Luzerne County Courts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

From: Chester B. Muroski, President Judge on behalf of all members of the 11th Judicial District of Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County

MEDIA RELEASE: July 8, 2009

The Luzerne County Court en banc, following its bi-weekly meeting, announces the following:

LUZERNE COUNTY DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE (DUI) COORDINATOR

Judge Muroski indicated that he has notified the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania DUI Association of the appointment of Mr. Joseph Swortz of Catholic Social Services to the position of Luzerne County DUI Coordinator for the Luzerne County Court.

DISTRICT COURT ADMINISTRATOR

The President Judge was authorized to contact the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC) to take the necessary steps to advertise for the position of District Court Administrator for the 11th Judicial District of (Luzerne County) Pennsylvania in accordance with applicable law, regulations and standards.

PENN PLACE ANNEX OF THE LUZERNE COUNTY COURT HOUSE

The President Judge updated the other members of the Court en banc on the progress of the renovations of courtrooms and judges chambers which has been taking place at the Penn Place Annex of the Luzerne County Court House. The project which has been underway for several months is nearing completion.

The offices and courtrooms previously occupied by Magisterial District Judges Martin Kane and William Amesbury have been reconfigured to be used as Common Pleas courtrooms, capable of handling civil and criminal jury trials. Once the final touches are completed, plans are for one of the judges currently housed in the main courthouse to be moved to Penn Place, in order to relieve some of the scheduling conflicts due to lack of available courtrooms.

The Court en banc is continuing to work diligently to overcome the backlog of cases caused by the reduced number of available judges. Senior judges from outside Luzerne County are still being used to supplement the work of the eight remaining judges who are dealing with an ever expanding civil and criminal caseload.

The restructuring is part of an ongoing plan to make the court more efficiently able to handle the high volume of civil and criminal cases. Currently, seven full-time judges share five courtrooms in the main courthouse, which sometimes causes delays in the timely scheduling of trials. When the restructuring is complete, it is hoped that each judge will have access to a separate courtroom which will greatly improve the scheduling of both jury and non-jury trials.

MEETING OF THE COURT EN BANC

There will be a brief meeting of the Court en banc without lunch on July 14, 2009 at noon and a regular meeting with lunch on August 4, 2009 at noon.