County courts prepare for changes wrought by Legislature

Every two years, trial courts make requests to the Indiana General Assembly for new staff, whether it be a new judge or a new magistrate.

Two years ago, all the bills to make those changes died due to a summer committee assigned to explore local needs not having a quorum. Now, changes have been made in the Legislature, but not in the way everyone was expecting.

Ultimately, lawmakers decided last month to reallocate judicial resources throughout the state by cutting nine judicial posts in four counties and adding 8 judicial jobs in four others.

The bill’s author, Rep. Chris Jeter, R-Fishers, said during the most recent summer study committee in 2024, it became clear there was no appetite to add courts in fast-growing counties if they weren’t also looking at counties that needed to give up a court.

The reallocation plan of House Enrolled Act 1144 was born, leaning on caseload statistics that determined the counties in greatest need and those with the most leeway.

“This is my attempt to fulfill that recommendation,”Jeter said.

The bill reduces the number of magistrate positions in Marion County Juvenile Courts from 17 to 11 and also cuts a magistrate post in Jennings County. It eliminates the Blackford County Superior Court and a Monroe County Circuit Court.

At the same time, two superior courts would be added in Hamilton County, as would two additional magistrates. Also added would be two more full-time magistrates in Elkhart County, one magistrate in Vigo County and one in Lawrence County juvenile court.

Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, spoke on the bill before it passed the House for a final time, saying the bill was a signal to the judiciary.

“They need to come up with a comprehensive idea how to allocate judges and make their time used effectively,” DeLaney said. “That can be done, especially with today’s technology.”

At the time of The Indiana Lawyer’s deadline, the bill was awaiting action by Gov. Mike Braun.

Kathryn Dolan, communications director for the Indiana Supreme Court, said the court will continue to work with the Legislature on resource issues.

“Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush looks forward to working with the Legislature in the future on the process to ensure the allocation of judges meets community needs throughout the state,” Dolan said.

Additions

Under the legislation, fast-growing Hamilton County will see the most additions with two new magistrates and two new judges to take the bench by 2027.

Hamilton Superior Court No. 2. Judge Jon Brown said the additions are going to help the court significantly.

“A lot of people put a lot of effort and a lot of work into getting this bill to where it is, and so we were super appreciative of those efforts because at the end of the day, it’s going to help me move a lot more stuff through and I won’t have as many frustrated people in my courtroom,” Brown said.

The magistrates can start on July 1, so the court is waiting for the bill to be signed so they can get a job posting out.

The bill also allows for the Lawrence County juvenile court to appoint one full-time magistrate, Vigo County to appoint a magistrate, and Elkhart County to appoint two more full-time magistrates.

Lawmakers said they really focused on the weighted caseload management system to base their decisions on.

“That’s the data we use to look after these courts, same data we use to add over the years, same data we use to subtract, and it suggests that statewide, we have about the right number of judges across the state,” Jeter said. “So this is an effort to get them in the right spots.”

However, based on the reactions to the Senate initial proposal to eliminate 11 courts, lawmakers found some local officials didn’t believe the caseload analysis fully took into account everything a judge does.

Brown said he understands the criticisms. “I don’t track every second of time that I spend working,” he added.

He said he knows his role as a judge in an urban county looks different than a judge in a rural county.

“We try to keep our dockets at the end of the day pretty close, so no one is really working, theoretically, a ton more than anybody else. Just, unfortunately, right now, we’re all working like crazy,” Brown said.

Brown said he’s often doing work at home after picking his kids up from daycare.

“That’s not standard across the state, but that’s the demand that we have on us at the end of the day. You can’t do it forever, like you could not do this caseload, what I have right now forever,” Brown said.

Subtractions

The number of juvenile court magistrates allowed for Marion Superior Court will be reduced from 17 to 11, but court officials said that move won’t have much of an impact because the six posts being eliminated are currently unfilled.

Emily VanOsdol, Marion County court administrator, said local judges were aware of the plan and prepared.

“These vacancies were proactively identified, and the Court has worked in collaboration with the Indiana Office of Court Services and members of the Indiana General Assembly in the hope these vacancies could be used for addressing caseload demands in other parts of the state,” VanOsdol said.

Monroe County is also seeing a cut in its circuit court. Judge Valeri Haughton is planning on retiring, and rather than have someone new run for her seat, her court will be abolished.

Haughton did not return The Indiana Lawyer’s request for comment.

Bloomington Democrat Rep. Matt Pierce voted against the bill, saying the Legislature shouldn’t be eliminating courts until it has a more robust analysis.

“It’s just kind of unfortunate that my county has to go through this process with less ability to make its case than other counties will have in the future,” Pierce said.

Monroe Circuit Court Judge Darcie Fawcett said the local courts will have to find a way to make it work.

“I mean, obviously we’re just going to have to adjust to the changes and make adjustments on all of the case flows to account for the loss of the judge, because obviously those cases in the court that is being abolished still have to be handled,” Fawcett said. “It’ll just be spread out amongst the other judges here.”

When asked about whether or not she feels the weighted caseload management system accurately reflects all that a judge does, she said she cannot speak on the study itself, but that it is difficult to depict all the work a judge does.

“I just think it’s really hard to capture because it’s a fluid workflow,” Fawcett said.

Blackford Superior Court Judge John Barry’s court will be abolished, leaving only one circuit court judge in the county.

Jennings County is losing a magistrate.

“We’ve communicated with those counties. I wouldn’t say they like it, but we’ve worked with them to move them into areas of higher growth,” Jeter said. “This is going to be an ongoing process, a pretty significant policy shift. We’re going to start looking not just at adding courts, but also if there’s counties that need to have courts reduced.”•