News

Superior Court to Hold Special Session at Widener University

News Article

March 05, 2017

The Superior Court of Pennsylvania will hold a special session at 10 a.m. on March 14 in the Alumni Auditorium on the Widener University campus in the city of Chester.

The special session offers an opportunity for Widener students — as well as members of the public — to learn about the service of the judiciary to all Pennsylvanians.

Serving on the special session panel are Superior Court Judges Jack A. Panella, Jacqueline O. Shogan and Lillian Harris Ransom. Judge Panella maintains chambers in Northampton County, Judge Shogan in Allegheny County and Judge Ransom in Philadelphia County. 

The Superior Court normally hears arguments on appeals in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia, but occasionally visits other locations around the Commonwealth for special sessions. The aim is to better acquaint Pennsylvanians with the process matters before state appeals courts are considered and resolved.

The Superior Court was created in 1895 to assist the state Supreme Court in disposing of a burgeoning number of appeals in the growing Commonwealth.

It exercises general jurisdiction statewide over all appeals from decisions of the state trial courts with the exception of death penalty appeals (heard by the Supreme Court) and cases brought against the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions, such as school districts and municipalities (heard by the Commonwealth Court). 

As a result, the Superior Court is one of the busiest appellate courts in the nation, docketing hundreds of thousands of filings per year and deciding more than 8,000 individual cases involving civil, criminal, domestic relations and orphans’ court claims. 

More information about the judges and the Superior Court is available at www.pacourts.us. A map of Widener’s Campus is available at www.widener.edu/about/maps_directions/.

Media contact: Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq., prothonotary, Superior Court of Pennsylvania

(412) 565-7592