Title 255--LOCAL
COURT RULESDELAWARE COUNTY Judge Pro Tempore Program; Doc. No. 97 03898 [27 Pa.B. 1644] Order And Now, to wit, this 10th day of March, 1997, pursuant to the section of our September 17, 1996 Order regarding ''Changes in Procedure,'' it is hereby Ordered and Decreed that
1. The time period in which Judges Pro Tempore may schedule conferences has been extended until May 15, 1997;
2. Phase II of the Judge Pro Tempore Program, namely non-jury trials, will begin on or about April 1, 1997; and
3. Paragraph Five (5) of the September 17, 1996 Order is amended to note that those cases, and only those cases, in which the litigants or claims personnel are located out-of-state, those litigants/claims personnel are not required to be present at the settlement conference if this would entail a hardship. However, those litigants/claims personnel must be active participants by telephone (telephone conference call) and continually present throughout the settlement conference. It will not be enough for the litigants/claims personnel to be ''available by telephone.'' Please note that, other than in the aforementioned cases, judges pro tempore have no discretion as to whether or not litigants/claims personnel will attend the settlement conference, as this is clearly required by the September 17, 1996 Order.
As required by Pa.R.C.P. No. 239, the original Order shall be filed with the Office of Judicial Support and copies shall be submitted to the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, the Legislative Reference Bureau and the Civil Procedure Rules Committee. Copies of the Order will also be submitted to Legal Communications, Ltd., The Legal Intelligencer, and the Delaware County Legal Journal.
By the Court
A. LEO SERENI,
President Judge[Pa.B. Doc. No. 97-504. Filed for public inspection April 4, 1997, 9:00 a.m.]
