Luzerne County Judges

January 8, 2010

Judge: Re-trial warranted in Ciavarella case

By Sheena Delazio sdelazio@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
Sheena Delazio on Facebook   |   @TLSheenaDelazio on Twitter

WILKES-BARRE – A Luzerne County senior judge said in court papers that a $3.6 million verdict awarded in a legal malpractice case should be stricken and a new trial be scheduled.

County senior judge Charles Brown said in an opinion sent to the state Superior Court involving the Bernadette Slusser versus Laputka, Bayless, Ecker and Cohn law firm that because new information regarding the filing of federal corruption charges against the judge who presided over the case – Mark Ciavarella – has surfaced, a new trial is warranted.

Brown said he believes the case should be sent back to county court so that Brown, who is now the judge presiding over the matter, can make rulings in motions for post trial relief as requested by attorneys in the case previously.

Attorneys Jeffrey McCarron and Kathleen Carson said in recent filings on behalf of the Laputka, Bayless, Ecker and Cohn law firm, that when former judge Mark Ciavarella presided over a case in which Bernadette Slusser and family members sued the law firm, he ruled in favor of the Slussers because they were represented by attorney Robert Powell.

The court papers say that recent testimony Ciavarella gave at a hearing involving Thomas Joseph and The Scranton Times L.P., in which he admitted to having a tie to Powell, should be submitted as evidence in the Slusser case.

Ciavarella and former judge Michael Conahan were the first charged in an ongoing public corruption probe that includes former Luzerne County officials, area school district officials, as well as Powell, who is a former co-owner of the private Pennsylvania Child Care and Western Pennsylvania Child Care centers.

Powell told investigators the judges demanded payments in exchange for closing the county’s juvenile detention center and sending youths to the private centers.

The law firm has been seeking to overturn the $3.4 million award dating back to 2000. The Slusser family alleged the law firm provided faulty legal representation in a series of lawsuits related to land transactions.

In court papers filed in recent months, McCarron and Carson said the case should be assigned to a Luzerne County judge for a new trial, and that Ciavarella’s relationship with Powell is an “appearance of impropriety” sufficient enough to grant a new trial.

Brown said in his opinion that the appellants emergency petition to strike/open the August 2008 judgment should be vacated.

Brown asked the Superior Court to grant a hearing for post trial motions so that he can decide on whether to hold a new trial.

Tweet	Follow @TLnews

Send Question or Remark to the Publisher