Pennsylvania Legal Overview: Johnstown The Johnstown metropolitan area in Pennsylvania is defined by the Census Bureau as covering Cambria County. Officially, it is called the Johnstown, PA MSA and is served by the 47th Judicial District of Pennsylvania. The Cambria County Court of Common Pleas, located in Ebensburg, is the main trial court with general jurisdiction over all criminal and civil cases filed in the county. Additional limited jurisdiction magisterial district court judges exist in all the cities and boroughs. Listed below are the main cities in the Johnstown metro area.
Top Pennsylvania cities for Legal Issues: Johnstown
1. The Cambria County Court of Common Pleas gets all the felony cases and civil lawsuits that exceed $12,000. It also has divisions for family law, juvenile matters and domestic violence. Johnstown has four magisterial district courts which serve different wards in the city, along with other towns and townships nearby. There are also magisterial district courts in Cresson, Portage, Mineral Point, Hastings, Sidman, and the county seat of Ebensburg. These courts have limited jurisdiction over misdemeanors, arraignments and preliminary hearings, traffic violations, city code violations, and civil lawsuits not exceeding $12,000.
Trending Legal Topics: Appeals against trial court verdicts in Pennsylvania go to the Superior Court. Appeals against government agency decisions go to the Commonwealth Court. These are the two intermediate appellate courts. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is the highest court in the state, and may overrule or uphold appellate court rulings. Federal cases in Cambria County must be filed with the Johnstown Division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Federal court appeals will be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. |