Evening star., 1948-11-10

Plea tor More Judges
AS Barse Cites Load
Municipal Court, weighted down
with q record-breaking load of 139,-
313 cases during the past fiscal
year, still needs three more judges.
Chief Judge George P. Barse out
lined the need last night in a per-
sonal report to the District Bar
Association, meeting in the May
flower Hotel.
At the same time Judge Barse
asked for, and got, the associations
pledge to support the court in Its
formal request, filed yesterday with
the Attorney General and District
Commissioners.
Addressing the gathering of 200
lawyers and judges of three courts
here, Judge BarSe offered statistics,
selected from his latest report to
the Government, showing increased
business in almost every division
of his court.
10000 Cases i'm 6 Years.
He started off by reporting that,
in the consolidated courts six-year
history, the startling" number of
10000 civil and criminal actions
have been filed.
Citing some Of the figures causing
increased "time pressure" on the
present 10 judges of the citizens
court Of first recourse, Judge Barse
pointed out these tremendous pro-
gressive rates of increase" over the
Esix-year span:
Civil division suits involving $50
to $500, Jump from 5000 cases in
1912 to $4,000 in the past fiscal year,
ended June 80.
Suits involving $500 to $4,000, from
100 cases in 1912 to 2,100 in the
past year.
Civil jury trials, one OF the most
time-consuming actions of the court.
according to the chief Judge, went
from 488 in 1912 to 1912 in fiscal
1948.
Appeals Court Aids.
observation-disclosures branch Jury
trials alone went from A in the
first year Of the consolidated court
to 715 in fiscal 1947. Judge Barse
pointed out that drop to 1923 oc-
CURED in the past year, but said
this resulted from the clearing of
the docket in 1947, when the three
Municipal Court Of Appeals judges
stepped down to help the lower court
try the backlogged cases.
Judge Barse reminded the gath
ering that last spring the appellate
judges had to be called on again to
help clear a backlog of civil jury
trials, Of which there were 6,100
filed in the six-year period and
$500 disposed Of. OF the 500 cases
still pending, half are ready for
trial, the Judge added.
The picture in the criminal di-
vision is bit brighter, Judge Barse
told the lawyers. Of 14,1e9 criminal
jury trials filed since 1912. lit now
are pending, with trial dates as
signed in 108 cases.
But while the trend Is down in
the number Of criminal cases." the
judge declared, ''it is up in the
civil division. In the civil cases
we simply are not able to keep
current"
Handicapped by Absences.
In addition to the caseload, other
factors are responsible for the "very
small margin on which the court
operates with its present number of
judges, Judge Barse reported. =
He said that, in the first place,
there are seven separate branches
which must be conducted daily by
the 10 judges now available. But
coupled with this, sickness and vaca-
ton periods cut into the supply of
judges, SO that actually the court
has an average of eight and some
times as few as six available for
service.
Lowry N. Coe, president of the
lawyer group, at that point assured
the Judge the association will back
the court all the way"
First speaker at the meeting
honoring both the Municipal Court
and the Municipal Court Of Appeals
was Appellate Judge Andrew Nc
Caughrin Hood.
On behalf of his two associates.
Judge Hood reported the business of
his court has increased to Ill ap-
pealS filed in the past six months,
as against SO filed in the same
period last year.
80 Gases Not Heard.
Total caseload since foundation
Of the court in 1912 was TAO docketed,
with 679 disposed of, % heard but
not decided and 80 not yet heard.
In addition, the appellate judges
have handled 545 Original proceed
ings," such as applications, petitions
and motions.
A total Of lat Of these decisions
were taken to the United States
Court Of Appeals, Judge Hood added,
but only SO were accepted by the
higher court for action. OF this
number, II were affirmed and II
reversed, two were remanded for
reconsideration and one was dis
missed.
The association named Walter M.
Bastian as It's local nominee for
presidency Of the American Bar AS
sociation.