Mission Statement

It is the mission of the Lackawanna County District Judge System to seek justice, to foster public trust and confidence in an independent judiciary, and to provide high quality, courteous service to all users of the district judge courts by processing cases and resolving disputes in a manner that reflects the System’s commitment to open access to the courts, fairness, impartiality, administrative efficiency, fiscal responsibility and public accountability.

About the District Courts

The ten district judges and one centralized district court in Lackawanna County are under the supervision and administrative control of the President Judge. Each Magisterial District Judge is elected to serve within his/her magisterial district for a six-year term.

District judges are included in Pennsylvania’s Unified Judicial System. District judges have jurisdiction over civil claims where the disputed amount is less than $12,000 landlord/tenant disputes, and summary offenses (traffic and non-traffic offenses). All misdemeanor and felony criminal cases are more commonly called Court cases and these are filed in the District Courts. In these cases, the defendants are arraigned, bail is set, defendants are advised of their rights, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled in a timely manner. At the preliminary hearing, these court cases are either waived to the Court of Common Pleas by the defendant; or, after the hearing, they will be dismissed or bound over to court if a prima facia case is found. Magisterial district judges also grant emergency relief under the Protection From Abuse Act and the Older Adult Protective Service Act. Additionally, district judges issue arrest warrants, conduct preliminary arraignments, set and accept bail, and issue search warrants. As officers of the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System, district judges may administer oaths and affirmations and take acknowledgments. District judges also have the authority to perform marriages; whether or not they choose to perform ceremonies is optional.

District courts are connected to the statewide-automated District Judge System, which came on-line in 1992 and was updated in 2011. This records management system assists the courts in case processing and financial accounting.

The Office of District Court Administration through the Deputy Court Administrator for Magisterial District Judges provides administrative support to the district judges by preparing the district judge system’s operating budget, administering facility and equipment needs, assisting in personnel management and case management, providing staff training and professional development, and attending all audit conferences. Administrative assistance is provided to the Magisterial District Judges through preparation of court orders for on-call, vacation, continuing education, illness, recusal hearing assignments, consolidation and reassignment of cases.

Central Court

Central Court, located on the ground floor of the Lackawanna County Courthouse, was established to efficiently dispose of preliminary hearings in misdemeanor and felony cases filed in any of the ten magisterial districts in the county. The administrative office establishes an annual schedule which places one Magisterial District Judge on duty each day (weekday and weekend) from 9:00 A.M. one day till 9:00 A.M. the next. This “on-call” duty rotates between the 10 judges with the on-call judge hearing emergency relief petitions under the Protection From Abuse Act (PFA) and presiding over preliminary arraignments of all criminal matters for the entire county for that 24 hour period.

In addition to 24 hour duty at the home court, Central Court operates each Monday through Friday at the courthouse with the on-call district judge presiding over misdemeanor and felony preliminary hearings and DUI court cases. Central Court provides the advantages of convenience to public defenders and district attorneys, a system of expedited case processing, increases security and reduces costs of transportation for prisoners, and provides more standardization of case management and handling of requests for continuances.

New Technologies

In the next session, PACM members were given another acronym for their ever-growing arsenal when Anthony J. Pologruto, GIS Coordinator from Westmoreland County, started out by explaining that “GIS” is the acronym for Geographic Information System. He shared that map dependency is so much greater today than even ten years ago, and that court systems too could utilize maps to assist court users. For instance, Westmoreland County offers a Magisterial District Court locater on their website. By typing in an address, a court user can determine which district court they need to contact. This can be particularly helpful to law enforcement as well, as they can simply type in an intersection and pinpoint immediately which district the address is in.

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