Cefalo agrees with juvie dismissal ruling

PITTSTON – Area attorney Michael Cefalo, representing more than 350 children in civil lawsuits filed over the “kids-for-cash” scandal, agreed with the Juvenile Law Center regarding a judge’s dismissal of more defendants.

“It streamlines the case for us,” he said Friday, “it allows us to move forward.”

On Wednesday, Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Caputo dismissed from the suit psychologist Frank Vita and the wives of former judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan. JLC Deputy Director Marsha Levick painted the ruling as a win, noting key defendants seeking dismissal had been denied.

Coupled with prior dismissals either by the judge or voluntarily by plaintiff attorneys, a list of defendants that at one point topped 20 is essentially down to attorney Robert Powell and developer Robert Mericle, their corporate entities involved in the construction of PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care – the private juvenile facilities at the heart of the scandal – and Mid Atlantic Youth Services, the company that managed PA Child Care.

Conahan and Ciavarella remain defendants, but Caputo ruled much of their actions in the case are protected by judicial immunity.

Cefalo said the dismissals “don’t really affect our case,” because the core of the complaint is against the remaining defendants, contending they conspired in a scheme of payments from Powell and Mericle to Conahan and Ciavarella to ensure juveniles went to the Child Care facilities.

Some plaintiffs were dismissed “without prejudice” by those filing the suit, meaning if evidence is uncovered that implicates them, they can be added again. Cefalo also said no real discovery has begun in the case, meaning no one has been deposed under oath.

Depositions now would likely be fruitless, Cefalo suggested, because the principal players face unresolved criminal charges and could decline to testify under fear of self-incrimination. Conahan, Mericle and Powell have pleaded guilty but are awaiting sentence. Ciavarella is awaiting trial.

Trimming the list of defendants helps focus the case, Cefalo said, again echoing Levick, making it easier to proceed.

It could also make it easier to avoid a trial, a notion apparently hinted at by Powell’s attorney, Mark B. Sheppard. The Legal Intelligencer reported Thursday that Sheppard said anything that helps parties “focus on the issues in terms of a possible settlement is a good thing.”

Either way, Cefalo said, he is “in this for the long run. … It’s not going to be as simple as some people thought it was going to be, and it’s just going to take time.”

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Attorney who represents more than 350 children in civil lawsuits says it streamlines the cases.

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