Pennsylvania, like all states, has several levels of courts, including small claims courts, state and federal trial courts, state appellate courts, federal appellate courts, all the way up to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and finally the U.S. Supreme Court. With all those courts to choose from, how do you make a federal case of something? Well, it depends on what you want out of your case and what law applies. More on this later.
If you are starting small, you can sue in Pennsylvania’s small claims courts, known as District Justice courts or, if you live in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Municipal Court. If you live anywhere in Pennsylvania other than Philadelphia, there is a District Justice court in your community. There are 30 such courts in Montgomery County. D.J. courts are “limited jurisdiction” courts and handle civil cases involving up to $8,000, landlord-tenant matters, and also minor criminal matters. The Philadelphia Municipal Court handles civil cases involving up to $10,000.
The next step up in the state heirarchy is the Court of Common Pleas. Every Pennsylvania county has one located in the county seat. The Court of Common Pleas is a court of “general jurisdiction” since it handles the widest variety of cases. It is also called the “trial court level” because it is where the actual trial of most cases takes place. These include suits for money, cases involving real property, estates, family law, divorce, and the law of equity. Issues involving trusts, estates, and wills are handled by the Orphans’ Court Division (which actually has little to do with orphans), while divorce, custody, and support matters are handled by the Family Division.
The next steps up from the Court of Common Pleas are the Pennsylvania Superior Court and the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court. These courts generally do not conduct trials because both are appellate level courts. The Commonwealth Court handles appeals where the state is a party (criminal cases and civil cases where the state or other government unit is suing or being sued), and the Superior Court handles most other appeals. The primary duty of these courts is to handle appeals from the courts of common pleas and decide legal issues that a party claims were wrongly decided by the trial court.
Our highest state court is the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which handles appeals from the Superior and Commonwealth Courts. Unlike the other state courts, the Supreme Court is free to choose which cases it will hear and which it will not; therefore it has “discretionary jurisdiction”. If it refuses to hear a case, the ruling of the Commonwealth or Superior Court will be the final word on that case. The only appeals the Supreme Court must hear are those involving capital punishment. A decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court may be appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which, however, rarely allows such appeals.
The federal system is similar in structure to the state system. The trial level for the federal courts is the United States District Court (in Pennsylvania there is one each for the Eastern District, Middle District, and Western District). Unlike the Common Pleas Courts, the U.S. District Court has “limited jurisdiction”. There are basically two ways into the U.S. District Courts: The first is “diversity jurisdiction” where the amount in controversy must be over $75,000, and the parties (plaintiff and defendant) must be from different states. The second is “federal question jurisdiction” where the case centers around an issue of federal law. A case involving a contract dispute over a $100,000.00 payment between a corporation in California and one in Pennsylvania could be brought in the U.S. District Court based upon diversity jurisdiction. A case involving the Clean Water Act could be brought in the District Court because the Clean Water Act is a federal law. The U.S. District Court does not have jurisdiction to hear family law, divorce, support, estate, or will cases.
The appellate level for the federal courts is the Circuit Court of Appeals. Pennsylvania is included in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which also covers Delaware, New Jersey and (believe it or not) the Virgin Islands. Like the Commonwealth and the Superior Courts, the Circuit Court handles issues of law on appeals from the trial court level.
The final step on the federal level is the United States Supreme Court. Like the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court has discretionary jurisdiction to accept or reject any case from the United States Circuit Courts or any case from a state supreme court.
In summary, getting into federal court isn�t always so easy. Federal jursidiction is limited � big cases between citizens of different states or claims arising under federal law make up most of the federal dockets. Unless you fit these categories, state court is the only game in town.
– Mike Malin