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R. Stanton Wettick Jr.

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R. Stanton Wettick Jr.
Judge, Court of Common Pleas, Pennsylvania Fifth Judicial District, County of Allegheny
In office
1976–2016
Appointed byGovernor Milton Shapp (1976), Elected to 10-year term (1977), Won retention votes to ten-year terms (1987, 1997), Senior Status 2008-2016
Personal details
Born1938
Sharon, Mercer County, Pennsylvania
EducationAmherst College (B.A. 1960); Yale University (LL. B. 1963)

Ralph Stanton Wettick Jr. is a retired United States judge who served on the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania's Fifth Judicial District,[1] from 1976 to 2016. He was a leading authority on discovery under Pennsylvania's Rules of Civil Procedure, and was known for handling important and complex cases.

Judicial service

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In 1976, Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp appointed Wettick to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1977, Wettick was elected to the Court of Common Pleas for a ten-year term, and was successful in retention elections for additional ten-year terms in 1987 and 1997. In 2007, he took senior status at age 69. He retired from the court in 2016.[2][3]

Wettick served the court in many capacities, and became especially well known in Allegheny County, and across Pennsylvania's courts, for his rulings on discovery matters.

He began his judicial career in the Family Division,[4] eventually becoming its administrative judge; and in 1990, he was assigned to the court's Civil Division,[5] becoming its administrative judge in 2003.[6] He handled thorny and complex cases in the Civil Division, and in 2007, he helped create a specialized business court and complex litigation track, the Commerce and Complex Litigation Center,[7] and was assigned as one of its original judges.[8][9][10]

In 2003, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court created and adopted new rules of civil procedure to make judicial process more uniform across Pennsylvania, so the state's lawyers could more easily understand each county's local practices. In creating these new rules, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Judicial Council's Committee on Statewide Rules collaborated with the Supreme Court's Civil Procedural Rules Committee chaired by Wettick.[11][12]

In 2011, Wettick was specially assigned to preside over a case in Philadelphia's First Judicial District, where that judicial district itself along with the Chief Justice of Pennsylvania's Supreme Court were the plaintiffs in the lawsuit; and where he had to address issues such as whether a former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice could be subject to a deposition in that case.[13][14][15]

As an example of Pennsylvania courts respect for Wettick, although appellate courts are not bound by decisions of trial level courts, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court cited a decision by Wettick to support its opinion in Shafer Electric and Construction vs. Mantia.[16] Other cases show the significant issues he addressed over the years that reached Pennsylvania's highest court. In one case, a majority of Pennsylvania's Supreme Court followed Wettick's decision concerning dismissing cases that a plaintiff failed to actively pursue over a period of years.[17] In another case, involving a dispute over the constitutionality of Pennsylvania's property tax laws, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court agreed with some, though not all, of Wettick's reasoning in addressing the constitutionality of Pennsylvania's real estate assessment laws.[18][19]

Wettick and Pennsylvania discovery practice

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Wettick may have been most well known for his legal opinions concerning discovery under Pennsylvania's Rules of Civil Procedure, and their impact on other judges and attorneys.[20][21] Both in Pennsylvania and nationally, for example, his legal opinion in Acri v. Golden Triangle Management Acceptance Company was referenced as a key opinion providing detailed reasons opposing harsh restrictions on attorneys defending depositions that were being imposed by other judges, inside and outside of Pennsylvania, and in federal as well as state courts.[22][23] His opinions on a wide range of discovery issues were considered important enough as guidance that they have been collected and published as standalone volumes,[24][25][26][27] with opinions from the 1978-1983 period alone being over 400 pages.[28]

In legal cases involving discovery of materials that would usually be protected from disclosure to an opponent because of a privilege, but where those materials had been inadvertently disclosed to the opponent, Wettick's 1995 opinion in Minatronics Corp. v. Buchanan Ingersoll has been influential in Pennsylvania, including in the Supreme Court.[29][30] In 2012, well after becoming a senior judge, he issued a detailed legal opinion on the scope of discovery permitted of private Facebook content.[31] In 2016, he refined his own earlier influential opinion on discovery in medical malpractice cases.[32]

In 2012, Wettick led the committee that drafted Pennsylvania's rules on electronic discovery, which had significant differences from the federal rules on the same subject.[33]

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Wettick was admitted to the Bar of Pennsylvania in 1964.[34] Before becoming a judge, he was executive director of the non-profit organization, Neighborhood Legal Services Association,[35] that provided legal services to those who could not afford lawyers.[36]

Education

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Wettick received a B.A. degree from Amherst College in 1960, and his law degree from Yale University in 1963.[2][34]

Honors and appointments

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Wettick has been appointed to the following positions or received the following awards and honors, among others;

  • He received the Everyday Leader Award from the Pennsylvania Bar Association (2006)[36]
  • Although sitting in Pittsburgh, Wettick received a lifetime achievement award from the Legal Intelligencer, a daily law journal located in Philadelphia, 300 miles away at the other end of Pennsylvania (2015)[9]
  • He received the highest rating for diligence and ranked best for impartiality, legal ability and temperament in a trial lawyers survey by the Allegheny County Bar Association (1997)[36]
  • Wettick was a member of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania's Civil Procedural Rules Committee, including his designation by the Supreme Court as committee vice-chair and chair (1992-2016)[3][37][38]
  • Wettick served as chair of the following: the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's Domestic Relations Committee, the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges Commission, the Ad Hoc Medical Malpractice Committee to Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy, and the Three-Judge Coordinating Court for Silicone Implant Litigation[39]

Author and academic

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Wettick authored a legal treatise on Pennsylvania civil procedure.[39] He served as an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law for decades.[36][40]

As a young lawyer, in 1964, Wettick wrote Modifying Unemployment Compensation Acts to Remove Obstacles to Work Sharing.[41] Also while a lawyer, Wettick co-authored, The Effectiveness of State and Local Regulation of Handguns: A Statistical Analysis,[42] and Miranda in Pittsburgh—A Statistical Study.[43]

References

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  1. ^ "General Information". Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  2. ^ a b "R. Stanton Wettick, Jr". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  3. ^ a b "2016 Annual Report, The Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, County of Allegheny (page 24)" (PDF).
  4. ^ "Departments of the Family Division". Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  5. ^ "Departments of the Civil Division". Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  6. ^ "In the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, In Re: Designation of Administrative Judges of the Civil and Criminal Divisions of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Fifth Judicial District, No. 250 Judicial Classification Docket No. 2" (PDF). December 19, 2003.
  7. ^ "Commerce & Complex Litigation". Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  8. ^ Ward, Hon. Christine A. (2009). "Commerce Court: A Small Part of the Chief's Legacy". Duquesne Law Review. 47 (3): 574.
  9. ^ a b "2016 Annual Report, The Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, County of Allegheny" (PDF).
  10. ^ Brown, David M. (February 8, 2002). "Top lawyers praise Wettick". Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  11. ^ "Report of the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Supreme Court" (PDF). 2003.
  12. ^ "Pennsylvania Supreme Court Unifies Counties' Motions Rules". The Legal Intelligencer. November 17, 2003. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  13. ^ "Wettick Named to Hear FJD's Suit Against Rotwitt, Obermayer Firm". The Legal Intelligencer. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  14. ^ Campisi, Jon. "FJD settles legal malpractice case against local law firm for $4 million". Pennsylvania Record. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  15. ^ Campisi, Jon. "Judge overseeing FJD's legal malpractice suit orders former Pa. Supreme Court justice to sit for deposition". Pennsylvania Record. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  16. ^ "Shafer Electric and Construction v. Raymond and Donna Mantia, in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Western District, No. 28 WAP 2013 (footnote 5)" (PDF). April 8, 2014.
  17. ^ Flaherty, Justice John P. "Penn Piping, Inc. v. INA Insurance Company, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 529 Pa. 350 (1992)".
  18. ^ Ominsky, Harris (June 25, 2007). "Allegheny Co. Judge RulesPa. Assessment Law Unconstitutional". The Legal Intelligencer. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  19. ^ Hall, Peter (April 29, 2009). "Allegheny Reassessments Invalid, Supreme Court Holds". The Legal Intelligencer.
  20. ^ "Wettick, Leading Voice on Discovery, To Retire". The Legal Intelligencer. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  21. ^ Cummins, Daniel E. "Wettick Rules on Facebook Discovery Issues". Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  22. ^ Thomas G. Wilkinson, Jr. and Jordan Fox (July 2013). "Encouraging Attorney Civility During Depositions: The Enduring Impact of Hall v. Clifton Precision". Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly: 107.
  23. ^ Cary, Jean M. (2006). "Rambo Depositions Revisited: Controlling Attorney-Client Consultations During Depositions". Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics. 19: 367, 379–380.
  24. ^ Wettick, Hon. R. Stanton (1983). Allegheny County Discovery Opinions (1978-1983). Allegheny County Law Library.
  25. ^ Hon. R. Stanton Wettick, Jonathan Glick, and Joel Fishman. "Allegheny County discovery opinions (1978-1986)".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ Wettick, Hon. R. Stanton (1996). Wettick on Discovery: Index to Allegheny County Discovery Opinions. Pennsylvania Bar Institute.
  27. ^ Hon. R. Stanton Wettick, Catherine Gerhold, Joel Fishman, Jonathan Glick, and Tina Petrusic. "Allegheny County discovery opinions (1995-1998)".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  28. ^ Wettick, Hon. R. Stanton (1983). "Allegheny County discovery opinions (1978-1983)".
  29. ^ Heafey, Richard J. "RETURN TO SENDER?: Inadvertent Disclosure Of Privileged Information".
  30. ^ Eakin, Justice Michael (January 29, 2010). "Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company v. Fleming, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Case No. 32 WAP 2007".
  31. ^ Trail vs. Lesko, No. GD-10-017249, Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County (July 3, 2012).
  32. ^ Needles, Zach (July 20, 2016). "Pa. Trial Judge Clarifies Do's and Don'ts of Med Mal Discovery". The Legal Intelligencer. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  33. ^ Lawler, Tara S.; Caridad, Jacquelyn A.; Milner, Scott A. (June 13, 2012). "Pennsylvania Proclaims eDiscovery Independence from Federal Model". JDSupra.
  34. ^ a b "R. Stanton Wettick, Jr. Judge Profile on Martindale.com". www.martindale.com. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  35. ^ "Neighborhood Legal Services". Neighborhood Legal Services. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  36. ^ a b c d "Allegheny County Judge Receives 'Everyday Leader' Award from the Pennsylvania Bar Association". www.pabar.org. November 9, 2006. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  37. ^ "In the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, In Re: Designation of Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Civil Procedural Rules Committee, No. 318 Civil Procedural Rules, Docket No. 5, Order" (PDF). June 28, 1999.
  38. ^ "in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, In Re: Redesignation of Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Civil Procedural Rules Committee, No. 367 Civil Procedural Rules Docket No. 5" (PDF). June 20, 2002.
  39. ^ a b "PA Forms for the Rules of Civil Procedure (Includes book + digital download)". Bisel Publishing. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  40. ^ "The Honorable R. Stanton Wettick | PittLaw". www.ieee-iri.org. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  41. ^ Wettick, Jr., R. Stanton (November 1964). "Modifying Unemployment Compensation Acts to Remove Obstacles to Work-Sharing". Labor Law Journal. 15 (11): 702–707.
  42. ^ Geisel, Martin S.; Roll, Richard; Wettick, Jr., R. Stanton (1969). "The Effectiveness of State and Local Regulation of Handguns: A Statistical Analysis". Duke Law Journal: 647–676.
  43. ^ Seeburger, Richard H.; Wettick, Jr., R. Stanton (1973). Becker, Theodore L.; Feeley, Malcolm M. (eds.). Miranda in Pittsburgh—A Statistical Study, in The Impact of Supreme Court Decisions. Oxford University Press.
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