Alabama Judge Reallocation Report

7/29/2019 Alabama Judge Reallocation Report

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ST]PREME COTIRT OF ALABAMAJUDICIAL BUILDING3OO DEXTER AVENUEMONTGOMERY, ALABATW{ 36 I 04.37 4I(334)229-0700

CHIEF JUSTICEROY S. MOORE, oF GALLAIITASSOCIATE JUSTICES

LYN STUART, OF BAY MINETTEMICHAEL F. BOLIN, OF BIRMINGHAMTOM PARKER, or MoNTcoMERYGLENN MURDOCK, OF BIRMINGHAMGREG SHAW, OF MONTGOMERY

JAIvIES ALLEN N{AIN, oF MoNTcoMERYA. KELLI WISE, OF PRATTVILLETOMMY ELI.AS BRYA}I, OF BRA}ITLEY

The Honorable Jeff WoodardClerk of the House of RepresentativesAlabama State House11 South Union StreetMontgomery, Alabam a 36 1 30

March 6,2013

The Honorable D. Patrick HarrisSecretary of the SenateAlabama State House11 South Union StreetMontgomery, Alabam a 36 1 30Gentlemen:

Pursuant to Article VI, $ 151(a) of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901 (amend. 328),the Supreme Court of Alabama, having found that"aneed exists for increasing or decreasing thenumber of circuit or district judges," hereby certifies its findings and recommendations to theLegislature regarding judge needs in the Alabama Unified Judicial System. Accordingly, theCourt's "Circuit and Diskict Judge Need" report recommending specific judge kansfers orreallocations is enclosed.

Additionally, pursuant to Article VI, $ 151(b), the Supreme Court hereby reports to theLegislature its recommendation concerning a House Bill29, a bill which proposes an additionalcircuit judgeship in the Sixth Judicial Circuit. As indicated in the enclosed report, the SupremeCourt does recommend an additional circuit judgeship in the Sixth Judicial Circuit; however, theSixth Judicial Circuit ranks fourth in need and we would recommend that the other needs be metprior to the creation of this new judgeship.

If you conclude that the Court can be of any further assistance in your consideration ofthis matter, please contact me or the Administrative Director of Courts, Dr. Rich Hobson, at yourearliest convenience. Thank you for your work on behalf of our court system.

RSlr4/waEnclosures

Supreme Court of Alabama


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CIRCTIIT AI\D DISTRICT JUDGE NEEDIN THE ALABAMA UMFIED JTTDICIAL SYSTEMMarch 6,2013As authorized by $ 151, Alabama Constitution, Article VI, which states, "The

supreme court shall establish criteria for determining the number and boundaries ofjudicial circuits and districts, and the number ofjudges needed in each circuit anddistrict," the Supreme Court has sfudied the current judgeships across the state.Furthermore, the section advises that, "If the supreme court finds that a need exists forincreasing or decreasing the number of circuit or distict judges . . . it shall, at thebegiruring of any session of the legislature, certiff its findings and recommendations tothe legislature." The Supreme Court finds that a need does exist in the State of Alabamaand therefore mafes the following recommendations regarding the ranking andsubsequent transfer of Judgeships for the Alabama Legislature to consider.

The statewide need for judgeships is as follows:Circuit Court

Circuit Judgeships Needed in the Following Circuit:#T#2#3#4#s

13th Circuit Mobile23'd Circuit Madison28th Circuit Baldwin6th Circuit Tuscaloosa19th Circuit AutauEZ, Chilton & Elmore

4.93.52.42.01.8

2.01.81.41.31.2

Recommendation

Using the Circuit Court weighted Caseload Implied Need from FY 2011, it isrecommended that three circuit judgeships be decreased in the 10th Judicial Circuit inJefferson County, and it is firther recommended that there should be two circuitjudgeships increased in the 13th Judicial Circuit in Mobile and one circuit court judgeshipincreased in the 23'd Judicial Circuit in Madison County.

District CourtDistrict Judgeships Needed in the Following Counties :#l Madison County#2 Mobile County#3 Shelby County#4 Baldwin County#5 Marshall County

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RecommendationUsing the District Court weighted Caseload Implied Need from FY 2011, it is

recommended that one district court judgeship should be decreased from JeffersonCounty and increased in the Madison County Diskict Court and one district courtjudgeship should be decreased from Walker County and increased in the Mobile CountyDistrict Court.

About the Weighted Caseload StudyThe Alabama Supreme Court adopted the Weighted Caseload System as thebenchmark tool to determine judgeship needs in 1987. The measurement system has

been updated since that time to include the most recent update in2007, which wasapproved in 2008. The process was initiated by resolutions from both the Circuit Judges'Association and the District Judges' Association. A Weighted Caseload AdvisoryCommittee was created and a contract was entered into with the National Center for StateCourts (NCSC) to formulate the correct and appropriate variables for the study. Theresult was an agreed upon set of 20 types of cases and an established judge-year value(the amount of time ajudge has to work on cases, accounting for administrative time,fravel time for multi-county circuits, and vacation time). All judicial officers and activereferees were asked to participate by recording all of their case-related and non-case-related activities. Over a 4-week period, the participation rate was75o/o. The resultswere then discussed by the committee and the completed project was unanimouslyapproved.

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JUDGESMP REPORTSixth Judicial CircuitMarch 1,2013This Report is prepared by the Alabama Administrative Office of Courts in response to thefiling of House Bill 29 thatprovides for the creation of one additional circuit judgeship forthe Sixth Judicial Circuit. This judgeship would be filled by election atthe 2014 generalelection after pre-clearance under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The judgeshipcreated would be frlled on the condition that the Tuscaloosa County Commission passes aresolution to fund the new judgeship, a judicial assistant and a court reporter for the fnst}4months.The Sixth Judicial Circuit is a single county circuit composed of Tuscaloosa County.Currently the circuit is served by six circuit judges and two district judges.The following statistics are set forth in accordance with the criteria for determiningadditional judgeship needs established by the Supreme Court of Alabama in its order of May26,1975, and the supplemental weighted caseload system which was established by theSupreme Court on February 19,1987, and updated on March 19, 2008.Demographic Information: Table I illustrates the population, square miles, and numberof attorneys per judge. Population and population density per judge data are important indetermining judgeships because filings increase with population. Square miles per judge isimportant in those circuits composed of two or more counties, as travel time from county tocounty is a factor in the judges' workload. Attorneys per judge indicate the legal climateand may be used to assess the competitive nature of the legal environment in thejurisdiction.

Table IDemographic Statistics

Population per Judge based on the 2010 US 32,443Average Population per Judge (statewide) 32,738Rank (out of 41 circuits) 22"dSquare Miles per Judge 223Average Square Miles per Judge (statewide) 348Rank (out of 41 circuits) 3lrtPopulation per Square MiIe t23Average Population per Square Mile (statewide) 88Rank (out of 4l circuits) 1 lthAttorneys per Judge 93Average Attorneys per Judge (statewide) 98Rank (out of 41 circuits) 6th

Population perJudge: The circuithas32443 inpopulationperjudge, ranking 22"d inthe state.


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With the addition of a oircuit judge, the court would drop to a statewide ranking of 27h inpopulation perjudge.Land Area: The Sixth Judicial Circuit includes 1,336 square miles and is ranked 3l't in thestate for square miles per judge. With the addition of a circuit judge, the court would drop toa statewide ranking of 34ft in square miles per judge. This factor does not weigh heavily herewith a single county circuit.Population: Between 1980 and 2010, population increased by 41.5 percent in the SixthJudicial Circuit. Based on the 2010 US Census, the Sixth Judicial Circuit ranked 22d inpopulation per judge and 1lft in population density. See Table II.

Table IIPopulation Data1980 - 2015

1980 1990 2000 2010 1980-2010 2000-2010Statewide 3,894,025 4,040,389 4,447,100 4,779,736 22.70 7 .5o/oSixthCircuit 1.37,54r 150,500 164,87 5 194,656 41 .5% 18.loh

Caseload Information: The workload of a court is measured in tenns of filings anddispositions. Table Itr illustrates a breakdown of the circuit court caseload in the SixthJudicial Circuit for the past five fiscal years.Filings and Dispositions: Case filings in the Sixth Judicial Circuit have ranged from a lowof L0,702 in FY 20ll ta a high of 11,340 in FY 2UlZ.Filngs have increased by 2.3Yo overthe five year period. Case dispositions ranged from a low of 10,66 1 in FY 20L2 to a high of12,354 in FY 2010. Over the five yearperiod, dispositions have decreased.6.T0/o.

Table mCircuit Court Caseload Statistics

Caseload per Judge: Table [V sets forth the caseload per judge for the Sixth Judicial Circuitduring FY 2011, as well as the ranking and the statewide average.

FY 2008 F'Y 2009 F'Y 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012Filings 1 1,084 1 1 ,165 11,236 10,702 11,340Dispositions 11,426 TT,268 I2,354 10,942 10,661


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Table fVCaseload per Judge

Filines Der Judse 1,890Rankins (out of 4l circuits) 4tttAverage 1.409Based on the FY 2011 caseload, the Sixth Judicial Circuit ranks well above the statewideaverage in frlings per judge. Filings per judge currently rank 4ft and are 34.1% above thestatewide average.Weighted Caseload: In addition to the above criteria, which assign equal value to all cases,the weighted caseload system was developed to recognize various factors ffierent in hearingdifferent kinds of cases. The weighted caseload quotient was adopted by the Supreme Courtas an additional criterion for determining judgeship needs on February L9,1987, and updatedon March 19, 2008. The weighted caseload system is based on estimates of the amount ofjudge-time needed to handle a given caseload. The formula calculates the number of hoursneeded to handle the caseload in the circuit. Based on the number ofjudges currently servingand the number ofjudges needed according to the formula, the need for new judgeships isquantified and the circuits are then ranked by need. Using the weighted caseload formula,the Sixth Judicial Circuit ranks 4ft in the state in needing 2.0 additional circuit judges. Thecircuit judge implied need for the circuit court of the Sixth Judicial Circuit is shown on TableV.

Table VWeighted CaseloadCircuit Court Weighted Caseload 2.0Rank(out of 4l circuits) 4thAverage 0.3

Conclusion: Based on the criteria established by the Supreme Court of Alabama and theweighted caseload analysis, an additional circuitjudge is needed in the Sixth Judicial Circuit;however, the Sixth Judicial Circuit is ranked 4d in need according to the weighted caseloadanalysis with the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit (Mobile County), the Twenty-Third JudicialCircuit (Madison County), and the Twenty-Eighth Judicial Circuit (Baldwin County) rankingabove the Sixth Judicial Circuit in need for additional judges in circuit and distict courts. Werecommend that circuit judgeships in those areas be filled before creating an additionaljudgeship in the Sixth Circuit, but due to severe budget constraints our response assumeslong-term funding for any new judgeship created in the state.

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Alabama Judge Reallocation Report