Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady made his case for not cutting the court system budget Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Although the court systemmakes up only 0.7 percent of the state budget, the bursting of the housing bubble and the subsequent rampant foreclosures are weighing the system down, Canady said.
As you know, since the beginning of the fiscal crisis in this state, weve seen some reductions. We have faced a situation where we have fewer resources ... at a time when we have greater demands on the system, he told senators.
Legislators are searching high and low throughout the budget for spending cuts to make up for the $3.62 billion deficit (which could climb to $4.62 billion if $1 billion is used for reserves). Canady said he understands their plight, but he has troubles of his own. The Florida court system is already one of the cheapest in the country, ranking 45th among the states in trial judges per capita.
I know this is going to be a difficult budget year, but I want to make the point that we have a lean judicial system, Canady said.
Canady acknowledged the logjam of foreclosure cases in the courts, but noted that it was not of the courts making, as the robo-signing controversy over faulty paperwork has added confusion and time to the process for those cases to work their way through the system.
The system has essentially been overwhelmed. The lawyers who are handling foreclosures for the lenders have been overwhelmed. Sometimes thats because of these paperwork problems. Some people were taking some short cuts and they found out that the short cut was a long cut, Canady said.
But the future alleviation of the foreclosure problem poses its own problem for the funding of the courts. There is a $1,990 fee for foreclosure cases, but the robo-signing controversy that led to a temporary moratorium on foreclosures by lenders is already impacting the courts $370 million trust fund, the majority of which is obtained through foreclosure fees.
You better watch out if the court system is dependent on that fee, Sen. Garret Richter, R-Naples, warned Canady.
Canady said the problem is immediate, not long-term.
Weve seen a drop in the filings. It relates to these (robo-signing) problems. That has affected our revenue and it's something thats very much a concern. This is a very dynamic situation and the models that are used to get these estimates are questionable because there are circumstances that no one could have foreseen, Canady said.
There was a slight glimmer of hope offered in the form of the states new E-Filing system, which allows lawyers to file documents for existing or new cases online, which are available to all parties involved in a case.
Dewitt Cason, Columbia County Clerk of Courts and chair of the Florida Courts E-Filing Authority, touted the new system as a money saver. Although he didnt give specific figures on savings, Cason noted that as more documents are filed electronically, the need for warehouses storing endless rows of paperwork will be greatly diminished. The upfront cost to get the program running was $60,000, with $20,000 borne by the circuit courts, the state Supreme Court and the Florida Bar Association.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
