The Case of the Three Witches of Havertown Pennsylvania Municipal Court

Knowledge is Power ! Respect is earned.

Recently, my investigative office was contacted by an out of state private investigator to conduct a fairly simple task.? The investigator provided our office with a copy of case docket report.? The case involved a civil matter between two parties and a judgment was issued to the defendant for roughly $2800.? Their request was for me to get a copy of the complaint and the judgment in this matter.? Simple enough!? The case originated in the small municipality known as Havertown Pennsylvania.

Havertown is small and an unincorporated residential community just outside of Philadelphia and it is a part of Haverford Township. So Havertown is a municipality to Haverford Township. Havertown has its own municipal court.

Municipal Courts are small courts in Pennsylvania. Havertown is located within Delaware County Pennsylvania. There are approximately 30 Municipal Courts in Delaware County. In my opinion, municipal courts are essentially developed to elevate some of the stress of case loads on the county level. Delaware County, Pennsylvania has 49 municipalities. ?Municipal Courts are considered to be “Minor” Courts. They are at the bottom of the pyramid so to speak but they are part of a larger system which is known as the Unified Judicial System. It starts out like this:

PA SUPREME COURT

COMMONWEALTH AND SUPERIOR COURT

COURTS OF COMMON PLEAS

AND

MINOR COURTS

Pennsylvania's minor courts are the Magisterial District Courts, the Philadelphia Municipal Court, and special problem-solving courts throughout the state.

Minor courts address whether serious criminal cases go to the Court of Common Pleas, preliminary hearings, or setting bail (except in murder or voluntary manslaughter cases) and decide minor cases, such as those involving housing or small claims. Typically, they will see cases with a value of less than $12,000.

Who was Ed Rendell?

Ed Rendell was the former Mayor of Philadelphia. ?Well, to most of us Philadelphians he is affectionately known as “Uncle Eddie”. He served as Mayor of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2000. He is an important figure in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania politics. He also served as the Governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 20011. ?So why is he a part of this story? And why is he important to my profession as a Licensed Pennsylvania Private Detective?

On February 14, 2008 (VALENTINES DAY), Governor Ed Rendell signed into law the OOR aka the Office of Open Records. The OOR was created as a result of the RTKL aka the Right to Know Law. The Right to Know Law is Pennsylvania's open records law. It requires government agencies in Pennsylvania to provide access to and copies of public records to the public.

According to the OOR website the following description is provided:

“Good government is a basic principle; built on the foundation that information must be communicated between governments and the public they serve.? This vital exchange is the primary mission of the Office of Open Records (OOR).

The OOR was created by the Right-to-Know Law (RTKL) signed on February 14, 2008 by Governor Ed Rendell. This law fundamentally changed access to government records in Pennsylvania by establishing a presumption that all records are public and available to citizens and requiring state and local governments to prove why they are legally justified in withholding records.

Prior to Pennsylvania’s RTKL, the state’s open records law was recognized as one of the worst in the United States. Since then, the OOR stands as one of a handful of similar state-level agencies that has binding authority over citizen access to government records.? Recognizing the significance of this responsibility, the OOR strives to make fair and open final determinations on the status of public records.

The OOR is a quasi-judicial, independent agency led by an Executive Director who is appointed by the governor to a six-year term. Within the OOR, 24?employees oversee and decide thousands of appeals per year, as well as perform dozens of trainings on the RTKL and Pennsylvania’s open meetings law (the Sunshine Act).

The OOR also issues annual reports on the state of open records in Pennsylvania government, monitors hundreds of RTKL cases within the Pennsylvania court system, and answers citizen and media inquiries regarding transparency laws.”

Now that we understand this let me get back to my story.? I have been working as a Private Detective for almost 35 years now. I am very familiar with the RTKL. I preface this with my investigative technique when going to courts or any place in which I need to recover some information. My technique is quite simple. I am as polite as possible and sometimes I act dumb.? I might walk into any particular office and meet with a staff member and say something like “Good Morning, Happy New Year, I am not sure if I am in the right place so if I am not then maybe you can guide me in the right direction, but I am trying to get a copy of…….”? This technique always works for me. People are typically always willing to help. I get what I need and I say thank you, have a nice day and I leave feeling accomplished. ?And that was my plan on a cold morning in January 2025.

I dropped my daughter off at school at 7:30 AM and I patiently battled traffic from Philadelphia to Havertown Pennsylvania. When I arrived at the Municipal Court office, I was slightly confused because the building appeared to be a medical building. For the most part, it was a medical building.? There was nothing on the exterior to indicate that this was some sort of government house.? I even asked a person leaving the building if t his was where the Municipal Court was located and they did not know.? So, I called them from the parking lot and asked them where they were located and they did explain to me that they were in the building on the first floor and I thanked them and told them that I would be in shortly.

After entering a maze of hallways, I finally reached my destination.? There was a small room with three middle aged women working behind a glass window.? A female Judge was walking out of the room and asked me if I was here for court. I politely said no, I am here to get some information and she pointed to the women behind the glass window. And so, I did my thing:

“Good Morning, Happy New year, I am not sure if you can help me or maybe you can direct me to the right location but I need a copy of a civil complaint and the judgment from an Municipal Court case bearing the following numbers”….

I was immediately asked in my opinion a nasty manner “Who are you?” as to which I replied “My name is Gary DeFinis, I am a licensed Private Investigator and my company is known as Philadelphia Surveillance Company and I am licensed by the State out of Philadelphia County under the Pennsylvania Private Detective Act”. And I handed her one of my business cards.

She immediately said to me “Is this your case?” I replied “No, I am conducting some due diligence work and I need a copy of these documents to satisfy this need” as to which she replied “we can’t give you information that is not yours” as to which I replied “But it is public information”.? At that point, the other two witches of Havertown stood up and started yelling at me. Saying things to me that was quite unprofessional in my opinion.? The one women who identified as the supervisor actually said to me “How would you like it if someone came in looking for your case information?” as to which I responded “its public information so I would not have a problem with it”. This gang of three stood there staring at me in such a demeaning way that I chose to say “Thank you” and as I turned to leave I noticed a chair just a few feet away.? I sat down and pulled out my cell phone and did some research on the RTKL and also on Havertown and I discovered quickly that Havertown was a part of Haverford.? I am connecting the dots here….

So, I stood up and I walked back to the window and I said “I have one last question” the miserable witch stood up and all three of them looked at me and I said “Is Havertown a part of Haverford?” and they said “yes”.? I said “Thank you and I walked out of their office, I entered my vehicle and I drove to Haverford Township Office just a mile or so away.

I walked into their office and I did my thing….Hello, Good Morning, Happy New year….I don’t know if you can help me or not or maybe you can direct me in the right direction but I would like to file an open records request for documents related to a court case in Municipal Court.? This angel of a woman said “sure, no problem” and she handed me a RTKL request sheet. I filled it out correctly, handed it back to her and was told I would get a response by email within 30 days but most likely it would be a lot sooner than that….I said Thank you and I departed the office happy that I accomplished what I set out to do. Now, all I had to do was waiting until that email arrived.? I felt accomplished. I felt as though I used my knowledge and craft to ultimately get what I set out to get.? It’s a feeling I get often. ?I am a very task oriented investigator.

The next day, I received an email that contained the following content:

Dear Gary DeFinis,

Thank you for writing to Haverford Township to request records pursuant to Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law (“RTKL”), 65 P.S. §§ 67.101 et seq.

On January 13, 2025, you requested copies of a complaint and judgment for a municipal docket. Your request is denied for the following reasons, as permitted by the RTKL.

The records requested are not in the possession of Haverford Township. Please visit the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania website (https://www.pacourts.us/courts/courts-of-common-pleas/docket-sheets) to find the information you are looking for.

You have a right to appeal this denial in writing to: Office of Open Records, 333 Market St., 16th Floor, Harrisburg, PA 17101-2234. Appeals can also be filed online at the Office of Open Records website, https://www.openrecords.pa.gov.

?If you choose to file an appeal, you must do so within 15 business days of the mailing date of the agency’s response.? See 65 P.S. § 67.1101.? Please note that a copy of your original Right-to-Know request, the agency’s extension notice (if applicable), and this denial letter should be included when filing an appeal. More information about how to file an appeal under the Right-to-Know Law is available at the Office of Open Records website, https://www.openrecords.pa.gov.

So, I responded to this message as follows:

“The records requested are not in the possession of Haverford Township.”

Who has possession of them?

And they responded:? “Delaware County”

I called the Clerk of Courts in Delaware County and spoke to them about my situation. Obviously, I was not taking “NO” as an answer. I did my thing over the phone…hello I am not sure if you can help me……I explained my situation to this person and they instructed me to contact another person who was in charge of county RTKL requests.

I then called this person and they were not in the office at the time of my call however I was transferred to an underling.? Once again, I did my thing…Hello, Good Morning, happy New Year, I am not sure if you can help me…..I explained the situation again.? Her response was interesting.? She said “are you a private investigator?? Were you in the office yesterday making a request in Havertown?? I said yes I am and yes I was….And to my great surprise she said “I heard about you, the women from that office called me yesterday to ask me if they were permitted to give me the requested information but by the time they got the OK from us, I had already departed the building. So, she said, I will get you the information you need and I will email it to you within the hour. I received her email with all of the documents I requested shortly thereafter.

The good news in all of this is that I knew I was right. I knew the law in this particular situation because I deal with this type of thing regularly. I was happy but more importantly my client was happy because they were able to review the information for which they asked me to seek for them.

We sometimes assume that everyone working in government understands the laws that allow us all to obtain certain information from the courts. They do not always understand the law.? However in the case of the Three Witches of Havertown Pennsylvania Municipal Court…They are now getting a crash course in Open Records, The Right to know and hopefully a master class in being friendly and polite to all.

Lastly, I wanted to mention that some cases in municipal courts can be official sealed for various reasons and no one would be able to obtain this information. Such cases may involve very sensitive materials and or related to minors.

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