§ 107. Opinions and Orders of Court.
(A) Opinions.
(1) Assignment. The President Judge, or the Presiding Judge, shall assign to the Conference Judge the duty to draft a majority opinion, unless, following preliminary deliberations by the Judges, the Conference Judge does not agree with the majority of Judges with regard to disposition of the matter. In such case, the President Judge, or the Presiding Judge, shall assign one of the Judges in the majority to draft the majority opinion.
(2) Circulation. When the Judge to whom a matter has been assigned for opinion writing has prepared an opinion, the Judge shall direct the Court Administrator to forward the draft opinion to the other Judges participating in the decision-making process. The draft shall bear a cover sheet that shall include a standardized form requesting the responding Judges to inform the Court Administrator of their agreement or disagreement with the opinion as well as any suggestions they desire to make with regard to the draft opinion. The form shall provide a choice for response as follows: Join, Concur in Result, Will Write a Concurring Opinion, Dissent, Will Write a Dissenting Opinion.
(3) Responding. Judges shall respond to a circulating opinion within 14 days, unless the responding Judge requests and obtains from the authoring Judge an extension of time to respond.
(4) Concurrences and Dissents.
(a) When a Judge responds to a circulating opinion by stating he or she concurs or dissents and intends to write a concurring or dissenting opinion, the Court Administrator shall hold the draft majority opinion until all Judges have responded to the concurring or dissenting opinion.
(b) The concurring or dissenting Judge shall submit a draft concurring or dissenting opinion to the Court Administrator for circulation to all Judges within 14 days from the date of the concurring or dissenting Judge’s response.
(c) The concurring or dissenting opinion shall bear a cover sheet with a standardized form for response, including the following options: (1) ‘‘Concurring/Dissenting Opinion Noted,’’ which shall indicate that the responding Judge does not alter any previously submitted votes, and (2) ‘‘I join in the Concurring/Dissenting Opinion.’’ Judges shall respond to concurring or dissenting opinions within 14 days of circulation, unless the responding Judge requests and obtains from the author of the draft majority opinion an extension of time to respond.
(d) The author of the draft majority opinion may consider the reasoning of the concurring or dissenting opinion, as well as suggestions offered by any other Judge, and revise his or her draft for recirculation.
(e) Any recirculation shall boldly note on the cover sheet the date of circulation, and a reasonable time period for response shall also be noted. However, if an authoring Judge, whether it be the majority, concurrence or dissent, deems that the alterations are not substantive, no cover sheet shall be required, but the author shall attach a memorandum indicating the nature of the changes and that no further response is required. In all cases, an authoring Judge shall advise all Judges that a draft has been revised.
(5) Reassignment. When draft opinions have been circulated and a majority of Judges either (1) dissent to the draft majority opinion or (2) vote in accordance with a concurring or dissenting opinion, the author of the original draft majority opinion shall request the President Judge, or Presiding Judge to reassign the matter to a Judge whose vote is in the majority or to the author of the draft opinion that has garnered a majority of votes, who shall submit his or her draft to the Court Administrator as the new majority opinion, to be circulated in accordance with these provisions.
(6) Revisions of Opinions after Filing. When, after the filing of an opinion, whether the opinion is a majority or concurring or dissenting opinion, the authoring Judge determines that a change to the opinion is warranted, the authoring Judge shall circulate a proposed order to the members who participated in the decision-making process which shall:
(a) in the case of revisions that alter a significant portion of the filed opinion, with the concurrence of the members who joined in the original opinion, indicate that the original opinion has been revoked and withdrawn, and replaced with a new opinion, or
(b) in the case of revisions that are not substantial in nature, indicate the alterations made to the original. When this alternative is used, the revisions shall be incorporated into the original and the Court Administrator shall ensure that the new revised opinion thereafter shall be distributed to whomever the original had been distributed.
(7) Notations of concurring or dissenting Judges. Whenever a Judge concurs in the result of a majority opinion or dissents to the majority opinion, said notation shall be indicated at the bottom of the last page of the majority opinion in the following exemplary style: Judge Smith dissents/concurs in the result; Judge Smith files a dissenting/concurring opinion. The accompanying concurring or dissenting opinion shall begin in the following exemplary style: Judge Smith dissenting/concurring.
(8) Panel Decisions.
(a) The assignment and circulation of draft opinions of panels shall follow the procedure applicable to decisions of the full Court.
(b) After the majority or concurring or dissenting opinions of the Panel are in final form, they shall be circulated to the full Court in accordance with these provisions.
(B) Orders.
(1) Applicability. This provision shall govern this issuance of all orders of the Court except those issued by Conferences Judges in the exercise of the duties with which they are empowered.
(2) When the Court determines that the issuance of an order regarding a pending matter is warranted, and when the matter requires a majority vote of the full Court, the President Judge, or the Presiding Judge, shall cause to be distributed for vote by the Court a proposed per curiam order.
(3) Circulation of Proposed Per Curiam Orders. The President Judge, or the Presiding Judge, shall direct the Court Administrator to provide a response sheet with each proposed per curiam order upon which each Judge shall respond as to whether or not he or she is in agreement with the proposed order. The response sheet shall indicate the date by which a response is directed to be forwarded. Responses shall be returned to the Court Administrator, who shall keep the President Judge, or the Presiding Judge informed as to the status of votes.
(4) Whenever a Judge concurs with or dissents from an order that is not accompanied by an opinion, his or her concurrence or dissent shall be noted on the order. In such case, no concurring or dissenting opinion may be included.
(5) When a Judge concurs with or dissents from an order that is accompanied by an opinion, his or her concurrence or dissent shall be noted on the opinion as directed by subsection A(7) of this I.O.P. and shall not be noted on the order.
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.
This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Code full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
