news in brief

East Stroudsburg – The 15-year-old son and longtime girlfriend of a Port Authority police officer killed in the World Trade Center attack are being evicted from their home in a family squabble over the officer’s share of victims compensation benefits.



Kim McNeil, 28, has given her half brother, Walter McNeil Jr., until Thursday to get out of the East Stroudsburg home where he has lived since 1996.



Also being evicted is Sonia Rodriguez, who lived for many years with Walter A. McNeil, an officer with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.



Rodriguez has fought a losing battle to win a share of McNeil’s estate. She failed to convince a judge that she should be declared McNeil’s common-law wife – a designation that would have entitled her to survivor’s benefits, including pensions from the Port Authority and the Army and a $130,000 federal stipend for slain police officers.



In In re Estate of McNeil, PICS Case No. 02-0125 (C.P. Monroe Nov. 30, 2001) Miller, J. (9 pages), Monroe County Judge Linda Wallach Miller urged the state Legislature to abolish common law marriage in Pennsylvania.



Rodriquez says she is struggling to find housing for herself and her son.



“I don’t understand what drove her to do this,” Rodriguez said of Kim McNeil’s eviction order. “I guess she was jealous that my son lived with us and she lived with her mother… Money drives people to do things like this.”



Kim McNeil and brother Walter McNeil Jr. are eligible for federal aid to families of World Trade Center victims, which average about $1.65 million. They may also qualify for aid from the $113 million Twin Towers Fund.



Kim McNeil, the officer’s daughter from a previous marriage, was also declared executor of her father’s estate, which includes the house in East Stroudsburg.



Rodriguez, who said she began her relationship with McNeil in 1985, has so far been shut out of the aid formula.



“We lived together for 17 years, and basically it’s like I don’t exist,” she told the New York Post. “What can I do? I can’t do anything but go on. I got to keep my sanity for my son.”



Kim McNeil’s lawyer, Timothy Fisher, told the Pocono Record that Rodriguez failed to keep the house in good condition and treated her rudely when she went to the home for an inspection.



Court documents filed by Rodriguez claim that after she won legal control of the estate, Kim McNeil switched off the phone and cable and canceled the insurance on her father’s cars.

New Administrative Judges Named in Phila.

Philadelphia – The state Supreme Court has announced the shifting of two administrative judgeships on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.



Judge James J. Fitzgerald will replace John W. Herron as administrative judge of the Trial Division, and Judge Myrna P. Field will replace Judge Esther R. Sylvester as administrative judge of the Family Court Division.



The appointments come just a few months after Democrats lost their stronghold on the court at the end of last year, following Superior Court Judge J. Michael Eakin’s election to the high court. The election shifted the court to four Republicans and three Democrats. The current bench is the first Republican high court since 1972.



Justice Ralph J. Cappy has also relinquished his duties as Philadelphia liaison justice, allowing Justice Sandra Schultz Newman to step into the position.



Rule 706 of the Rules of Judicial Administration allows administrative judges to serve a three-year term, or “at the pleasure of the court,” allowing the Supreme Court to put in its own appointees and to extend the term of their appointments.



Fitzgerald wasn’t originally believed to be the most likely replacement for Herron. Instead, it was speculated that Judge D. Webster Keogh, currently the supervisor of the Criminal Division of the Court of Common Pleas, would be appointed to the position.



But the justices gave Fitzgerald the go-ahead.



Fitzgerald has been a judge for 12 years. He has served for seven years in the Major Criminal Trial Program. Four of those years were spent in the Homicide Division, and he recently served as supervisor of the Major Criminal Case Calendar Program.



Herron, a Democrat, said that the six years he spent as administrative judge had its high points but that he was more than ready to step aside.



Field said that the Family Court appointment came as a shock and that the possibility of becoming administrative judge did not cross her mind until she found out last week that she had been appointed.



Court of Common Pleas President Judge Frederica Massiah-Jackson said: “Judge Fitzgerald … has been a leader in handling some very tough cases. … He was an active district attorney. … I know that he will bring strengths and creativity with him. He will keep the court moving in a very positive direction for both the court and the public.”



Prior to the announcement, it was speculated that Justice Ronald D. Castille, the ranking Republican in Philadelphia, would take over the liaison justice position from Cappy, a Democrat. However, the slot instead went to Newman.



Newman, a Republican, said she planned to call on Cappy’s experience as she takes over from him as Philadelphia liaison justice.



“He’s going to be very helpful in transferring over certain things I need to know,” she said. “I hope that all the justices will help.”



She said that Castille and his knowledge of Philadelphia would also help her as she takes over the position.



“We are all communicating. I hope that everyone is collegial and that we can work together on this,” Newman said.



“I want the administrative judge and the president judge to run the court. I don’t want to run the court. What I want is to see happy judges, but I am realistic enough to know that not everyone can always be happy. I certainly hope there will be collegiality with our court. I fully anticipate there will be.”



Liaison justices are decided by a consenus of the high court bench, with the guidance of the chief justice.

Bankruptcy Court Approves $93.7 Million Settlement in Allegheny Health Case