City backs keeping three district court judges

By Grace Lovins

During the Monday, June 8, meeting, Birmingham City Commissioners adopted a resolution to support the 48th District Court continuing operations with three judges, joining an effort by court officials to preserve a judgeship slated for elimination under existing legislation should one of the judges retire or age out of their judgeship.

Court administrator Patrick Dunn said the original legislation passed in 2011 was driven by caseload numbers but the work of the court has changed over the last 15 years. While overall caseloads have improved compared with earlier years, Dunn said judges are now spending more time on old cases and filings within existing cases due to various legislative changes.

Dunn added that, per their estimates, the court is projected to handle more than 30,000 cases this year, pointing to an increase in general civil cases particularly connected to the no-fault auto insurance act reforms and record expungement related hearings.

Providing the commission with cost-related issues, Dunn explained that reducing the court to two judges would likely increase the cost to the local municipalities that fund the court.

He said that if the court lost a judge, it would need a magistrate in the courthouse Monday through Friday, mornings and afternoons, to help with the workload. The judge’s salaries are covered by the state, but the cost to hire a full-time magistrate would be placed on local communities.

Dunn and 48th District Court Judge Kimberly Small also said that the court’s ability to serve the public well would also be hindered by the loss of a judgeship. “These jurisdictions won’t be served well with two judges, both financially and in terms of the wait times for search warrants, for anything that happens…It’s going to be very difficult,” Small said.

Small, who has served on the bench for 30 years, disclosed that she is reaching the time in her life where she is thinking about her future but wants to make sure the court is set before her tenure is over.

The motion to adopt the resolution in support of the court maintaining current operations was unanimously approved in a 6-0 vote.