Butler County News

The Court of Common Pleas of Butler County underwent some reorganization during 2005.  President Judge Thomas Doerr is no longer handling civil cases.  As new civil cases are filed, the computer automatically assigns them to either Judge Marilyn Horan or Judge Michael Yeager.  Sixty percent of the new civil cases are being assigned to Judge Horan and forty percent to Judge Yeager.   

For cases from 2004 and prior years, if no judge has been assigned, once new activity occurs it will trigger the computer to assign a judge. 

Motions Court: Motions Court for Judge Horan will be on Wednesdays at 9:00 a.m.  Motions Court for Judge Yeager will be on Thursdays at 1:30 p.m. 

Jury Trials: The goal for jury trials is for trial to occur 18 months from first filing of the case.  At present, once a praecipe for jury trial is filed, a pretrial conference occurs 45-60 days thereafter and trial occurs 45-60 days after that. 

Jury Selection: All juries will be selected on the Monday prior to the scheduled trial date. 

Arbitration: A Judge can refer a case to arbitration at a status conference or the parties can voluntarily submit the matter to arbitration by filing a praecipe for arbitration and paying the fee to the Prothonotary.  The Prothonotary then assigns the chairman and two other attorneys to serve as arbitrators.  The chairman will schedule a hearing at the convenience of the parties and the arbitrators.   

Mediation: There are rules for mediation which can be obtained from the Court Administrator.  There is a panel of experienced attorneys who have agreed to serve as mediators.  Each mediation is scheduled for one-half day and each party is assessed $150 for the cost of the mediator. 

Change in Judges: The Honorable Timothy McCune, who had been the District Attorney, was elected as a  new Judge in November 2005 and recently took the oath of office.  He will be hearing family and criminal cases.  Randa Clark is now Acting District Attorney and will fill out the remaining term of Judge McCune.  Senior Judge Martin J. O’Brien has retired and will no longer be serving as a Judge.