Opinion ID: 1853328
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: judicial resource study

Text: As part of our continuing commitment to refine the judicial workload model for analysis, this Court directed the Florida Supreme Court Commission on Trial Court Performance and Accountability to perform an additional extensive study of the judicial case weights to be utilized and the contribution of magistrates and other hearing officers in the case disposition process in an attempt to consistently and regularly validate our process of certification. [2] In response, the Commission created a Judicial Resource Study Workgroup composed of circuit and county court judges, trial court administrators, general magistrates, and hearing officers to study, evaluate, and make recommendations to this Court with regard to the overall judicial workload. The primary objectives of the study were to update the existing judicial case weights and establish processing times for cases which involve the services of general magistrates and hearing officers. A secondary objective of the study was to develop a tool to assist judicial leadership in determining the optimal allocation of judicial and supplemental resources. The updating of the judicial case weights on a continuing basis is consistent with the recommendations of the National Center for State Courts, the original consultants in connection with the 1999 case weight development. [3] Since 1999, new laws and statutory requirements have been enacted by the Florida Legislature that require additional time in the judicial processing of cases. Moreover, to our knowledge, this is the first time that any state court has ever attempted to evaluate the impact of the contribution of supplemental hearing officers as part of a judicial workload model. These factors and others have been considered in the Judicial Resource Study Final Report. At the direction of the Judicial Resource Study Workgroup, a General Magistrate/Hearing Officer Subgroup was also formed to study the workload of magistrates and other hearing officers. That subgroup was composed of three judges and seven magistrates and hearing officers from across the state. Together, these two studies provide a state-of-the-art evaluation of judicial workload in Florida. These studies were multifaceted and integrated. First, the Judicial Resource Study Workgroup employed a three-prong approach to analyze judicial case weights: (1) a judicial survey of trial court judges was completed; 466 judges, or fifty-four percent, of the 866 trial court judges available during the study participated; (2) a judicial forum was convened to review and validate the weights; seventy-five judges, or nine percent, of the 866 trial court judges available at that time participated; and (3) a final case weight review was conducted by the Judicial Resource Study Workgroup. [4] In addition to reviewing the twenty-six original case weights established in 1999 and the drug court case weight established in 2003, the Workgroup assigned weights to two new categories of cases that have been designated by the Legislature since 1999, namely, Jimmy Ryce and Parental Notice of Abortion cases. A number of adjustments were made to the existing case weights as a result of this Judicial Resource Study. At the circuit court level, nine weights increased and ten weights decreased. In county court, four weights increased and four decreased. The study provides exhaustive documentation for each adjustment. Reasons for the various case weight adjustments vary by case type in both circuit and county court divisions. Some of the justifications for increases and decreases in the case weights provided by the judges in the survey and forum group included but were not limited to increases in post  judgment activity, increases in Nelson [5] hearings, increases in bond reduction hearings, mandatory minimum sentencing requirements, disposition requirements for expanded plea colloquies, civil case complexity, statutory changes, difficulty in seating juries, motion practice, increased numbers of parties, the involvement of magistrates in portions of a case, case-related administration, indigence hearings, requirements associated with cases involving children, increasing complexity of Baker Act and Marchman Act cases, increased staff support, increased supplemental resources, increased use of interpreters for non-English speaking litigants, increased numbers of self-represented litigants, changes to the personal injury protection law, increases in identity theft that impact the intensity of workload associated with that category of cases, increases in construction litigation, and decreases in proportions of occurrences of trials and other case-related events. These examples illustrate the changing dynamics and complexities associated with the cases filed in Florida's courts. Of particular interest to this Court is the nature of the workload relationship between judges and general magistrates and hearing officers. To the extent currently possible, this study addressed that question. Specifically, the adjusted and new weights (e.g., Jimmy Ryce and Parental Notice of Abortion cases) incorporate the use of general magistrates and hearing officers in case disposition. The objectives of the General Magistrate/Hearing Officer Study were to: (1) develop a mechanism to measure the workload of general magistrates, Title IV-D child support hearing officers, and traffic hearing officers; and (2) develop a tool to assist judicial leadership in determining the optimal allocation of supplemental resources. This study created a new model for magistrates and hearing officers by drawing on the original judicial workload model framework developed in 1999 and utilizing the same case types and filing data source. [6] As a result, this Court, the chief judges, and the Trial Court Budget Commission are all now in a better position to evaluate the need for and distribution of general magistrates and hearing officers throughout the state. Judicial availability to hear and decide cases in the county, circuit, and district courts is essential to fulfilling the guarantee of meaningful and timely access to justice for the people of Florida. It is essential that our courts be open, properly staffed, and operational at all times. Florida's courts must also be equally accessible to all of our citizens. This includes physical and communication accessibility for persons with disabilities, effective and sustained remedies for individuals with mental illnesses, and legal access for self-represented litigants. All of these issues are linked to the presence of a sufficient judicial staffing complement at the trial and appellate court levels. It is our judges who help to ensure public safety, protect individual rights and liberties, and safeguard the promises of our democracy by promoting and enforcing constitutional guarantees and the rule of law. The State Courts System has now completed its effort to update the judicial case weights. As noted, we have also established new case weights for general magistrates and other supplemental hearing officers. These new case weights reflect statutory changes enacted by the Legislature since 1999 and the availability of additional supplemental resources (e.g., general magistrates, case managers, and staff attorneys), both of which impact judicial workload. The Court has accepted the adjusted case weights as provided in the Judicial Resource Study and applied them in our current certification analysis. In addition, in accordance with the discretion afforded under Rule of Judicial Administration 2.240, we have also applied an additional factor to the judicial net need equation, that being the availability of senior judges to hear and dispose of cases. Although the case-weighted methodology takes into account all supplemental resources that assist judges in disposing of cases, prior to the analysis, it has not previously included the contribution of senior judges who dispose of cases without the assistance of current county or circuit court judges. In our view, senior judges represent an additional resource that can and must be factored into the total package of available judicial resources and are included in this certification analysis. The application of the case-weighted methodology in 1999 was the dawn of a new era for the State Courts System. Prior to 1999, the certification process was a blend of statistical data regarding case filings and a review of anecdotal information from the trial and appellate courts. The missing element was the actual time necessary for judges to dispose of cases. By adopting the case-weighting methodology in 1999, Florida became one of a very few states to attempt to employ sophisticated evaluation techniques when analyzing judicial workload. From the outset, our court system has embraced the concept of a case-weighted methodology. We are committed to improving the process and analysis each year. Over the last eight years, we have conducted a continual evaluation of the certification process. It is important to this Court, our judges, and the people of Florida that we employ the appropriate methodology. We believe that ongoing self-analysis enhances the overall validity of the process. We recognize that the incorporation of senior judge time into the certification process this year is a departure from the previous methodology approach. Clearly, this is a complex issue as the use of senior judges allows for greater operational flexibility in the trial courts. However, we believe that it is a prudent approach given the new judgeships the State Courts System has received the last two fiscal years and the adoption of the adjusted case weights. We intend to carefully consider the impact of our decision in this regard by continuing to consult with the chief judges of the lower courts and requesting that the Commission on Trial Court Performance and Accountability further analyze this change to the certification methodology and advise us accordingly.