WILKES-BARRE — A senior judge with no ties to the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas will likely be tasked with presiding over a couple's divorce and custody cases after a Chester County attorney alleged in a motion to dismiss improper communications with a Luzerne County judge.
Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough last week granted a motion filed by attorney Samuel C. Stretton on behalf of Anthony Banta to remove all county judges from presiding over his divorce and custody dispute with his estranged wife, Suzanne Mattern Banta.
Stretton, who represents Anthony Banta only in recusal matters, alleges in the motion that Lucerne County District Judge Jennifer L. Rogers, as a domestic administrative attorney, engaged in inappropriate communications with Suzanne Mattern Banta before and during the divorce and custody proceedings.
According to the motion to dismiss filed Dec. 15, Stretton claims the improper communications were found on a laptop that Suzanne Matern Banta returned to Anthony Banta.
Lucerne District Judge Stefanie Salavantis presided over the divorce and custody issues, not Rogers.
Vough granted the motion to dismiss in a two-page order filed last week that excluded “the entire judiciary of the 11th Judicial District of Pennsylvania” and asked the Pennsylvania Office of Court Administration to assign a senior judge outside of Lucerne to preside commission divorce and custody proceedings.
In a related case, a second motion filed by Stretton to preserve telephone, computer and all records of Suzanne Mattern Banta's alleged communications with Rogers and Salavantis remains pending without a decision.
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