Article omits Lehigh County judges for good reason

A recent article by Spotlight PA (The Morning Call, Dec. 10) was critical of some magisterial district courts and magisterial district judges in Pennsylvania. No criticism was mentioned of any magisterial district court or judge in Lehigh County … and for good reason.

Magisterial district courts are the front line of Pennsylvania’s judicial system. They deal with landlord and tenant matters, including home evictions; motor vehicle violations; setting bail and conducting preliminary hearings in criminal cases; civil disputes less than $12,000; and emergency protection from abuse orders.

In addition to their normal day-time hours, the judges have scheduled night-call and weekend duty.

We have 14 elected district judges in Lehigh County, seven in Allentown, the other seven dispersed around the county.

Lehigh is a third-class county, as are 11 others. Our district judges have, on average, 18% more filings than the average district judge among the third-class counties. It is the highest number of filings per judge among any of the third-class counties.

According to the article, the average number of afternoons with no proceedings among the thirdclass counties is 69. Our number is 26. The article also noted some district judges have active law practices or businesses which compete for their time. None of our district judges has an active law practice or a business that competes for judicial time.

While constructive reviews of our public institutions are important, the criticisms noted in Spotlight PA’s article do not apply to the magisterial district courts and judges of Lehigh County. Edward D. Reibman

The writer is president judge of the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas.