Shelby delegation asks Legislature for a new district judge

A bill introduced Thursday in the Alabama House of Representatives would add a third district judge in the state's fastest-growing county.

State Rep. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, said his bill, co-sponsored by the entire Shelby County delegation, would put a new district judgeship on the Shelby County ballot in the 2008 election cycle with the winner to take office in January 2009.

District judges handle traffic, misdemeanor, juvenile and small claims cases, as well as some civil cases.

"We have an overload in the court dockets in Shelby County, and it is long past time that we get one new judgeship," Ward said. He said he is confident the bill will receive the necessary support of the Alabama Administrative Office of the Courts.

Both Ward and Shelby County's presiding judge, Circuit Judge J. Michael Joiner, praised the support they received from Alabama Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb.

"The chief justice was absolutely fabulous in her help on this," Ward said.

"I met with her back in January to discuss our situation," Joiner said, "and she ran the numbers and completely understood our situation."

The AOC must sign off on a new judge, Joiner said, because the state has a unified judicial system with budgetary restraints. That is also why the legislation is a statewide bill and not a local one, Ward said.

Meanwhile, Joiner said, a new district judge cannot arrive too soon for the two sitting district judges, Jim Kramer and Ron Jackson.

Jackson handles traffic, misdemeanors and small civil cases, while Kramer's dockets are juvenile court and small claims. Jackson's traffic cases have surged from around 6,900 cases in 2004 to 14,764 in 2006.

Jackson's misdemeanor docket was around 2,800 cases when he took office in 1991. By the end of 2006, it had reached 5,250. District court civil cases jumped from 668 in 1991 to 1,040 in 2006.

Kramer came on the bench in 2005, replacing Patti Smith, who is now an associate justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Kramer saw the cases involving juveniles and dependent children rise from 1,037 in 2004 to 1,607 in 2006.

Kramer's small claims dockets jumped from 1,700 cases in 2004 to 2,100 in 2006.

"The numbers more than bear out the need," Ward said, adding that "every single member of our delegation really worked hard lobbying AOC with our judges. I don't know that any delegation here has ever been this unified."

Next the bill will be referred to a committee, he said, probably County and Local government or, possibly, Ways and Means. With reasonably smooth sailing there, he said, it could go to the floor sometime next month. It would still have to pass the Alabama Senate to become law.

Shelby County has four circuit judges who handle large civil cases, felonies and domestic relations. Joiner said they have been helping with some district matters, "but our dockets are crowded, too."

E-mail: nwilstach@bhamnews.com