In re Domestic Relations Hearing Room

796 A.2d 407, 2002 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 233
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 15, 2002
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 796 A.2d 407 (In re Domestic Relations Hearing Room) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Domestic Relations Hearing Room, 796 A.2d 407, 2002 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 233 (Pa. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinions

OPINION BY

Senior Judge FLAHERTY.1

The Northumberland Board of Commissioners (Commissioners) appeals from an [408]*408administrative order of the Court of Common Pleas of Northumberland County (trial court) which restricted the use of a room (the room) in the Northumberland County Courthouse for use by the domestic relations hearing officer (DHRO) and required that any other use of the room receive the approval of the President Judge. We quash the appeal.

Although no testimony was presented before the trial court, we recite the history of this case as outlined by the trial court and the parties. Prior to 1998, some of the Commissioners occupied offices in the county courthouse and often used the room for public hearings. The trial court also used the room to conduct domestic hearings and juvenile hearings.

In October of 1998, the Commissioners moved into offices in the newly constructed administration building. The former offices of the Commissioners were then divided up between the DHRO, the district attorney’s office and a U.S. Congressman’s field office. On December 29, 1999, the Commissioners informed the trial court that they would occupy the room on January 3, 2000 in order to hold a swearing in ceremony and reception. This was consistent with prior years wherein the room was used for such ceremonies. The trial court informed the Commissioners, however, that DRHO proceedings were already scheduled for that day in the room. Nonetheless, the Commissioners insisted that they would still use the room on the date in question. In response, the trial court issued an administrative order on December 29,1999.

The administrative order issued by the President Judge declared the room in the county courthouse, used by the DRHO, to be “an extension of the Court of Common Pleas of Northumberland County and its Court related facilities.” The trial court limited use of the room to the “disposition of petitions for protection from Abuse, Custody and Support matters, and other Court facility uses as may be assigned to Judges and Hearing Officers by the President Judge.” The administrative order further provided that “[a]ny other use of the facility must have the express approval of the President Judge.”

The Commissioners, who had previously used the room to swear in new members and wished to again use the room for such ceremonies, filed an appeal from the trial court’s administrative order to this court. On appeal, the Commissioners raise a number of issues. However, this court must first determine whether the administrative order is a final appealable order.

A final order is defined by Pa. R.A.P. 341 as any order that (1) disposes of all claims or parties, (2) is expressly defined as final by statute, or (3) is determined by a court or governmental unit to be final to facilitate resolution of a case. As with In re Ownership of Notes and Reproduction of Transcripts, 763 A.2d 575 (Pa.Cmwlth. 2000), petition for allowance of appeal denied, 566 Pa. 689, 784 A.2d 121 (2001), although Sections 323 and 325 of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa.C.S. § 323 and § 325 may provide some authority for rules and regulations, there was no judicial proceeding before the Common Pleas Court involving disputed claims or parties. No case, action nor petition was finally resolved by the administrative order. The administrative order at issue in this case is not appealable because it is not a final order pursuant to Pa. R.A.P. 341. Because the administrative order is not a final order and is therefore, not appealable, there is no question of our subject matter jurisdiction under Section 762(a) of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa.C.S. § 762(a).

[409]*409The case of In re Ownership of Notes is instructive. In that case, the President Judge of Luzerne County issued an administrative order which prohibited individuals from copying notes of testimony filed as of record in the prothonotary’s office. Individuals were now required to seek copies of transcripts from the court reporter for a fee. The prothonotary, who had previously permitted individuals to make copies of the testimony, appealed the administrative order to this court. This court concluded that the order was not appealable because it was not final, and in any case, that it was not appealable to this court because the order in question did not fall within one of the categories of cases over which this court has jurisdiction.2

We concluded that the “order was not entered to resolve a dispute litigated in the Common Pleas Court.” In re Ownership of Notes, 763 A.2d at 578. The President Judge issued the administrative order to implement an executive decision made in his capacity as the President Judge and administrator of the Court of Common Pleas. This court found authority for the action taken by the President Judge in Sections 323 and 325 of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa.C.S. § 323 and § 325. Specifically, Section 323 of the Judicial Code provides that “every court shall have power to make such rules and orders of the court as the interest of justice or the business of the court may require.” Section 325 of the Judicial Code provides that the president judge of a court shall:

(1) Be the executive and administrative head of the court, supervise the judicial business of the court, promulgate all administrative rules and regulations, make all judicial assignments, and assign and reassign among the personnel of the court available chambers and other physical facilities.
(2) Exercise the powers of the court under section 2301(a)(2) (relating to appointment of personnel).

Although the administrative order is not properly before us in our appellate jurisdiction, the Commissioners can still bring an action within this court’s original jurisdiction under Section 761(a)(1) of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa.C.S. § 761(a)(1), which provides that this court shall have original jurisdiction, with few exceptions not applicable here, in all civil actions or proceedings against “the Commonwealth government, including any officer thereof, acting in his official capacity .... ”

This court has previously held that a judge of the court of common pleas, when sued in his official capacity, is the “the Commonwealth government.” Brown v. Taylor, 90 Pa.Cmwlth. 23, 494 A.2d 29, 31 (1985). Curtis v. Cleland, 122 Pa.Cmwlth. 328, 552 A.2d 316, 317 n. 1 (1988) (Curtis I) also stated that “Commonwealth government” is defined by Section 102 of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa.C.S. § 102 to include officers of the unified judicial system. Moreover, Curtis v. Cleland, 137 Pa.[410]*410Cmwlth. 537, 586 A.2d 1029 (1991) (Curtis II) is authority for the proposition that a challenge to an administrative order is properly in this court’s original jurisdiction.

In Curtis II, the President Judge of McKean County issued an administrative order directing the county commissioners to make bonus payments to the trial court’s domestic relations division out of funds designated “IV-D.”.3

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
796 A.2d 407, 2002 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 233, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-domestic-relations-hearing-room-pacommwct-2002.