Title: In the Matter of the Petition of Dana Fichera for a Writ of Certiorari
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 300, 2023
State: Delaware
Issuer: Delaware Supreme Court
Date: October 13, 2023

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION 
OF DANA FICHERA FOR A WRIT OF 
CERTIORARI 
 
§   
§ No. 300, 2023 
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
Submitted: September 5, 2023 
 
 
 
 
Decided: 
October 13, 2023 
 
Before SEITZ, Chief Justice; VALIHURA and GRIFFITHS, Justices. 
 
ORDER 
 
Upon consideration of the petition for a writ of certiorari, the notice to show 
cause, the response to the notice to show cause, and the answer to the petition, it 
appears to the Court that: 
(1) 
The petitioner, Dana Fichera, seeks to invoke the original jurisdiction 
of this Court, under Supreme Court Rule 43, to issue a writ of certiorari vacating a 
Justice of the Peace Court panel’s decision in a summary possession action.   On 
August 24, 2023, the Senior Court Clerk issued a notice directing Fichera to show 
cause why her petition should not be dismissed for her failure to first present the 
petition to the Superior Court as required by Supreme Court Rule 43(b)(vi).   
(2) 
In her response to the notice to show cause, Fichera argues the 
substantive merits of her petition and contends that the Supreme Court should decide 
the matter rather than the Superior Court.  In his answer to the petition for a writ of 
certiorari, Tony Bell argues that the petition is untimely because Fichera did not first 
2 
 
file the petition in the Superior Court and the petition impermissibly seeks review of 
the lower court’s factual findings. 
(3) 
Rule 43(b)(vi) provides that a petition “shall not be filed under this rule 
for a writ to be issued to the Court of Common Pleas, a Justice of the Peace Court, 
or the Municipal Court of the City of Wilmington or to a judge thereof, unless a 
petition for such writ shall have been first presented to and denied by the Superior 
Court.”  Fichera has not filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the Superior 
Court.  Accordingly, her petition for a writ of certiorari in this Court must be 
dismissed.1  
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED, under Supreme Court Rules 29(b) 
and 43, that the petition for a writ of certiorari is DISMISSED.   
BY THE COURT: 
/s/ Collins J. Seitz, Jr. 
  
 
 
 
 
 
      Chief Justice 
 
 
1 See, e.g., In re Willis, 2021 WL 3074346, at *1 (Del. July 20, 2021) (dismissing petition for 
issuance of a writ of certiorari to the Court of Common Pleas where the petitioner had not first 
presented a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Superior Court).