The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered a hearing to examine whether corruption in the Luzerne County Courthouse played a role in the assignment of a defamation lawsuit to a judge who has since pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges.
In a two-page order Tuesday, the Supreme Court granted a King’s Bench petition by the owners of the Citizens’ Voice newspaper and assigned Lehigh County President Judge William H. Platt to conduct an evidentiary hearing on allegations that Wilkes-Barre businessman Thomas Joseph’s libel suit was improperly assigned to former President Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. The Wilkes-Barre newspaper was hit with a $3.5 million verdict at the conclusion of the 2006 bench trial over which Ciavarella presided.
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