Milwaukee case filings drop 1.5%

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Small claims case filings in the Milwaukee County Circuit Court continued to rise in 2005 as collection efforts by area companies increased. But as the court deals with a budget shortfall and possible cuts next year, the growing volume is causing concern.

Filings of small claims contract cases in the Civil Division rose 11 percent to 26,187, according to the 2005 Annual Report for the First Judicial District filed by the Administrative Services Division of the court. Since 2002, contract case filings have risen 51 percent.

Overall, total case filings throughout the First District dropped 1.5 percent in 2005 to 140,242 from 142,427 in 2004, according to the report.

Part of what’s pushing the increase in small claims is unpaid consumer bills. As the economy declines, small and large claims cases increase, said Chief Judge Kitty K. Brennan. We Energies filed 4,000 collection cases in 2004 and 2005, Brennan said. Company officials already have said there will be another 4,000 cases filed between 2005 and 2006.

“Some of the biggest corporations in Milwaukee upped their collection efforts,” Brennan said.

In addition to the increased collection efforts, Brennan warned that a proposed legislative change would have had a significant impact on the small claims courts.

Assembly Bill 680 would have raised the monetary limit on small claims from $5,000 to $10,000, which would have led to increased small claims filings. The bill passed the Assembly in March, but failed to move forward in the Senate.

Budget Challenges

One of the biggest factors in court operations could be the circuit court’s budget. Last year, County Executive Scott Walker proposed eliminating all 10 judicial court commissioners and cutting $6 million from the $29.5 million budget Brennan requested. The Milwaukee County Board in November vetoed the elimination of support staff and reduced the budget cut to $3 million.

Brennan plans to file the court’s proposed budget for next year this month.

“We have kept up, but we will not be able to” with those changes, Brennan said. “If there are further cuts, we’ve got problems.”

To deal with the shortfall, the court has held some positions open, said John Barrett, clerk of circuit court and director of court services. At the end of the year, there will be some concern, he said.

“We’re hoping the county will come through and assist us with additional revenue when the time comes,” Barrett said.

For 2005, the court disposed of 26,306 contract cases, a 12 percent increase from the previous year. That boost contributed to a 1.2 percent rise in disposed cases to 142,455.

Filling five vacated judicial court commissioner posts left open by retirees with newer employees helped, said Frank Liska, administrative court commissioner. Of the 10 judicial court commissioners, four handle small claims cases, Brennan said.

“We have all new employees, so they don’t get as much vacation so we have more people spending more time on the process,” Liska said. “We pack more into the time we have.”

The court also schedules more cases for each day, allowing time previously wasted by no-shows to be used. Liska said the change has reduced the amount of time to resolve cases to 60 days.

By the Numbers

Of the Civil Division’s 10,270 pending cases at the end of the year, 2.3 percent were filed before 2003 and 9.6 percent were filed in 2004. In the Criminal Division, the percentages were 9 and 12 respectively.

Outside of small claims, the biggest change in 2005 filings was a 6.9 percent drop in moving traffic violation cases to 47,055 from 50,518 in 2004.

Brennan said the Wisconsin Legisla-ture’s operating after revocation law change affected the cases significantly. The law allows the cases filed against people driving after their licenses have been revoked to be either civil or criminal. Previously, the cases were always criminal.

“What happens in state legislation drives case load,” Brennan said.

Changes to the Milwaukee County Sheriff Department’s expressway patrol unit also affected the case filings, Liska said. Because of budget concerns, the expressway patrol unit dropped to 59 officers in 2005 from 64. As the number of traffic accidents, service calls, and warrants and arrests increased, officers also had less time to write citations, according to a January 2006 Milwaukee County audit report.

“Traffic citations were down because the sheriff made a conscious effort to reallocate resources,” Liska said.

Overall, the Misdemeanor/Traffic Division, where 40 percent of cases were filed, had a 5.8 percent drop in cases compared with a 2.5 percent increase in 2004. The Family and Children’s divisions, which represent 9 percent and 5 percent of cases respectively, showed a drop in cases for the third consecutive year.

In the Family Division, cuts in the child support enforcement department contributed to an 8 percent drop in paternity cases, Brennan said.