Court Contracts with Private Individuals and Companies

Abstract

Courts routinely enter into agreements with private individuals and companies to per form tasks associated with daily court operations. Companies or individuals such as messenger services, process servers, and computer technicians, just to name a few, fre quently work with local courts on an as-needed basis. In Swinehart v. McAndrews and Carey, 221 F. Supp. 2d 552 (E.D.Pa. 2002), the question of a court's ability not to sever such a relationship but to inform the person's other clients about his improper conduct in performing work for the court was raised in a lawsuit filed under 42 U.S.C. ? 1983. Walter Swinehart was an elected constable in Morrisville, Pennsylvania. The courts within the Seventh Judicial District frequently contracted with Swinehart in his capaci ty as constable to serve warrants. In fact, Swinehart received approximately 95 percent of his assignments from the courts and agencies of the district. On January 17, 2001, the deputy court administrator of the Court of Common Pleas for Bucks County, Charles Carey, Jr., received a complaint against Swinehart due to his brandishing a gun while serving a warrant for nonpayment of child support, a fact not disputed by Swinehart. Carey advised presiding Judge R. Barry McAndrews of this complaint and began an investigation into its allegations. During the investigation, statements were obtained from Swinehart, the complainant, another constable, and Philadelphia police officers who were present when the warrant was served. Following the completion of the investigation, Carey submitted a written memorandum and copies of materials germane to the incident to Judge McAndrews. On January 24,2001, Judge McAndrews instructed Carey to inform the other judges in the district that "Constable Walter Swinehart is not to be issued any additional work assignments by your District Court effective this date forward. This restriction shall con tinue in place until further notice and review by President Judge McAndrews." Additionally, at the direction of Judge McAndrews, Carey forwarded a copy of the orig inal complaint to Bucks County's director of domestic relations and the chief domestic relations investigative officer and advised them that because Swinehart had been involved in a similar incident in the last two years, he would not be receiving new assign ments from the district courts. Following these events, Swinehart retained his position as constable, but received no work from the Bucks County court system.