WESTMORELAND COUNTY JUDGE DISMISSES SHERIFF’S OFFICE LAWSUIT

A Westmoreland County Judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the county Sheriff’s office to reverse a court order from over 20 years ago that requires them to transport jailed inmates to preliminary hearings.  The Trib reports that Sheriff James Albert said the mandate left his department unable to fulfill other mandated functions.  The judge said the sheriff’s lawsuit was “improvidently filed,” a legal term that concluded the county court is not the proper venue for Albert’s challenge of a 2006 order issued by now-retired Judge Daniel Ackerman that mandated the department transport inmates.  Albert said he plans to appeal to Commonwealth Court.