As the Montana Judicial Branch proposes to add a fifth judge for the district serving Flathead County, county Clerk of Court Peg Allison said the number of new court cases is trending downward.

Earlier this week Montana Supreme Court Administrator Beth McLaughlin and Flathead’s four district judges met with the county commissioners to begin lobbying support for an additional district judge. McLaughlin cited a 20 percent increase in the Flathead district’s caseload from 2009 through 2015, and noted the number of both child abuse and criminal cases has steadily increased.

Allison has a different set of numbers she is presenting when the public inquires.

“They [the Montana Judicial Branch] are showing new cases along with older cases that are being reopened,” Allison said. “That happens a lot in family law cases.”

Changes in child support, jobs and parenting plans all come into play when an existing case is reopened.

“I’m just looking at new cases ... As of Thursday, we’re at 75 percent of the year, and we are showing for 2016 we are at 70 percent of last year’s number,” Allison said. “If that holds true our [new case] numbers will be a little bit less than in 2015.”

The 11th Judicial District that serves Flathead County had a sharp increase in the number of new cases during the recession, from 2008 through 2010, “when the economy changed so dramatically,” she said. In 2010 the district handled 4,779 new cases, and in 2011 the number dropped to 4,106.

Last year the Flathead district processed 4,441 new cases.

“Overall the new case count gradually has had a downward slant,” Allison said, acknowledging that the current four judges nevertheless are busy.

“Yes, absolutely, they’re very busy,” she said.

But if the number of new cases coming in is gradually decreasing, “you’re going to have these reopened cases with high numbers, but they’ll eventually be going down also,” she said.

McLaughlin said the court is under order to include reopened cases along with new cases in its statistics. If details of a divorce plan need to be worked out, or if a criminal case is reopened to change probation terms, for example, “that’s workload for the judge,” she said.

McLaughlin also pointed out the amount of time a case takes to be considered. Child abuse and neglect cases can take an exorbitant amount of time, while probate cases typically take much less time.

“It’s not case numbers that drive workload for a judge,” she said.

Child abuse and neglect cases are up 43 percent and there has been a 22 percent increase in criminal cases over the past six years, she said.

There is a discrepancy between the number of hours the state says Flathead district judges are working each day and Allison’s observations.

McLaughlin said a district court workload study completed in 2014 showed Flathead judges work an average of 9.5 hours a day, handling well over 1,000 cases a year. The study demonstrated a need for 2.44 additional judges for the Flathead district.

“I’m here every day for 10 hours,” Allison said. “They’re working a good, solid eight hours a day.”

She added that she doesn’t know if the judges are working from home in some cases.

If you compare Flathead numbers to other counties, the case count by judge, our numbers are some of the highest,” Allison said. “That has to be a big piece” of the proposal for a fifth judge. “When you can show that Flathead judges are doing 10 to 20 percent [more work] than other judges, it means our judges do work a little harder.”

McLaughlin said Flathead judges participated in the workload study by recording their work in 15-minute increments over a six-week period in 2014 to determine the average number of minutes a case takes to handle.

The county commissioners said they have questions about how much it will cost to add the infrastructure for a fifth judge.

The expense for a district judge is borne largely by the state, which pays for the judge and support staff and even the office furniture, but the county provides the courtroom and office space for the additional judge and support staff.

Prior to 2001 counties were solely responsible for the cost of district court operations, but legislation pushed by the Montana Association of Counties shifted it to a cost-sharing arrangement.

Allison said the county did some “Band-Aid remodeling” to accommodate the fourth judge added five years ago. There’s no space available anywhere in the Justice Center to add another judge, support staff and courtroom.

Space that potentially could have been used on the second floor is now being converted into a 36-bed expansion for the county jail.

The 2017 Montana Legislature will consider the Judicial Branch’s proposal to add five new judges statewide, including one more for Flathead who would take office in January 2019 if lawmakers approve the proposal. If the proposal becomes law, Flathead County will be statutorily obligated to provide the additional judge’s chambers and courtroom.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.