Evening star., 1958-09-24
US. Courts
FacePi|e-upof
$4,000 Cases
BY HOWARD L. DUTKIN
star stan Writer

throughout the country, Warren
Olney, director Of the Admin
istrative once of the United
States District Courts, said in
q report made public today.
But the Figures for United
States District Court in the
District Of Columbia noted q
decrease from the 5,l52 cases
pending on July /. 1857 toI
1902 on last June 80.
Mr.. olney's report was made
TO the Judicial Conference
which met here last week. The
conference is composed Of Chief
Justice Warren and the chief
judges Of the various District
Courts and United States
Courts Of Appeals. plus the
chief Judge of the United States
Court Of Claims. In the main,
1t is a policy-making group for
the Federal Judiciary.
$500 Increase in Year
The $4,000 backlog represents
@ further increase in pending
cases over the 69.8O0 listed last
fiscal year. The new figures
included 68,168 civil cases and
7,451 criminal cases. 1t is the
former type that creates the
major problem because its
ligitation takes more time.
mot only is this the high
est backlog in history" Mr..
Olney said, "but it represents
q caseload which would keep
the Federal trial courts busy
for q year, even if not an addi-
tional civil case were fled and
not an additional criminal In
dictment were returned"
"The backlog =. does not
even include those cases which
have piled up during the sum-
mer recess" Mr.. Olney con-
tinued. THE inevitable result,
of course, is that delays in the
trial Of cases in the Federal
courts, which in some districts
are already as high as four
years, will be still further in
creased. During the coming
year persons who file cases in
many Federal courts will not
have a ghost Of a chance Of
having their case tried within a
reasonable time. -"
During the last year only
seven districts in the country
met the standard set by the
Judicial Conference and dis
posed Of cases on the average,
In six month after filing.
Litigants at Fault
Melvin ]. Marques, admins
trative assistant to Chief Judge
Bolitha ]. Laws Of u. s. Dis
trict Court here, said fiscal 95S |
figures on the time lapSe are
not yet available.
He said the court has adopt
ed a program Of figuring the
time consumed from the mo-
ment both parties to a case
announce they are ready for
trial, rather than from the
time papers are filed. He indi-
Gated that in many instances
the court is ready to hear the
issues, but the litigants are not;
thus the delay is created by
the litigants themselves.
Last year, he said, there was
approximately a % : month
lapse as a mean average, be-
tween filing and disposition Of
civil jury cases and is months
in civil non-jury cases.
Chief Justice Warren de-
clared Federal judges cannot be
blamed for the backlog and
delays. Each District Judge to-
day disposes Of an average Of
231 cases each year as COM
pared with 1859 in 1941. Yet
during this same period, the
backlog of civil cases alone has
increased from 1877 to 270 cases
per Judge.
No figures were available inn
mediately on the caseload per
Judge in the District.
Larger Stats Needed
Mr.. Olney called attention
to the failure Of Congress to
pass the Omnibus Judgeship
Bill which calls for As addi-
tional Federal judges.
But, Mr.. Olney said, addi-
tional judges. while needed are
not the solution to the conges-
ton problem. He said the Ad-
ministrative ONCE should have
stats to make on-the-spot sur
veys Of congested courts and
delve into obscure facts which
are usually the root-cause Of
critical congestion.
The director noted "a marked
increase in bankruptcy pro-
ceedings involving wage earn
ers and other non-business per-
sons" Such cases numbered
S0,264 as against about $4,000
last fiscal year. Business bank
ruptcies totaled 1l,404 as
against about 10000 COM
menced last year in Federal
courts.
John A. Bresnahan, Bank
ruptcy Referee at District Court
here, said only 95 such cases
were filed in the 1858 fiscal
year as compared with 100 for
fiscal 1857. But he added, SO
cases have been fled since last
January, of which about Is
came in after the fiscal year
ended on June 80.
The report showed little
fluctuation in the number of
criminal cases filed in U. S.
District Courts over the last
10 years. Pending in u. S. Dis