Pa. justices OK reassignments of various Phila. trial court judges

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted a petition by the president judge of the First

Judicial District of Pennsylvania to transfer four judges within the Philadelphia court system.

In a per curiam order Aug. 21, the high court OK’d a move by Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe, the county’s president judge, to permanently reassign two judge from the trial division to the family court division, and two jurists from the family court division to the trial division.

The order affirms Dembe’s decision to transfer Judge James Murray Lynn and Peter F. Rogers from the trial division to the family court division, and Judges Frank Palumbo and Nina Wright-Padilla from the family court division to the trial division.

In a separate per curiam order, the high court granted Dembe’s request to permanently assign eight new Philadelphia judges to the trial division and five judges to the family court division.

That order does not state where those judges were stationed prior to the reassignments.

The First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, more commonly referred to as Philadelphia’s court system, is comprised of the Court of Common Pleas, Municipal Court and Traffic Court.

The family division, which falls under the Court of Common Pleas, consists of juvenile and domestic relations units.

The Orphans’ Court division also falls under the Court of Common Pleas. The division handles matters concerning minors, estates, trusts and issues involving incapacitated persons.

Both Municipal Court and the Court of Common Pleas contain criminal and civil divisions.

There are 60 judicial districts across Pennsylvania, each overseen by a President Judge.