Omaha daily bee., 1909-02-07
LEGAL EXPENSES ONEROUS
Sixteen Hundred Petit Jurors Cost
County $24,669.72.
LIT1GANTs PAY IN BUT TRELE
and Delays by Law
yers and Their Clients Cause of
Part of Large Burden
Borne by Taxpayers.

Sixteen hundred men were required to
make up 179 petit juries that heard cases
in the Douglas county district court dur
ing 1908. OF these cases fifty were criminal
prosecutions and 129 were civil suits.
OF the total number of Jurors appearing
in court 1872 were talasmen. summoned
without having their names placed on the
regular jury panel made up by the county
commissioners. The sheriff or his deputies
gather IN the talesmen wherever they may
be found when a hurry call is made for
Jurors after the grist of names in the box
for any term has been exhausted.
The average cost to Douglas county for
each case tried in 1908 for jurors alone was
$1SIS2. Including the items of jurors pay,
mileage, clerks and sheriffs fees for noti-
flying jurors, rooms and meals while serv-
ing, the total cost of the petit jures
working in court during 1905 was s24,-
669.72.
AS against this total Of magnificent pro-
portions, litigants returned to the county
treasury in trial fees not quite 800. The
exact figure is $sss.5O, which leaves the
county shoulderlng an expense for petit
jurors, amounting to $24,2u22
Grand Juries Also Costly.
Three grand juries also make consider
able of pull on county funds. Grand
jurors drew in pay $310i15. Witnesses
summoned for the grand jury took out
S1,339.O5. Extra grand jury bailiffs re-
celved $27O.35; grand jury miscellaneous ex-
penses amounted to s31 and the total ex-
pense on account of grand juries for the
same year was s47A.55. This omits the
cost OF work of county attorneys office
in connection.
State witnesses in the district court dur
ing the past year were paid $2,666.29. At
torneys appointed by the court to defend
prisoners without means were paid 50 745.
The ordinary allowance for an attor-
ney so appointed is s25. but in serious
cases the fee allowed may be whatever
the trial judge feels like granting. Often
times a prisoner charged with a crime out
! neys.
Exclusive of salaries of judges and court
stenographers paid by the state, the total
cost of the court machinery to the county
for a year will run strongly toward the
100000 mark This was never before so
clearly brought home to the taxpayer as
in the detailed report recently submitted
| to the county commissioners by Comp
troller Solomon.
! That report charges TO the office of the
clerk OF the district court a total expense
Of 50. 6.Ssi.S2. but in fairness there should be
deducted from this total s1.41777. for furni-
ture and fixtures, and S3s16.60 fees of the
office With these items out, there is a
total Of s2l,17.45. 1t may be put in this
way:
Expense clerks office for year,. 81, ,147. Il
Jurors, baiiiffs, printing, etc.. 56.sS7.1I
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TOTAL SIl, ~. u
This total does not include light or heat
janitor service, depreciation OF plant. OF
general maintenance. To make a yearly
total OF $4,000. It would be necessary tc
allow only $z2,5l5.4O for the items men.
toned.
LitiERnts DO Not Bear share.
Casual consideration of the amount Of
litigation that goes through the hands oi
the seven judges in year might lead
some to a conclusion that most OF this ex
pense is carried by the ltigants who ap
pear in court Not so. Not so by th'
amount of $65,2iOO1, to be exact
Litigants doing business through tn,
courts paid in as fees and costs Of on,
kind and another the amount OF s12.247,s 81
counting the last cent they can be cred
tied with.
Thus the taxpayers Of Douglas count!
are compelled 10 care Tor an amount be
yond what the litigants contribute tina
would pay the present salary Of the presi
dent Of the United states, two congress
men. and considerable postage.
Much Of this total on the red figure sid
of the ledger is ehargeable to wasted time
The court calendars are numbered Will
cases called time after time. and as oftei
put over. Frequently this happens when
jury Is present and ready for business; ais
the witnesses. lawyer may be absent
client indisposed, or an important witnes
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