Petition to Change Resident Chambers from Watford City to Minot

Petition to Change Resident Chambers from Watford City to Minot, 2002 ND 54, 643 N.W.2d 1; 650 N.W.2d 812

[Go to Documents]Filed Apr. 8, 2002
Amended Aug. 5, 2002[Download as WordPerfect]
AmendmentIN THE SUPREME COURTSTATE OF NORTH DAKOTA2002 ND 54

In the Matter of the Petition to Change the Resident Chambers for District Judgeship No. 8, Northwest Judicial District, from Watford City to Minot

No. 20020048

Petition to Change Resident Chambers from Watford City to Minot.
PETITION GRANTED.

Per Curiam.

[¶1] On February 19, 2002, the Honorable Robert W. Holte, Presiding Judge of the Northwest Judicial District, filed a Petition under N.D. Sup. Ct. Admin. R. 7.1 requesting this Court to relocate the chambers of District Judgeship No. 8 of the Northwest Judicial District from Watford City to Minot.

[¶2] Under § 27-05-08, N.D.C.C., this Court has the authority to determine the location of the chambers of the state's district judges. Since November 2001, the Court has had two occasions to review the judicial service needs, population and caseload trends, and other criteria identified in N.D. Sup. Ct. Admin. R. 7.1, § 4, regarding the Northwest Judicial District. See Judicial Vacancy in the Northwest Judicial District, 2002 ND 12, 638 N.W.2d 540; Judicial Vacancy in the Northwest Judicial District, 2001 ND 199, 637 N.W.2d 3. We take judicial notice of the information contained in those files.

[¶3] After notice, a hearing concerning the possible transfer of Judgeship No. 8 was held in the Ralph J. Erickstad Courtroom of the Supreme Court on March 27, 2002. This order is based upon a consideration of all information received and reviewed by this Court, the criteria identified in N.D. Sup. Ct. Admin. R. 7.1, § 4, and the need for continued effective judicial services in the Northwest Judicial District.

[¶4] Of the criteria identified in N.D. Sup. Ct. Admin. R. 7.1, § 4, factors a., i., j., and l. indicate the chambers of Judgeship No. 8 should be relocated.

a. Annual district court combined civil, criminal and formal juvenile caseload for the most recent three-year period and any discernible caseload trends or patterns.

[¶5] Our weighted caseload study allocates the amount of judicial resources (including judges and judicial referees) needed to handle cases after weighting each type of case by the amount of time required to process an average case of that type. The study also allocates time not available for handling cases but which is required from a judge, such as travel time and time for the presiding judge to handle administrative matters. The resulting computation is the minimum judicial resources (expressed as a "judicial FTE", which includes both judges and judicial referees) to meet the needs of the district based upon weighted case filings.

[¶6] The following tables are divided into two geographical areas of contiguous counties in the district. The tables indicate the total filings and weighted filings in each county for the last three years. We regard the weighted filings as the more significant because the weighted filings are indicative of judge time required to dispose of a matter. County 1999 Weighted Filings 1999 Actual Filings 2000 Weighted Filings 2000 Actual Filings 2001 Weighted Filings 2001 Actual FilingsBurke 7,182 465 12,337 552 9,354 547Mountrail 19,167 1,258 19,525 1,212 22,483 1,184Ward245,512 8,908240,463 8,649264,529 9,538Subtotals271,86110,631272,325 10,413296,366 11,269 Subtotal Percentage 68% 59% 65% 58% 68% 59%Divide 7,393 394 8,781 394 8,077 357McKenzie 19,797 1,928 23,7921,824 21,126 2,176Williams102,748 5,124117,0255,470108,671 5,419Subtotals129,9387,446149,5987,688137,874 7,952 Subtotal Percentage 32% 41% 35% 42% 32% 41% District Totals 401,799 18,077 421,923 18,101 434,240 19,221

[¶7] When the chambers are transferred, 71.4 percent of the judicial FTEs (four judges and one referee) will be located in the eastern counties of Burke, Mountrail, and Ward and 28.6 percent of the judicial FTEs (two judges) will be in the western counties of Divide, McKenzie, and Williams. This would locate the judicial FTEs in close proximity to the workload.

[¶8] The judicial FTE overage (shortage) by county in the district for the same three years is set out below.

County 1999 2000 2001Burke -0.11* -0.19* -0.15*Mountrail 0.58 0.58 0.53Ward 0.19 0.26 -0.11Divide -0.11* -0.14* -0.13*McKenzie 0.69 0.63 0.67Williams 0.40 0.18 0.31* All counties without resident chambers will show a judicial shortage. Such counties are served by judges chambered in other counties in the district.

The computation for Ward County has not been adjusted for the death of Judge Glenn Dill in September 2001 or the subsequent transfer of the judgeship to the East Central Judicial District, but assumes three judges and one referee in that county for each full year. If Ward County had had only two judges and a referee located there, the same filings in Ward County would reflect a judicial shortage in the last three years as follows: 1999 2000 2001 -0.81 -0.74 -1.11

To adequately serve Ward County, it is necessary to have three judges and a referee located there.

i. Impact of any change of chamber on travel time for judges, court personnel, attorneys, and litigants.

During the last biennium, the total mileage and average monthly mileage traveled by each judge and referee in the district was as follows:TotalMonthly AverageConnie Portscheller3,064128Nels Olson5,210217Gary Holum2,812117David Nelson15,057627Gerald Rustad8,480353Glenn Dill1,934 81Robert Holte 20,491 854William McLees 29,499 1,229

Since Judge Glenn Dill's death in September 2001, all judges of the district chambered outside of Minot have had to substantially increase their travel, although some travel may be due to factors other than the need to replace services previously provided by Judge Dill. For the months of September through December of 2001, our records reflect the following travel in the district: