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O V E R B U R D E N E D C O U R T S
Montgomery County’s newest court is being added to help with the rising number of cases coming into the courtrooms.
seeing civil cases waiting to be heard for up to two years. “There is a tremendous backlog of cases,” Toth said. “We could probably create two more civil courts in Montgomery County, and it would not put us where we need to be. We hope this will be a step in the right direction.” Former Montgomery County Court Administrator Nate Jensen said the civil court caseload has been an identi ed need, as has additional funding. The O ce of Court Administration asked Mont- gomery County Commissioners Court for additional funding for the - scal year in September due to indigent defense costs and received , , but Judge Tracy Gilbert of the th District Court said additional funding for the court system has been an ongoing need. “For the past two years, attempts have been made to essentially point the blame at the judges or our OCA director [Jensen], who we’ve lost,” Gilbert said. Jensen o cially resigned from his position in early December, but declined to comment on the reason. IDENTIFYINGANEED Work began on the new court when Jensen made a presentation to the commissioners in November to request additional funding for the OCA’s - budget. Since , Montgomery County’s population has grown by around , , a .% increase, while caseloads have risen by ,, or .%. Jensen said the rising population has added pres- sure to both the criminal and civil courts in the county, but more judges have been allocated to hearing crimi- nal cases than civil cases. In alone, there were , new cases led, according to OCA reports. There is currently one Mont- gomery County court dedicated to hearing civil court cases full-time—the th District Court, presided over by Judge Kristin Bays. Bays said the increasing number of cases has cre- ated a snowball eect, where cases are piling up faster than the courts can get ahead of them. As of Oct. , Bays’ court had around , current pending cases, which is down from , from Jan. , . “Our numbers are going down, which is wonder- ful,” Bays said. “[However], we still have that snowball problem. We were running [on average] about new cases each month. Starting in August, that number jumped to and we have pretty much stayed there.” The increase is not unique to the th District Court. Bays said the numbers she pulled indicate the th District Court is averaging cases per month, an increase from in , and County Court at Law is seeing cases per month in . The other two courts focus on criminal and family matters while hearing civil cases part time. “We are ending the year with more cases than we started,” Bays said. “We try to keep [trials] on two-week dockets so we can keep them rolling.” From Bays’ perspective, having cases going for more than two or three years is a “black mark” for a judge. Factors that can delay a case include a long series of motions by both parties, defendants moving away or witnesses dying. Jensen said based on the numbers of judges avail- able, the county could realistically use two additional
NEW CASES F I LED 2011
CASES COMPLETED 2011
CASES PENDING
2,959
3,213
2011
3,467
2,828
2,957
2014
2014 2019
2,636
2014 2019
2019
3,568
3,265
4,048
SINCE 2014:
in new cases filed +26.17%
in cases completed +36.89%
cases pending +23.86%
SOURCES:MONTGOMERYCOUNTYBUDGETOFFICE,MONTGOMERYCOUNTYCOURTADMINISTRATION/COMMUNITY IMPACTNEWSPAPER
C O U R T B U D G E T S G R O W I N G
The Montgomery County Office of Court Administration budget has increased annually since 2011.
Planned to hire at least
2011 -12
$299,432
positions 3 STAFF
2014 -15 2019 -20 2020 -21
$442,274
$466,286
New court needs at least
budgeted annually $300,000
PROPOSED $745,763
SOURCES:MONTGOMERYCOUNTYBUDGETOFFICE,MONTGOMERYCOUNTYCOURTADMINISTRATION/COMMUNITY IMPACTNEWSPAPER
CIVIL COURT VS. CRIMINAL COURT
Civil court
Criminal court
Civil courts settle disputes between parties and include lawsuits, breach of contract, vehicle accidents and permitting issues. CASES INCLUDE: • Civil litigation between companies
Criminal courts hear misdemeanor and felony cases on a daily basis. FELONYOFFENSES are serious crimes includingmurder, sexual assault, aggravated assault, identity theft and certain drug and theft cases resulting in incarceration in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. MISDEMEANORCASES are less serious and result in fines and incarceration in local jails, with cases including driving while intoxicated, burglary of amotor vehicle, speeding and driving without valid insurance.
• Insurance claims • Property disputes • Contract disputes • Auto accidents • Malpractice
SOURCES:MONTGOMERYCOUNTYDISTRICTATTORNEY,OFFICEOFCOURTADMINISTRATION/COMMUNITY IMPACTNEWSPAPER
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