Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania Adjournment & Extension Requirements

CRITICALCivil cases

Cases not reached on the scheduled arbitration day must be continued by the court administrator’s office to the morning of the next generally available arbitration date.

In the event that the panels of arbitrators are unable to reach all of the cases scheduled for arbitration on a particular day, the arbitration hearing for those cases that are not reached shall be continued by the court administrator’s office to the morning of the next available date for arbitrations generally.

CRITICALCivil cases

An arbitration hearing that begins but is not completed must continue the next available morning when the same panel members are scheduled and available.

In the event that an arbitration hearing has been commenced but is not concluded on the day scheduled for the arbitration hearing, the arbitration hearing shall be continued to the morning of the next available date that the same members of the arbitration panel which commenced hearing the case are scheduled and available to hear arbitration cases.

CRITICALCriminal cases

Except for continuances under subsection (b), a preliminary-hearing continuance request must be made by written motion stating good cause, presented to the designated court official with 48 hours’ advance notice to the defendant, counsel, or Commonwealth’s attorney.

(c) Except as provided in section (b) of this Rule, all requests for continuances of preliminary hearings shall be presented to the District Justice Court Administrator, or in his absence to an appropriate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, in the form of a written motion setting forth good cause for the same with forty-eight (48) hours advance notice to the defendant or his counsel or the attorney for the Commonwealth.

CRITICALCivil cases

A continuance application must be submitted to the designated judge at least five days before arbitration on the approved form, state all reasons, include opposing counsel’s position, and show good cause; a later-filed pretrial motion does not automatically continue the hearing.

Any application for a continuance of a scheduled arbitration hearing shall be presented on the approved continuance request form to the administrative judge, civil division, or his designee, at least five (5) days prior to the arbitration date. The continuance request must be on a form approved by the court, and shall contain all of the reasons for the request for continuance. Amplification of reasons, by letter or in person, will not be considered by the court. The application for continuance will not be considered unless it contains the position of opposing counsel, either by signature of the opposing counsel or by verification of the counsel presenting the request for continuance. Good cause shall be required for continuance of an arbitration hearing. The filing of a pre-trial motion after a case has been scheduled for arbitration will not result in an automatic continuance of the arbitration hearing.

CRITICALCivil cases

A continuance motion may be submitted directly to the assigned judge on the designated form by hand, mail, or fax, but the movant must first confer with counsel and unrepresented parties and state their positions in the motion.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, motions for continuance may be presented directly to the assigned judge on the continuance form available from the court administrator’s office. Such motions may be submitted directly to the assigned judge’s chambers by hand delivery, by mail, or by facsimile transmission. Prior to submitting any such motion, the movant or his/her counsel shall confer with all counsel of record and any unrepresented parties to determine their position with respect to the continuance request, and shall indicate their position in the motion.

CRITICALCivil cases

For a continuance request made fewer than five days before the hearing, the court may grant a continuance only for good cause that was not apparent five days before the scheduled hearing.

If an application for continuance is not made at least five (5) days prior to the arbitration hearing, then a continuance shall only be granted by the court for good cause which was not apparent five (5) days prior to the date set for the arbitration hearing.

CRITICALCivil cases

If a guardian ad litem or trustee ad litem is appointed within three weeks of the audit date, the audit date must be continued upon that appointee’s request.

Whenever a guardian ad litem or a trustee ad litem is appointed within three (3) weeks of the audit date, then the audit date shall be continued if requested by the guardian ad litem or the trustee ad litem.

CRITICALCriminal cases

A District Justice may grant a preliminary-hearing continuance requested by the Defendant or Commonwealth only for the minimum necessary period, with all continuances in the case limited to 21 aggregate days from the hearing’s first scheduled date.

(b) Thereafter a District Justice may grant continuances of the preliminary hearing upon the request either of the Defendant or the Commonwealth provided that such continuances are limited to the minimum period necessary and do not, in the aggregate number of days for all continuances in the case, exceed twenty-one (21) days from the date upon which the preliminary hearing was first scheduled.

CRITICALCivil cases

A continuance will not be granted from a definite arbitration date selected by counsel.

Continuances will not be granted from a date certain selected by counsel.

WARNINGCivil cases

A party may move for, and the court may grant, an extension of the discovery-completion period.

unless the time for completion of discovery has been extended by the court upon motion of any party.

WARNINGCivil cases

If a continuance is granted, the court administrator sets a definite hearing date, or counsel may choose an available date if all counsel agree; that choice certifies the date was cleared with opposing counsel and the court administrator.

If the application for continuance of a scheduled arbitration hearing is granted, the court administrator shall select and set a date certain for the arbitration hearing to be held. Counsel may select a date certain for the continuance of the arbitration hearing from a list of available dates provided by the court administrator’s office, provided that all counsel agree to said date. A selection of a date certain certifies to the court that the date has been cleared with opposing counsel and the court administrator.

WARNINGCriminal cases

For purposes of the continuance rule, all co-defendants are treated as one party.

(e) For purposes of this Rule all co-defendants shall be regarded as one (1) party.

WARNINGCivil cases

Filing a dispositive motion within 30 days of the scheduled arbitration hearing is not grounds for continuing the hearing unless good cause is shown.

(e) The filing of dispositive motions within thirty (30) days of the scheduled arbitration hearing shall not be grounds for continuance of the hearing unless good cause is shown.