Previously, I blogged about changes in the Civil Division of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas. The changes are continuing in order to move cases forward. There were two changes announced yesterday at the Montgomery Bar Association Trial Lawyers luncheon.
First, all Preliminary Objections will now be decided by one of the seven senior Judges. If argument is requested then it will be assigned to a senior Judge who will hear argument and issue a decision. If argument has not been requested then the senior judgment will decide the Preliminary Objections on the papers only. Currently the senior Judges are: Judges Nicholas, Corso, Drayer, Tilson, Smyth, Moore and Ott.
Second, all Motions for Sanctions will not be heard by the Judge sitting in equity and not by the assigned Judge.
The aforementioned changes are intended to move cases along and to avoid a significant backlog when cases are placed in the mandatory trial or arbitration pool per new local rule 200. Stay tuned, it's my understanding that additional changes will be announced soon.
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