Supreme Court certifies no need for new judges for 2023
Justices acknowledge excess judicial capacity in both the First and Second district courts of appeal that should be dealt with through attrition
The Supreme Court has certified no need for additional county, circuit, or district court of appeal judgeships this year in its annual certification opinion.
The court, however, did recommend the elimination of one judicial position in Brevard County and acknowledge excess judicial capacity in both the First and Second district courts of appeal resulting from recently enacted changes to the jurisdictional boundaries of appellate courts associated with the creation of the new Sixth DCA.
The court released its annual certification opinion December 22. The Florida Constitution requires the court to set a procedure to determine the need for new judges or decertifying existing seats.
The Supreme Court is recommending the Legislature address the excess appellate judicial capacity over time by reducing the number of statutorily authorized judgeships based on attrition, without requiring a judge to vacate his or her position involuntarily.
“This recommendation is consistent with the approach the Court recommended last year in its opinion on the need to create an additional district court of appeal,” the court noted.
For the trial courts, the court said it continues to use a verified, objective weighted caseload methodology as a primary basis for assessing judicial need. The lower courts submit judgeship requests that supplement the objective data, including descriptions of how secondary factors are affecting those courts. The secondary factors identified by each chief judge reflect local differences in support of their requests for more judges or in support of their requests to certify the need to decrease judgeships.
“Based on the analysis under this two-step methodology, we conclude that there is no demonstrable need for an additional circuit court or county court judgeship,” the court said. “Considered in isolation, the two-step analysis suggested certifying no need to decrease circuit court judgeships and certifying the need to decrease two county court judgeships in Brevard County and one county court judgeship each in Alachua, Collier, and Monroe counties.”
The court, however, said other relevant circumstances, coupled with the secondary-factor analysis, militate against certifying the need to decrease all but one position on the Brevard County bench.
The court said several chief judges have commented on the importance of updating the current case weights in order to capture a more complete picture of case complexity addressed by trial court judges. Since the last workload assessment and case weight update in 2016, the court said state laws have changed significantly, affecting the courts’ work in interpreting and applying those laws. Further, court operations have changed significantly, such as through the rapid deployment of remote technology as a result of the pandemic.
“We agree with the chief judges’ observations that these and other developments warrant reevaluation of the case weights that are the foundation of this Court’s evaluation of judicial workload,” the justices said. “In addition, the lingering impact of workload stemming from COVID-19 limits our ability to accurately project judicial need and further militates against certifying the need to decrease trial court judgeships.”
Notwithstanding significant progress in addressing pandemic-related workload, the Supreme Court estimates the trial courts will be facing more than 210,000 pending cases above normal on July 1, 2023, and as reflected in the State Courts System’s FY 2023-24 legislative budget request, the Trial Court Budget Commission has identified the need for temporary adjudicatory and case support resources to address this workload.
The court said the third and final year of the pandemic recovery plan, if funded, will provide general magistrates, case managers, and staff attorneys; facilitate additional use of senior judges; and expand mediation services to help address increased workload caused by the pandemic.
The court also noted the county court monetary jurisdiction increases to $50,000 on January 1, 2023, and said the expansion “can reasonably be expected to increase workload in the county courts.”
Citing the anticipated cases resulting from Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole, the continued expansion of drug courts and other problem-solving courts and the increased judicial time associated with those dockets, and judicial time related to the implementation of the civil case management requirements brought on by the pandemic, contributed to its “cautious approach” to certifying the need to decrease trial court judgeships.
“Mindful of these considerations, the court does not recommend decreasing the number of county court judges in Alachua, Collier, or Monroe counties but does, however, recommend a decrease of one county judgeship in Brevard County based on a demonstrated, multi-year trend of excess judicial capacity in that county,” the court said.
The court said it recognizes excess judicial capacity in the First District and the Second District based on the addition of the new Sixth DCA effective January 1, 2023, along with corresponding jurisdictional boundary changes in three existing districts.
“However, the Court continues to recommend that this excess capacity be addressed over time through attrition and therefore is not certifying the need to decrease any district court judgeships,” the court said.
The court maintains the creation of an additional district and changes to the territorial boundaries of other districts are milestone events and “will take some time to fully assess.” But based on its workload analysis, the court says there is an estimated excess capacity of one judgeship in the First District and three judgeships in the Second District.
“To address this situation, this Court recommends that during the 2023 Regular Session the Legislature consider enacting legislation that provides for reduction in the number of statutorily authorized district court judgeships based on attrition and without requiring a judge to vacate his or her position involuntarily,” the court said. “Such legislation could specify that, upon each occurrence of an event that otherwise would have resulted in a vacancy in the office of judge of the First District or Second District, the number of authorized judges shall be reduced by one, until a specified number of judges remain on each court; we recommend that eventually, after attrition, there be 12 judges authorized for each of those courts.”
Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz along with Justice Charles Canady, Ricky Polston, Jorge Labarga, and
Justice Couriel concurred. Justice Jamie Grosshans concurred in part and dissents in part with an opinion. Justice Renatha Francis did not participate.
Grosshans said she agreed with the majority except in one respect — the decision to decrease one county court judgeship in Brevard.
“In my view, the reasons given by the majority as support for not decreasing county court judgeships in three other counties weigh in favor of retaining the current number of county judgeships in Brevard County as well,” Grosshans said. “I stress in particular the uncertainty in projecting judicial need following the COVID-19 pandemic and the acknowledged necessity of updating current case weights to accurately reflect case complexity and judicial workload — including the valuable time that county court judges expend in circuit court roles. I do not believe that the ‘multi-year trend’ on which the majority relies . . . negates the many substantial reasons for retaining the current number of county judgeships in Brevard County for now.”
The court acted in Case No. SC22-1621.
