THE COURTS
FRANKLIN AND FULTON COUNTIES
In the Matter of the Adoption and Amendment of Local Rules of Civil Procedure; Misc. Doc. 2010-4218
[40 Pa.B. 5762]
[Saturday, October 9, 2010]September 20th, 2010, It Is Hereby Ordered that the following Rules of the Court of Common Pleas of the 39th Judicial District of Pennsylvania, Franklin and Fulton County Branches, Civil Division, are amended, rescinded or adopted as indicated this date, to be effective thirty (30) days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin:
Local Rule of Civil Procedure 212.7 is amended and shall now read as follows.
It Is Further Ordered that The District Court Administrator shall
1. Distribute two (2) certified paper copies and one (1) computer diskette or CD-ROM copy to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
2. File one (1) certified copy of the local rule changes with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.
3. Provide one (1) certified copy of the local rule changes to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Civil Procedural Rules Committee.
4. Publish a copy of the local rule changes as required on the Unified Judicial System's web site at http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/localrules/ruleselection.aspx.
5. Provide one (1) certified copy of the Local Rule changes to the Franklin County Law Library and one (1) certified copy to the Fulton County Law Library.
6. Keep such local rule changes, as well as all local civil rules, continuously available for public inspection and copying in the Office of the Prothonotary of Franklin County and the Office or the Prothonotary of Fulton County. Upon request and payment of reasonable costs of reproduction and mailing, the Prothonotary shall furnish to any person a copy of any local rule.
7. Arrange to have the local rule changes published on the Franklin County Bar Association web site at www.franklinbar.org.
By the Court
DOUGLAS W. HERMAN,
President JudgeLocal Rule 39-212.7. Scheduling Conference and Case Management.
(a) This Rule shall be applicable to all civil actions other than family law matters governed by Pa.R.C.P. 1901 through 1940.9, credit card collection cases, cases for and appeals from compulsory arbitration, administrative agency appeals, appeals from labor arbitration, landlord-tenant appeals, appeals from boards of view, mortgage foreclosures and cases in which judgment has been entered.
(b) In all cases to which this rule is applicable, the plaintiff shall, not later than sixty (60) days after service of the complaint upon defendant(s), file and transmit to the assigned judge a proposed order of court in substantially the following form:
Order of Court (Date), the Complaint filed in this case having been served upon the Defendant(s),
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Plaintiff shall initiate discussion among all parties who shall make a good faith effort to agree upon a proposed Joint Case Management Order which shall be submitted to the assigned judge not later than ______ . In the event that the parties cannot agree upon a proposed Joint Case Management Order, they shall submit separate proposed Case Management Orders to the assigned judge in chambers not later than the foregoing date. After the foregoing date, the assigned judge may enter a Case Management Order or may schedule a Case Management Conference.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that in considering joint or separate proposed Case Management Orders, counsel and the parties shall be guided by the Court's guidelines set forth in the Note to Local Rule 212.7 and be prepared to support any requested deviation from such guidelines.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the parties shall begin engaging in discovery pending the entry of a Case Management Order if they have not already done so; and that the Plaintiff promptly serve copies of this order upon all other parties.
By the Court,
______
J.
(c) Not later than 14 days after the deadline for the completion of discovery pursuant to any Case Management Order, Plaintiff's counsel shall arrange with the chambers of the assigned judge for a telephone conference between the Court and counsel for all parties for the express purpose of [1] making a good faith estimate as to the number of trial days—excluding jury selection date—that will be required for trial; [2] securing trial dates; and [3] considering mediation as a settlement tool.
NOTE: The purpose of the Court in adopting this Rule providing for case management is to better assure the progress of cases through the judicial system without unreasonable delay by fixing deadlines for completion of the various stages of cases. Deadlines, for example, for completion of discovery, the filing of expert reports, and the filing of dispositive motions, will be set at the scheduling conference. Thereafter, a party seeking extension of a deadline will have the burden of establishing good cause for such extension.The following are guidelines for various types of cases:
CASE EVENT SIMPE CASE
(e.g. admitted liability, minimal discovery)STANDARD
(e.g. motor vehicle, contracts, some equity)COMPLEX
(e.g. product liability, some equity, extensive discovery)MEDICAL MALPRACTICE Discovery Completion 5 months 9 months 12 months 12 months Plaintiff Expert Reports 6 months 10 months 13 months 13 months Defense Expert Reports 7 months 11 months 14 months 14 months Dispositive Motions 8 months 12 months 15 months 15 months Pretrial Conference 10 months 14 months 17 months 17 months
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 10-1923. Filed for public inspection October 8, 2010, 9:00 a.m.]
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