Contempt hearing for clerk of courts delayed again
The contempt hearing for Washington County Clerk of Courts Brenda Davis has been delayed again after her lawyers filed an appeal this week with the state Supreme Court.
The lawyers for Davis filed an application Tuesday for a writ of prohibition and request for emergency stay, prompting Washington County Court of Common Pleas President Judge John DiSalle to continue the hearing that was originally set for Monday morning.
Davis has been facing the on-again-off-again contempt hearing since the Nov. 24 incident inside the Washington County Courthouse in which she refused to help facilitate the transfer of juvenile court documents from her office as ordered by DiSalle. She allegedly attempted to block deputies from moving the files to the Juvenile Probation Office and then refused to go DiSalle’s courtroom for a hearing to discuss the situation.
The hearing has been delayed and rescheduled multiple times after the state Commonwealth Court granted an emergency stay in early December, but then quashed her appeal Feb. 3. The state Supreme Court is now her last avenue for appeal in an effort to block the contempt hearing from occurring.
Robert Gallo and Charles Gallo, the Pittsburgh-based attorneys representing who filed the appeal for Davis, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
DiSalle said during a brief interview Thursday that delaying the contempt hearing was an obvious decision to allow time for the state Supreme Court to rule on the appeal.
“Although the contempt proceedings against Brenda Davis have not yet concluded and no sanctions have been imposed, and the appeals from the orders in question are therefore interlocutory and not appealable … the Court deems it prudent to hold the contempt proceedings in abeyance pending consideration by the Supreme Court of Davis’s Application for Writ of Prohibition,” DiSalle wrote in his order Thursday delaying the contempt hearing.
DiSalle said he expected the state Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts to file a response to the appeal on his behalf. Although there was no timeline on when the state Supreme Court would rule on the appeal, the high court is expected to decide the matter in about two weeks.