the office(s) of the prothonotary, and the prothonotary will docket opinions consistent with the information received.
(Court Note: For the purpose of this section, the office of the prothonotary shall include all three district offices.)
b. Telephone Conferences. Any justice may request that any case be held for telephone conference by making such request in writing to the office of the Chief Justice with notice to all other justices and the prothonotary after receipt of the monthly voting list. The list will also indicate a date certain on which a telephone conference will be held for any cases so designated. Cases may be held for discussion to take place at the next scheduled court conference following oral argument by a vote of three justices.
c. Holds. Cases may be placed on Hold for twenty (20) day periods, or ten (10) day periods for Children's Fast Track appeals, following circulation of a letter to the members of the Court and to the prothonotary explaining the reasons for the hold, e.g., a forthcoming opinion in a pending case, or preparation of dissent or concurrence. In instances where the hold relates to preparation of a dissent or concurrence, the hold period shall commence on the original due date for the dissent or concurrence, that is, the fortieth day after votes are due on vote listed cases or the twentieth day for Children's Fast Track appeals. In no event shall circulation of a dissent or concurrence occur beyond sixty (60) days from the date votes are due on vote listed cases or thirty (30) days for Children's Fast Track appeals. If, within thirty (30) days for Children's Fast Track appeals or sixty (60) days for all other cases of the date votes are due on majority opinions no dissent or concurrence has been placed in circulation, the case will be put down, and the dissenting or concurring justice will be noted as not having participated in the decision of the case.
d. Reassignment. When a concurrence or dissent garners a majority of votes, the case shall be reassigned to the author of the concurrence or dissent, whose majority opinion shall then be forthcoming within thirty (30) days of the reassignment, or, for Children's Fast Track appeals, within fifteen (15) days.
4. Monitoring. The prothonotary shall provide the Court with a monthly table, or for Children's Fast Track appeals a semimonthly table, showing the name, docket number, journal number, assignment, assignment date and circulation date of all argued and submitted cases. All argued and submitted cases which are open for more than one hundred fifty (150) days, or for Children's Fast Track appeals which are open for more than seventy-five (75) days, and all petitions for reargument which are open for a period of more than forty-five (45) days or, for Children's Fast Track appeals that are open for a period of more than twenty-one (21) days, shall be separately listed.
5. Notwithstanding any contrary procedures set forth above, justices shall give priority in both circulation of and voting on proposed decisions in Children's Fast Track appeals.
B. Labeling.
1. Majority. An opinion will be labeled ''Opinion'' when a majority of the Court joins the opinion.
Proposed majority opinions that involve multiple, complex issues which the Justice believes may garner disparate votes should be divided into sections. See, e.g., Phillips v. Cricket Lighters, 841 A.2d 1000 (Pa. 2003). If there is a split on an opinion that has been divided into sections, the author of the lead opinion will be responsible for preparing a short introductory explanatory statement regarding the breakdown of votes.
2. Concurrences and Dissents. An opinion is a ''concurring opinion'' when it agrees with the result of the lead opinion. A Justice who agrees with the result of the lead opinion, but does not agree with the rationale supporting the lead opinion, in whole or in part, may write a separate ''concurring opinion.'' An opinion is a ''dissenting opinion'' when it disagrees with the result of the lead opinion. An opinion is ''concurring and dissenting opinion'' only when there is more than one result and the Justice agrees with one or more of the results, but not the other(s). Alternatively, a Justice may choose to ''concur in result'' or ''dissent'' without writing a separate opinion.
C. Reargument Petitions.
1. Assignment. Upon receipt of a petition for reargument of an order of the Court disposing of an appeal, the prothonotary shall direct the petition to the author of the majority opinion. If the appeal was resolved without opinion, the petition will be directed to the office of the Chief Justice to be assigned to the most senior member of the majority. In the event that the appeal was resolved by an equally divided Court, the petition shall be assigned to the author of the opinion in support of affirmance.
2. Circulation. The justice to whom the reargument petition was assigned shall circulate to all members of the Court a recommended disposition of the petition within fourteen (14) days of the assignment or within seven (7) days of the date of assignment for Children's Fast Track appeals. A justice who disagrees with the recommended disposition shall circulate a counter recommendation within fourteen (14) days of the original recommendation or seven (7) days for Children's Fast Track appeals. A vote of the majority is required to grant reargument.
§ 63.5. Allocaturs.
* * * * * B. Assignment.
1. Petitions for allowance of appeal shall be assigned to individual justices by the prothonotary's office on a rotating basis for preparation of an allocatur report. Allocatur reports are to be circulated within sixty (60) days of the receipt of such an assignment with notice to the prothonotary's office that the report is in circulation. The proposed disposition date shall not be greater than [thirty (30)] sixty (60) days from the date of circulation.
2. Holds may be placed on petitions for allowance of appeal only upon written notice to the members of the Court and the prothonotary as to the reasons for the hold, e.g., the existence of another petition from another district presenting the same question. No hold may be placed on a petition without the existence of a terminus, e.g., the issuance of an opinion on a petition presenting the same question. A hold for the purpose of preparing a counter report shall not exceed thirty (30) days; only by vote of the majority can a hold be extended beyond thirty (30) days, but in no event shall a hold exceed ninety (90) days.
3. Petitions from the same district presenting the same question shall be consolidated; petitions from different districts presenting the same question may be consolidated at the discretion of the Court. Where a hold results from the existence of another petition presenting the same issue, the parties shall be notified of the hold and the case which will determine the issue.
4. Notwithstanding any contrary procedures set forth above, allocatur reports in Children's Fast Track appeals are to be circulated within thirty (30) days of the receipt of the assignment with notice to the prothonotary's office that the report is in circulation, and the proposed disposition date shall not be greater than thirty (30) days from the date of circulation. A hold for purposes of preparing a counter report in a Children's Fast Track appeal shall not exceed fifteen (15) days; only by vote of the majority can a hold be extended beyond fifteen (15) days, but in no event shall a hold exceed forty-five (45) days.
* * * * * § 63.6. Motions, Miscellaneous Petitions and Applications for Relief.
* * * * * B. Disposition. The Chief Justice will prepare memoranda setting forth the positions of the parties, and a recommended disposition. Vote proposals shall be circulated within thirty (30) days from the date of assignment, and shall contain a proposed disposition date no greater than thirty (30) days from the date of circulation, except for Children's Fast Track cases, in which vote proposals must be circulated within fifteen (15) days from the date the answer is filed or due to be filed, whichever occurs first, and the proposed disposition shall be no greater than fifteen (15) days from the date of circulation.* A vote of the majority of those participating is required to implement the proposed disposition.
* For purposes of this section, a ''Children's Fast Track case'' is any case involving an order regarding dependency, termination of parental rights, adoptions, custody or paternity. See 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 6301 et seq.; 23 Pa.C.S. §§ 2511 et seq.; 23 Pa.C.S. §§ 2101 et seq.; 23 Pa.C.S. §§ 5301 et seq.; 23 Pa.C.S. §§ 5102 et seq.
Every motion shall be decided within sixty (60) days, or thirty (30) days for Children's Fast Track cases. Orders disposing of motions shall include the names of any justices who did not participate in the consideration or decision of the matter. Procedural motions, e.g., requests for extension of time, requests to exceed page limits, and to proceed in forma pauperis, are to be disposed of by the prothonotary's office after screening by the deputy prothonotary.
* * * * *
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 11-931. Filed for public inspection June 3, 2011, 9:00 a.m.]
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