Common pleas court summary shows first decrease in foreclosures in seven years
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The General Divisions of the Highland County Court of Common Pleas has released its 2010 case summary, which shows a 41 percent reduction in the number of pending cases the court has seen since 2008.
While the court has seen a slight decrease in the number of criminal cases filed, the statistics show the court saw its first decrease in the number of foreclosures since 2003, but a 96-percent increase in all other civil cases over the past seven years.
Compiled by Judge Rocky Coss, the summary shows, "As of Dec. 31, 2009, there were 344 total cases pending in the General Division, 65 criminal cases and 279 civil cases. As of Dec. 31, 2010, there were 244 total cases pending, 47 criminal cases and 197 civil cases. This represents a 29 percent reduction in the number of cases pending at the end of 2009. At the end of 2008 there were 415 cases pending, so the 2010 year end total represents a 41 perecent reduction over the past two years."
Coss said there are guidelines set forth by the Supreme Court that individual courts must follow regarding when a case must be completed.
"For example, the time guideline for criminal cases is six months from the date of arraignment. The guideline for foreclosures is twelve months and for most other civil cases it is twenty-four months. There have been no past pending criminal cases in this Court since April of 2009 and no past pending civil cases since March of 2010," Coss said. In the Domestic Relations Division, at the end of 2009, there were 162 pending cases with none of those past pending. At the end of 2010, there were 90 pending cases and none past pending. This represents a 44 percent reduction in the number of pending cases from 2009 and a 56 percent reduction from the end of 2008. There have been no past pending cases in the Domestic Relations Division since March of 2010."
Coss presented the following breakdown of cases for the individual divisions of the court, the costs savings of technology implementation, and the overall fiscal management of the court:
CRIMINAL CASES
There were 178 new criminal cases filed in 2010, a decrease of 25 cases from the 2009 total of 202. There were 54 criminal cases reopened during 2010 which is an increase of 39 from 2009. The total of new and reopened cases in 2010 was 232 compared to 218 in 2009, an increase of 6%. In 2006 there were 380 cases. The 2010 total represents a 39 percent decrease from that year.
FORECLOSURE FILINGS
There were 307 new foreclosure cases filed in 2010 and 12 reopened for a total of 319. In 2009 the total of new and reopened foreclosure cases was 388. The 2010 total is a 17.7 percent decrease from 2009. The number of foreclosure cases had been increasing annually since 2003 when 254 were filed. Since this is the first decrease in annual foreclosures in this Court since 2003, it is difficult to predict whether the foreclosure crisis has peaked in this county.
OTHER CIVIL CASES
There were 313 other types of new and reopened civil cases filed in 2010 compared to 306 filed in 2009. The number of other civil cases has been increasing annually since 2003 when only 160 were filed. This represents a 96 percent increase over the past seven years.
VIDEO ARRAIGNMENT SYSTEM
The Court’s video arraignment system became operational on March 20, 2009. Since that date, the Court has conducted 387 video hearings for prisoners in the Highland County Jail and 82 for prisoners in state correctional facilities, treatment facilities or other county jails for a total of 469. The total number of video hearings in 2010 for prisoners in the Highland County Jail was 229 and 45 for prisoners in other facilities, a total of 274. Since the implementation of the system, the Court has conducted an average of 21 video hearings per month.
These video hearings have saved the Highland County Sheriff's Office thousands of dollars in costs of transporting prisoners to court from the local jail or from the other locations, and supervising them in custody during their time in the courthouse. It also allows the Court to conduct the hearings more quickly since it is much easier to get the prisoner to the video room as opposed to arranging for transport to the courthouse.
WEBSITE
As was recently reported, the Court will have a website for public use this year. The construction is in progress and should be available for the court staff to view and edit in the next two weeks. It should be available on the web by mid-March. The Court’s daily calendar will be on the website along with information for jurors, attorneys and the public. In conjunction with the new website, the Court anticipates that the Court’s docket, indexes, and other case records will be available to the public through the Court’s new website this year. CourtView is the company that the county commissioners contracted with several years ago to maintain the court’s records electronically. New servers needed to operate this service have been installed and the installation of software should begin in the next few days.
FISCAL MANAGEMENT
The Court’s original general fund budget for 2010 was $203,538, which was less than the Court’s general fund budget for 1998. Due to the capital murder trial which was tried in September and October, there had to be an increase in the budget for jury fees and other expenses of $12,600.00 bringing the total court general fund budget to $216,138. The actual expenditures for the year were only $206,216.70, or 9.5 percent less than the amount appropriated, with all of the expenditures in excess of the original total appropriations being due to the capital murder case.
In order to do the Court’s part in dealing with reduced county revenues, the Court reduced the 2011 general fund budget request to the commissioners to $198,538,which is a reduction of $5,000 or 2.5 percent from the original 2010 general fund budget which as noted in the above paragraph was less than the 1998 general fund budget for this court. The court staff and I continue to closely monitor the court’s expenditures and to look for ways to make additional savings in the cost of operations.
The General Divisions of the Highland County Court of Common Pleas has released its 2010 case summary, which shows a 41 percent reduction in the number of pending cases the court has seen since 2008.
While the court has seen a slight decrease in the number of criminal cases filed, the statistics show the court saw its first decrease in the number of foreclosures since 2003, but a 96-percent increase in all other civil cases over the past seven years.
Compiled by Judge Rocky Coss, the summary shows, "As of Dec. 31, 2009, there were 344 total cases pending in the General Division, 65 criminal cases and 279 civil cases. As of Dec. 31, 2010, there were 244 total cases pending, 47 criminal cases and 197 civil cases. This represents a 29 percent reduction in the number of cases pending at the end of 2009. At the end of 2008 there were 415 cases pending, so the 2010 year end total represents a 41 perecent reduction over the past two years."
Coss said there are guidelines set forth by the Supreme Court that individual courts must follow regarding when a case must be completed.
"For example, the time guideline for criminal cases is six months from the date of arraignment. The guideline for foreclosures is twelve months and for most other civil cases it is 24 months. There have been no past pending criminal cases in this Court since April of 2009 and no past pending civil cases since March of 2010," Coss said. In the Domestic Relations Division, at the end of 2009, there were 162 pending cases with none of those past pending. At the end of 2010, there were 90 pending cases and none past pending. This represents a 44 percent reduction in the number of pending cases from 2009 and a 56 percent reduction from the end of 2008. There have been no past pending cases in the Domestic Relations Division since March of 2010."
Coss presented the following breakdown of cases for the individual divisions of the court, the costs savings of technology implementation, and the overall fiscal management of the court:
CRIMINAL CASES
There were 178 new criminal cases filed in 2010, a decrease of 25 cases from the 2009 total of 202. There were 54 criminal cases reopened during 2010 which is an increase of 39 from 2009. The total of new and reopened cases in 2010 was 232 compared to 218 in 2009, an increase of 6%. In 2006 there were 380 cases. The 2010 total represents a 39 percent decrease from that year.
FORECLOSURE FILINGS
There were 307 new foreclosure cases filed in 2010 and 12 reopened for a total of 319. In 2009 the total of new and reopened foreclosure cases was 388. The 2010 total is a 17.7 percent decrease from 2009. The number of foreclosure cases had been increasing annually since 2003 when 254 were filed. Since this is the first decrease in annual foreclosures in this Court since 2003, it is difficult to predict whether the foreclosure crisis has peaked in this county.
OTHER CIVIL CASES
There were 313 other types of new and reopened civil cases filed in 2010 compared to 306 filed in 2009. The number of other civil cases has been increasing annually since 2003 when only 160 were filed. This represents a 96 percent increase over the past seven years.
VIDEO ARRAIGNMENT SYSTEM
The Court’s video arraignment system became operational on March 20, 2009. Since that date, the Court has conducted 387 video hearings for prisoners in the Highland County Jail and 82 for prisoners in state correctional facilities, treatment facilities or other county jails for a total of 469. The total number of video hearings in 2010 for prisoners in the Highland County Jail was 229 and 45 for prisoners in other facilities, a total of 274. Since the implementation of the system, the Court has conducted an average of 21 video hearings per month.
These video hearings have saved the Highland County Sheriff's Office thousands of dollars in costs of transporting prisoners to court from the local jail or from the other locations, and supervising them in custody during their time in the courthouse. It also allows the Court to conduct the hearings more quickly since it is much easier to get the prisoner to the video room as opposed to arranging for transport to the courthouse.
WEBSITE
As was recently reported, the Court will have a website for public use this year. The construction is in progress and should be available for the court staff to view and edit in the next two weeks. It should be available on the web by mid-March. The Court’s daily calendar will be on the website along with information for jurors, attorneys and the public. In conjunction with the new website, the Court anticipates that the Court’s docket, indexes, and other case records will be available to the public through the Court’s new website this year. CourtView is the company that the county commissioners contracted with several years ago to maintain the court’s records electronically. New servers needed to operate this service have been installed and the installation of software should begin in the next few days.
FISCAL MANAGEMENT
The Court’s original general fund budget for 2010 was $203,538, which was less than the Court’s general fund budget for 1998. Due to the capital murder trial which was tried in September and October, there had to be an increase in the budget for jury fees and other expenses of $12,600.00 bringing the total court general fund budget to $216,138. The actual expenditures for the year were only $206,216.70, or 9.5 percent less than the amount appropriated, with all of the expenditures in excess of the original total appropriations being due to the capital murder case.
In order to do the Court’s part in dealing with reduced county revenues, the Court reduced the 2011 general fund budget request to the commissioners to $198,538,which is a reduction of $5,000 or 2.5 percent from the original 2010 general fund budget which as noted in the above paragraph was less than the 1998 general fund budget for this court. The court staff and I continue to closely monitor the court’s expenditures and to look for ways to make additional savings in the cost of operations.
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