Wikipedia

R. Stanton Wettick, Jr.

R. Stanton Wettick, Jr. was a United States judge in 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.

R. Stanton Wettick, Jr.
Judge, Court of Common Pleas, Pennsylvania Fifth Judicial District, County of Allegheny
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
EducationAmherst College (B.A. 1960); Yale University (LL. B. 1963)

Judicial service

edit

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]

As one 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.[11]

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.[12][13] 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.[14][15] 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,[16][17][18][19] with opinions from the 1978-1983 period alone being over 400 pages.[20]

In 2012, well after becoming a senior judge, he issued a detailed legal opinion on the scope of discovery permitted of private Facebook content.[21]

edit

Wettick was admitted to the Bar of Pennsylvania in 1964.[22] Before becoming a judge, he was executive director of the non-profit organization, Neighborhood Legal Services Association,[23] that provided legal services to those who could not afford lawyers.[24]

Education

edit

Wettick received a B.A. degree from Amherst College in 1960, and his law degree from Yale University in 1963.[2][22]

Honors and appointments

edit

In 2006, he received the Everyday Leader Award from the Pennsylvania Bar Association.[24] Although sitting in Pittsburgh, in 2015 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. Among other assignments given to him, he was a member of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania's Civil Procedural Rules Committee from 1992 to 2016, including his designation by the Supreme Court as committee vice-chair and chair.[3][25][26]

Author and academic

edit

Wettick authored a legal treatise on Pennsylvania civil procedure.[27] He served as an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law for decades.[24][28]

References

edit
  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. ^ "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. ^ "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.
  12. ^ "Wettick, Leading Voice on Discovery, To Retire". The Legal Intelligencer. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  13. ^ Cummins, Daniel E. "Wettick Rules on Facebook Discovery Issues". Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ Cary, Jean M. (2006). "Rambo Depositions Revisited: Controlling Attorney-Client Consultations During Depositions". Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics. 19: 367, 379–380.
  16. ^ Wettick, Hon. R. Stanton (1983). Allegheny County Discovery Opinions (1978-1983). Allegheny County Law Library.
  17. ^ Hon. R. Stanton Wettick, Jonathan Glick, and Joel Fishman. "Allegheny County discovery opinions (1978-1986)".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ Wettick, Hon. R. Stanton (1996). Wettick on Discovery: Index to Allegheny County Discovery Opinions. Pennsylvania Bar Institute.
  19. ^ 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)
  20. ^ Wettick, Hon. R. Stanton (1983). "Allegheny County discovery opinions (1978-1983)".
  21. ^ Trail vs. Lesko, No. GD-10-017249, Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County (July 3, 2012).
  22. ^ a b "R. Stanton Wettick, Jr. Judge Profile on Martindale.com". www.martindale.com. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  23. ^ "Neighborhood Legal Services". Neighborhood Legal Services. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  24. ^ a b c "Pennsylvania Bar Association". www.pabar.org. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  25. ^ "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.
  26. ^ "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.
  27. ^ "PA Forms for the Rules of Civil Procedure (Includes book + digital download)". Bisel Publishing. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  28. ^ "The Honorable R. Stanton Wettick | PittLaw". www.ieee-iri.org. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=R._Stanton_Wettick,_Jr.&oldid=1230402562"