The Civil Section has jurisdiction over actions at law and equity along with appeals from Municipal Court and certain administrative agencies and boards. The Trial Division Civil Section has jurisdiction over civil claims involving amounts in excess of $10,000. The variety of civil actions that may be brought in the Trial Division Civil Section includes Negligence, Contract and Equity Action.
1880 JFK Boulevard, 5TH Floor
Telephone: (215) 686-9590
Fax: (215) 686-9594
All civil actions filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County with an amount in controversy of $50,000 or less, excluding equitable actions and claims to real estate, must first proceed to a compulsory arbitration hearing before a panel of three attorneys who have been court certified to serve as arbitrators.
Major Jury Program encompasses all Major Civil Jury cases except Commerce and Mass Tort cases. Major Jury Case Management is the system that has been created to coordinate and schedule these cases for trial. To manage these cases more effectively, judges assigned to this program are divided into teams. Each team is assigned a Court Administrative Officer who acts as the liaison to the Team Leader.
ROOM 691 CITY HALL
The Dispute Resolution Center of the Court of Common Pleas provides a centralized location for mandatory settlement conferences. In so doing, it encourages uniform procedures for these conferences while offering litigants comfortable modernized facilities for the disposition of civil cases within historic City Hall. Peter J. Divon is the Manager of the Dispute Resolution Center, which is located on the Sixth Floor of City Hall, in Room 691 (215-686-7914 peter.divon@courts.phila.gov). The Center operates Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Fax number: 215-686-7915, Nora Gallagher, Legal Clerk, 215-686-7974, Nora.Gallagher@courts.phila.gov.
MANDATORY SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE
Mandatory Settlement Conferences are conducted in every major jury case. The conferences are presided over by a Judge Pro Tempore and are scheduled in accordance with the Case Management Order that is issued in all cases approximately ninety (90) days after commencement of suit. The court provides notice to all counsel of record and unrepresented parties approximately thirty (30) days before the scheduled conference advising them of the date, time, and place of their settlement conference. This information may also be obtained from the first page of the civil docket.
PRESIDING OFFICER
Judges Pro Tempore (Judge(s) Pro Tem) are recruited from the Philadelphia Bar Association to preside over the settlement conferences. Judicial Team Leaders are frequently available to participate in the conference, if necessary and appropriate.
In preparation for the conference, the Judge Pro Tem reviews the case file in order to effectively discuss all issues with the parties. In the event a case does not settle at the conference, the Judge Pro Tem is available by telephone or for follow-up conferences and/or to assist the parties as requested. However, these follow-up conferences and calls will not delay the court's schedule for this case. At the conclusion of each settlement conference, the Judge Pro Tem must complete a settlement conference report. The report should include the range settlement value of the case and references to salient issues. This report is provided to the Judicial Team Leader along with the case file in preparation for the next scheduled event, the final Pretrial Conference.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF COUNSEL AND PARTIES
Counsel and unrepresented parties must file a settlement memorandum at least ten (10) days before the conference, appear at the settlement conference, on time and with settlement authority from their clients. The parties and claim representatives are not required to appear with counsel, but must be available by telephone during the conference. Failure of counsel to file a memorandum, appear, and/or failure of a party or claim representative to be available by telephone during the conference may result in the issuance of a Rule to Show Cause before the appropriate Judicial Team Leader. Should the case settle before or after the conference, counsel shall notify the court immediately in writing.
Phone Directory, Manuals, Forms and Schedules
If you or someone you know requires the use of a language interpreter, free of charge, please contact Elizabeth McCarrick, Interpreter Coordinator at 215-683-8000, or email interpreters@courts.phila.gov and we will be happy to assist you.
To contact Court Interpreter Administration, click here.
Para contactar a la Oficina Administrativa de Intérpretes de los Juzgados, haga un clic aquí.
Para solicitar un intérprete, haga un clic aquí.
Interpreter Request Forms. Please select a Language:
The First Judicial District of Pennsylvania has been approved by the Pennsylvania Continuing Education Board as an Accredited Provider of continuing legal education courses.
If you need legal assistance, you may wish to contact the following organizations:
If you can't afford a lawyer. How can you get access to legal help?
If you have a criminal charge and cannot afford legal counsel, contact your local public defender's office. The Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network helps those who cannot afford a lawyer with civil matters.
Stay in Compliance, thank you for paying now!
Click on the Map to get hours, phone numbers, and driving directions to various Court locations.
Municipal Court - Criminal Division
Preliminary Arraignment Courtroom is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Municipal Court - Traffic Division
Monday to Friday 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM
The following select documents provide quick access to information on cases of public interest in Philadelphia County.
Updates to these cases are made on a regular basis. For more information about any one of these cases, please contact the Philadelphia Courts Communications staff.
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
First Judicial District
NOTICE: View the EMERGENCY JUDGE ASSIGNMENT for the Week of April 27, 2018 through May 4, 2018
Friday, April 20, 2018
First Judicial District
CLE Course: 2018 Bi-Annual Civil Mental Health CLE Registration and Agenda. Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Friday, April 20, 2018
First Judicial District
View the Judicial Schedules for the week of April 22, 2018.
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
First Judicial District
NOTICE: View the EMERGENCY JUDGE ASSIGNMENT for the Week of April 20, 2018 through April 27, 2018
Friday, April 13, 2018
First Judicial District
View the Judicial Schedules for the week of April 15, 2018.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
First Judicial District
NOTICE: View the EMERGENCY JUDGE ASSIGNMENT for the Week of April 13, 2018 through April 20, 2018
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Court of Common Pleas, Trial Division - Civil
RE: Civil Trial Division Motion/Petition Assignment Matrix Effective April 2, 2018
Friday, April 06, 2018
First Judicial District
View the Judicial Schedules for the week of April 8, 2018.
Office of Judicial Records
All documents are in Adobe PDF format.
The latest version of the Adobe Acrobat Reader software is required to view, print and search these PDF documents. Please download this free software from the Adobe Acrobat Web site.
Please note that the Philadelphia Courts does not provide Technical Support for Acrobat Reader Software. For technical support, please contact Adobe.
Courthouse Reservations
If your organization is seeking to request the use of courthouse facilities, please email the following to crtrmrsrv@courts.phila.gov
Please provide at least 10 business days before the event to process, reserve and hold the date(s) the individual / group is interested in reserving
1. Name and address of your organization
2. Contact person with contact information
3. Date(s)
4. Time(s)
5. Purpose (mock trials competition, meeting, etc)
6. Number and type of rooms (courtroom, conference room, etc)
7. Number of people attending
8. Is your organization an 501(C)(3) non-profit
Please note: Courtrooms are only available for reservations after hours and on weekends. There is a fee of $150 per room for any organization that is not a 501(C) (3) non-profit.
The Elder Justice & Civil Resource Center ("The Center") is a court-based resource center for seniors, located at Philadelphia City Hall, to provide services for persons age 60 and over involved in legal proceedings or in need of legal services or resources.
Office of Human Resources
First Judicial District of Pennsylvania
City Hall, Room 668
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Hours of operation:
Mon-Fri: 8:00 am-5:00 pm ET
Tel: 215 683-6950
Fax: 215 683-6952
Email: hr@courts.phila.gov
Employee Sick Hotline - 215 686-7425
If you are an employee of the District, please state and spell your full name, payroll number, address of confinement and a phone number where you can be reached and the reason for your call (sick or FMLA).
During high volume times (7AM to 9AM) you may be required to call the system numerous times for accessibility to the system. To avoid this try calling outside of these hours
If address of confinement is different from your address of record, permission must be requested from your Administration.
If you must leave your place of confinement, you or your representative, must call the sick leave hotline and provide your time of departure, destination and approximate time of return.
If you are calling on behalf of an employee of the District, in addition to the employee's information previously requested, please include your name and relationship to the employee.
FMLA and Non-FMLA forms
Medical Provider forms
All documents are in Adobe PDF format.
The latest version of the Adobe Acrobat Reader software is required to view, print and search these PDF documents. Please download this free software from the Adobe Acrobat Web site.
Please note that the Philadelphia Courts does not provide Technical Support for Acrobat Reader Software. For technical support, please contact Adobe.
Welcome to the Judicial Community Outreach-Judicial Ambassador Program. The First Judicial District has initiated a program where Judicial Ambassadors are available for speaking engagements. Please carefully review the information and protocols concerning the program before making a request. While we will not be able to honor all requests, we look forward to your submission for a speaker. All requests will be carefully considered.
For general Court information, contact (215) 686-7000.
Municipal Phone Directory
This section allows you to search for the contact information of any City of Philadelphia employee. Enter an employee's first or last name and click "search", or select a department from the list.
You may also search by first initial if you do not know the exact spelling of a name.
For general City information, contact (215) 686-1776.
All documents are in Adobe PDF format.
The latest version of the Adobe Acrobat Reader software is required to view, print and search these PDF documents. Please download this free software from the Adobe Acrobat Web site.
Please note that the Philadelphia Courts does not provide Technical Support for Acrobat Reader Software. For technical support, please contact Adobe.
The First Judicial District of Pennsylvania complies with The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which requires that all court services and facilities be as reasonably accessible to persons with disabilities as those without disabilities.
If you have a disability and require reasonable accommodations to file a claim, participate in a court proceeding, or use any service provided by The First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, complete the Request for Reasonable Accommodation Form and return it to the ADA Coordinator(s) for the applicable Court, Division or Department. A current copy of the ADA Coordinator list is available at https://courts.phila.gov/ada.asp. Please call 215-683-6950 if you cannot determine the name of your ADA Coordinator.
Requests for reasonable accommodation must be made at least three business days in advance of the court activity. Because some accommodations require additional time, as much notice as possible is requested. On occasion, the court activity may be postponed until an accommodation is provided.
If you believe that there has been a violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the provision of services, programs, or activities by the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, you may file a Grievance utilizing the Grievance Form below.
There are no Request for Proposals (RFP) listed at this time.
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by The First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. About Us|Site Map|Contact Us|Twitter| Facebook
Copyright © 2018i First Judicial District of Pennsylvania All rights reserved.