Rule 1301.1 - Cases For Submission To Arbitration(a) All civil cases at law which are now or hereafter at issue wherein the amount in controversy in each cause of action, i.e., the amount claimed in each count, stated therein, exclusive of interest and costs, does not exceed fifty thousand ($50,000.00) dollars, and which do not involve title to real property, shall be submitted to, heard, and decided by a board of arbitrators consisting of three (3) attorneys admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and actively engaged in the practice of law primarily in Chester County and who maintain an office in Chester County. (b) The court administrator may in his or her discretion consolidate cases for hearing when all the cases are subject to the provisions of the arbitration rules and when they involve common questions of fact. The court administrator shall by letter notify all counsel and unrepresented parties of any consolidation. (c) If the judge who has been assigned a Category A matter shall determine that the case is properly one which should be handled as an arbitration under Category C, the assigned judge shall order the case to be placed in Category C, and the case shall thenceforth be treated as though it had been so classified as an arbitration case in the first instance. The court administrator shall schedule such remanded arbitration cases for hearing as soon as practicable unless otherwise ordered by the assigned judge. Chest. Cnty. Ct. Comm. Plea. R. 1301.1
Adopted June 19, 2012., effective thirty (30) days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin