News

Commonwealth Court Mediation Program Marks Successful Milestone

June 24, 2004

PHILADELPHIA, June 24, 2004 – Commonwealth Court’s Mediation Program marked a milestone this June, when its 500th case was successfully resolved by litigants through mediation, without resort to a court decision. The Court’s mediation program began in January 2000 as a pilot program, and continues today. Judge Doris A. Smith-Ribner, who spearheaded the program for the court, expressed her satisfaction at this milestone. “It is particularly gratifying, now that word of the program’s effectiveness is spreading among the practicing bar, to see more attorneys volunteering to participate in the program, as opposed to being referred into it by the Court. Of course, we want to make every effort to ensure that this voluntary participation continues to increase.” When it began in 2000, Senior Judge Emil Narick was assigned exclusively to the program. Now three senior judges, each a former Common Pleas Court judge with extensive trial experience, handle mediations throughout the state. Mediations occur in Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie, Pottsville and elsewhere if necessary to accommodate litigants and their counsel. Senior Judges Charles P. Mirarchi, Jr., Jess S. Jiuliante and Joseph F. McCloskey take on mediation assignments in addition to their full caseload of appellate and original jurisdiction matters. Cases mediated cover a broad spectrum of Commonwealth Court’s jurisdiction, and they include state and local civil service decisions, environmental clean-up litigation, eminent domain and zoning matters, state professional licensure decisions, Department of Public Welfare appeals and challenges to local agency decisions. One area of marked success is in workers’ compensation claims, which comprise a large part of the Court’s caseload. Overall, the mediation program has achieved a 45.5% resolution rate, on average, since its inception. Litigants and their counsel thereby have avoided the time and expense associated with an appeal. These successful mediations have resolved disputes more quickly and eliminated the cost and uncertainty of the appellate process. Appeals and original jurisdiction matters are screened by the Court’s staff counsel for their suitability for mediation. If a case is chosen, counsel for the parties – and sometimes the parties themselves – are required to meet with a senior judge in an attempt to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution short of a court decision. One important aspect of the program is its confidentiality. If a case is not concluded by mediation, all records of the mediation are destroyed, and the mediating judge does not participate in the panel assigned to consider the case. Referral to mediation is not recorded on the case docket. With the exception of the mediating judge and a limited number of court staffers, the very fact that a case has been mediated is unknown to the judges of the Court and their staffs. At this milestone, President Judge James Gardner Colins remarked, “I measure the program’s success, not only by the numbers, but by the opportunity it gives counsel to focus on and narrow the issues, by the satisfactory comments I often hear from attorneys, even when cases are not settled, and by the complete cooperation we have received from the participating bar and their clients. Created in 1968, Commonwealth Court is one of the two intermediate appellate courts in Pennsylvania. Its jurisdiction mostly involves litigation by or against state and local governments and cases involving election law.