The Family Court Controversy
The mess controversy over development of a new $200 million Family Court building in Philadelphia has been a complicated affair. It's involved the credibility of the state's Supreme Court, it's touches many of the city's best known lawyers and law firms, and it affects all of the thousands of people who use the Family Court every day.
Following reports that documents gathered during a still-under-wraps investigation will be used in a legal malpractice lawsuit filed by Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron Castille on behalf of the First Judicial District over the Family Court Building project in Philadelphia, the Committee of Seventy urged Castille to release the investigation's findings to the public. The report, which Castille ordered in June 2010, cost $780,540. The investigator hired by Castille, William Chadwick, pledged full transparency and public scrutiny of the results when he was hired to conduct the investigation.
With
continuing questions about how and why the state Supreme Court's Chief
Justice handled the project to replace Philadelphia's aging Family Court
facilities, the Committee of Seventy uses its
IN THE KNOW feature to untangle the complex
story so the public can understand what's at stake.
The committee of Seventy calls for the court project to be put on hold until investigators can clarify what actually happened in the complicated $12 million effort to find a new site for the courthouse.