District Justice Beverly H. Foster, still wearing her overcoat after a hurried trip to the police station, sat across from Farrell at a small table in a room no bigger than a walk-in closet. It was her weekend to be on call - her weekend to be available to stand in for all nine of the district
justices in northern Delaware County, ready to arraign criminal suspects on a moment's notice, to set bail, to sign arrest warrants, to do whatever else couldn't wait until Monday.
She looked at Farrell and asked him how he intended to pay his $349 in fines and court costs - plus $417 to cover the damage he had caused when he had torn off a side mirror and windshield wiper blades from a car parked at a local auto dealership.
Farrell said he'd have to call his dad, a lawyer in Chicago. No, Foster told Dad on the telephone moments later, she couldn't accept Visa or American Express. But, yes, she'd take a check from "a prominent Philadelphia law firm" where Dad knew someone.
Next case.
Weekend rotation is only one of the judicial duties handled by Foster, who during regular hours works from a court office at 771 E. Lancaster Ave. in Villanova. Her regular duties give her responsibility for minor judicial affairs in Radnor Township.
She has jurisdiction over summary criminal cases, such as public drunkenness, disorderly conduct and trespassing. She rules on traffic violations in her district. And she is the real-life equivalent of Judge Wapner in the televised People's Court, handling civil disputes involving $4,000 or less.
Like all 531 justices across the state, Foster is also responsible for the initial arraignments and evidentiary hearings in major criminal cases. She may deal with a parking ticket one moment and hold a preliminary murder hearing the next.
