CIVIL PROCEDURES Civil courts work differently than criminal courts, and the process is ideally scheduled to take place over 12- 18 months.
Civil courts have guidelines they are expected to follow by the Supreme Court of Texas. Resolution requires about 2 YEARS. CAS E S I N MON TGOME RY COUN T Y
A decision should be reached within 12MONTHS. NON J URY CAS E S
Should be decided in 18MONTHS. J URY CAS E S
PETITION
process until June or July, Jensen said. In addition to the new court, OCA has repeatedly asked for additional funding. AlthoughMontgomery County Commissioners Court approved the , requested by the OCA for FY -, OCA o cials said they will need more money next scal year, Community Impact Newspaper previ- ously reported. Since , the OCA budget has increased by about , annually, totaling , in . Going into FY - , the county commissioners will have to budget between , and , for new court- room sta, Jensen said. “We were instructed [in September] to come back midyear and essentially beg for money, and we don’t want to be in that position,” Gilbert said at the Sept. meeting when additional funding was approved. BENEFITS TORESIDENTS Civil courts dier from criminal courts, which pro- cess misdemeanor and felony cases, by processing lawsuits and disputes. Guidelines from the Supreme Court of Texas state nontrial civil cases should be resolved in about months and trial cases should aim for around months. Jensen said many cases in Montgomery County take about two years to resolve. Roberts said a lengthy court process can negatively aect a business because it is di cult to plan for resources and budgets. The longer a case is in court, the more costly it is to businesses and residents. To get cases out of the courtroom, Roberts saidmedi- ation can be used to allow judges to concentrate on the cases in front of them. Jensen said the practice is used in Montgomery County civil and family courts when deemed appropriate by a judge, but default use of mediation can actually lengthen the age of a case, which also contributes to the backlog. Toth said adding the new court to the Montgomery County system will encourage people to bring their cases forward. “Right now, if you are a defendant and you are
courts to handle the increasing caseloads. “If you tally them all up, it is about . judicial o cers handling civil [cases],” Jensen said. “Really, we need about ., but because we are specialized in Montgomery County, we have to take some of those measurements with a grain of salt. The process is ide- ally supposed to move faster.” Gene Roberts, director of the o ce of student legal and mediation services for Sam Houston State Uni- versity, said from his experience in litigated cases, an overburdened court makes it di cult to get new cases and trials heard. “It is important that justice moves at some speed, and it needs to be just right,” Roberts said. “Clients just want a decision.” Jensen said his o ce conducted a weighted caseload study last year to see if there was a better way to handle the cases. “We worked with our counterpart in Austin for their recommendation,” Jensen said. “Using that, we went to the commissioners. ... We were only asking the com- missioners to bless one new court as opposed to two. We believe in doing it moderately as well.” COURT CREATION, BUDGETARYNEEDS Although the new civil court was approved through HB , a judge still needs to be elected and a court coordinator, court reporter and assistant coordinator need to be hired before the new civil court is ready to begin hearing cases. Jensen said there is no need for a new space for a courtroom and o ces, as the current overow court- room on the second oor of the old courthouse on North Street will provide the space needed. There will also be no cost to the county for the judge, whose sal- ary and bene ts will be paid for by the state. A report from the Texas Judicial Commission indicates a district judge receives a , salary from the state. The outcome of the March primary could determine when the court can begin to hear cases, as a runo if there is a Democratic candidate would delay the
Notice is sent out to defendant
SERVICE
ANSWER
Notice served by official to defendant for case
Defendant has a span of up to 25 days to answer notice
PETITION
Notice is sent out to defendant
DISCOVERY
MOTIONS
Documents, information and depositions exchanged
Made by parties asking for a ruling on an issue for the case
PRETRIAL
TRIAL
DECISION
SOURCE:284THDISTRICTCOURT/COMMUNITY IMPACTNEWSPAPER
damaged by somebody, you are in a tight spot,” Toth said. “In many cases, people are not bringing cases. … They are not getting justice.” Bays said the additional civil court will improve the county’s e ciency at managing caseloads, saving tax- payers money and making the process smoother for any individual or business in court. “[People] are much more likely to be involved in a civil court case than a criminal one,” Bays said. “When things go wrong in life that are just the daily things they do, they end up in civil court. A breach of con- tract, building a house, being in a car accident … those are the makeup of civil courts.” EVAVIGH CONTRIBUTED TOTHIS REPORT
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The Woodlands edition • December 2019
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