Civil-case backlog increases

People hurt long ago await their day in court, a judge laments.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Criminal cases have priority over civil cases in common pleas court, and the backlog in criminal cases slows the disposition of civil cases.
"I feel terrible because we just can't get civil cases in to try them. They get bumped out," lamented Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. "People who were injured seriously years ago are waiting for their day in court," because of the Ohio Supreme Court rule giving criminal matters priority, he added.
"We live in a litigious society, and we don't do just criminal cases. We do civil cases too," and civil cases constitute the majority of the court's docket, said Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, the court's presiding judge.
Numbers
Some 77 percent of the court's new general division cases for 2006 were civil filings. The general division consists of the five trial judges who handle major criminal and civil cases. The court had 1,446 new criminal filings and 4,977 new civil filings in 2006. There were 974 criminal cases and 3,638 civil cases pending at the end of 2006.
The court's general division judges conducted 23 jury and six nonjury trials in civil cases in 2005. The 2006 figures were 38 jury and nine nonjury trials in civil cases. All other civil case dispositions were by settlement, dismissal, transfer to another court or some other resolution.
The five judges and the number of civil cases each had pending beyond Ohio Supreme Court guidelines at the end of 2005 and 2006, respectively, were: Judge Maureen A. Cronin, 47, 49; Judge John M. Durkin, 75, 72; Judge James C. Evans, 57, 62; Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, 56, 45; and Judge Maureen A. Sweeney, 99, 113. Ohio Supreme Court guidelines say civil cases should be tried or settled within nine to 36 months after filing depending on the type of case.
Judge Sweeney noted that she became a common pleas judge in mid-2004 and inherited a backlog of cases -- some from as far back as 1998-- from Judge Robert Lisotto, who retired from the bench due to illness.