Chest. Cnty. Ct. Comm. Plea. R. 200
All civil litigation in this court shall be divided into the following categories:
Category A shall consist of all civil matters which include matters filed for jury trial, non-jury trial, equity matters, and cases appealed from arbitration.
Category B shall consist of miscellaneous matters such as name change petitions, license suspension appeals, mechanics lien matters, zoning appeals and other matters requiring disposition by a judge.
Comment: Category B is not an exclusive listing of matters requiring disposition by the court. For example, petitions for appointment of arbitrators or for minor's compromise, etc. would be includable.
Category C shall consist of compulsory arbitrations.
Category D shall include all matters under the jurisdiction of the family court division.
Category E shall include all matters which do not require action by a judge, including but not limited to confessions of judgment, transfers of judgment, liens, waivers of liens, lis pendens, etc.
Matters under category D and those within the jurisdiction of the orphans' court division shall not be assigned to individual judges under this rule but shall be handled in accordance with the rules and practices of the orphans' court division and family court division.
The president judge may modify the type of case to be placed in each category or create additional categories of cases.
For matters set forth in categories A, B and C, when the case is commenced it shall be assigned for trial and pre-trial proceedings to a designated judge. The designated judge shall be responsible for the matter from the time of initial filing until final disposition, unless otherwise directed by the President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County. The assignment of the case shall be made by the prothonotary in accordance with regulations promulgated by the president judge. The assignment regulations shall create a blind rotation system which balances the case loads among the judges. The sequence of assignment shall be kept secret and all steps shall by taken to prevent any person from being able to ascertain the name of the judge to whom any case may assigned before the assignment. When an action is commenced (whether by writ, complaint or otherwise) the papers filed with the prothonotary must be accompanied by a cover sheet in the form provided by the prothonotary and designed to assist the prothonotary in the assignment of each case.
If, at the time of the filing of any civil action or proceeding, counsel is aware that a related claim is pending, counsel shall so notify the court administrator in writing. Civil cases are deemed related when they involve common issues of fact or grow out of the same transaction. If it is later discovered that two or more matters are related, the judge to whom the latter case has been assigned may refer the case to the court administrator for reassignment to the judge to whom the earlier related case was assigned.
The president judge may reassign cases whenever necessary to eliminate conflicts, to promote a balance of the work load among the judges and to improve prompt and just administration of all cases.
Chest. Cnty. Ct. Comm. Plea. R. 200