by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
Judges and lawyers from across the sprawling Middle District gathered for a video conference Monday morning to encourage Congress to expand, not reduce, funds for a judiciary badly in need of relief.
“I can speak from personal experience,” said Phillip Buhler, president of the Jacksonville chapter of the Federal Bar Association. “The volume of work has gone through the roof in the last 10 years. It is just unbelievable.
“South Florida went through this 15 years ago. We’re doing it now.”
A congressional reception for the federal judiciary was attended by several dozen at the U.S. Courthouse. A large screen was set up in the jury assembly room, showing simultaneous feeds from Orlando, Ocala, Ft. Myers and Tampa. Real-time images were also captured on four televisions suspended from the ceiling.
In addition to attorneys, at least eight federal judges attended the conference.
They included U.S. District Judges Henry Lee Adams and Harvey Schlesinger; Magistrate Judges Timothy Corrigan, Marcia Morales Howard, Thomas Morris, Monte Richardson and Howard Snyder; and Bankruptcy Judge George Proctor.
Also in attendance were U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, U.S. Attorney Paul Perez and district representatives for U.S. Reps. Ander Crenshaw and Cliff Sterns.
“The system only works when we’re working together,” said Brown. “We have to make sure we have speedy trials, and we have to fund it.”
She said she hadn’t realized there had been such a jump in filings, particularly in bankruptcy cases. Now that she knows, she said she was going to take the message back to Washington, D.C., with her.
“There’s a bill in Congress to get additional judges,” she said. “I will sign on and encourage the delegation to work for it.”
The Middle District stretches from the Florida-Georgia border, south through Brevard County and over to Tampa. It is probably the fastest-growing region in the third-fastest-growing state in the country.
Only California and Texas grew faster than Florida between 1990 and 2000.
Thirty-five of the state’s 67 counties are in the Middle District. It contains better than 9.2 million residents, 55 percent of Florida’s total population.
It’s been 10 years since judges were added to the district, Patricia Fawsett, chief judge for the District, said from Orlando. In that time, the number of cases has increased from 25,000 to 55,000.
“We want to work hard — and we do work hard — both in the dispensation of justice and in being cost effective,” she said. “We understand that, in times of budgetary constraint, we’re all having to work under the same difficulties.
“But we feel this court delivers possibly the best bang for the buck of any of our agencies. We want you all to leave here knowing we’re doing our best to make sure the maxim ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’ does not apply in our court.”
According to handouts at the video conference, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court has seen a 36.6 percent increase in filings in the last four years. There were 55,617 cases filed in the last calendar year. The average number of cases for each of the eight judges was 6,952.
By comparison, California Central has 21 judges to handle 79,250 cases.
The Federal Public Defender’s Office has seen a 25 percent increase in its caseload since FY 2000.
Because of funding cuts or suspended payments, the U.S. Probation Office has reduced mental health and substance abuse treatment for offenders, restricted travel and limited training.
A new office and two attorneys are needed in Ocala to handle the consequences of soaring growth, Perez said.
“It’s a high-growth area,” he said. “A lot of retirees are coming in. There’s just a lot of work there. And the estimated 13 to 18 percent budget cut is going to hurt us.
“What we do now is send prosecutors from either our Jacksonville or Orlando offices to cover hearings. We need somebody permanently there. Probably two, including one who can do some civil work as well.”
One of the more significant differences between the judiciary and the other two branches of government is that judges can’t choose their caseloads, Fawsett pointed out. That, she implied, should be considered when making funding decisions:
“We appreciate and have the greatest respect for the members of Congress and all that they do, not only for our mutual constituents but for us as a court to make sure that we can fulfill our constitutional mandate.”