Spring 2018 Gavel Final Spring 2018 Gavel | Page 11

“We all have to work smart and make really good use of our time,”
she said.
Court staff and retired and other sitting judges have helped meet
the caseload, especially in the protest cases. Holewa said flurries of
deadlines and other time constraints make added pressure for all.
“(The protest cases) are playing a big role because it takes a lot of
judicial time because there’s a lot of cases coming in in a short period
of time, but it’s a temporary role – I’m not saying it’s short-term but
it’s temporary,” Holewa said. “They’re going to eventually go away,
but we build that into our weighted caseload, too.”
While Hagerty said traveling to smaller counties for court dates
may not be the most efficient use of time, she said
judges are “committed” to the rural counties, though
Burleigh, Morton, McLean, and Mercer counties
carry about 95 percent of the South Central district
caseload.
Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle, of the North Dakota Supreme
Court, said the study is only a tool, but “we are short. There’s no two
ways about it.”
Holewa and Hagerty said only the Legislature can add judgeships.
Since 1995, there’s always been some shortage, according to Holewa.
That’s when legislation combined county and district judgeships,
making 42 positions that began increasing from 2009 to 2015 to the
51 district judgeships around the state today.
About 35 court personnel were cut from around the state last
year, said VandeWalle, adding retired judges have helped meet the
caseload from the pipeline protests.
Complexity
With a shortage in judicial officers, cases can
take longer to be heard and resolved, according to
Tony Weiler, executive director of the State Bar
Association of North Dakota (SBAND).
Bismarck attorney and SBAND President-Elect
Zach Pelham commended the South Central district
judges for their efficiency, adding he opts to schedule
court dates early to help move things along.
“Really from my clients’ perspective, I want to resolve
a case as efficiently as possible, and in doing so, I
want to have a schedule in place so that schedule is
followed so my client has an idea of when (their)
case is going to be resolved,” said Pelham, a civil
practitioner who handles cases around the state.
Weiler also said arranging a court date depends on
what the case is about and what's needed for it.
“If you need a one-hour hearing, that might be a lot
easier to get than if the case is complex and if you
need a weeklong trial,” he said. "And I know they're
scheduling out into 2019 already."
Holewa said the Northwest Judicial District has seen
more complex cases despite a drop in filings, such
as misdemeanors, after the height of the Bakken oil
boom.
Legislative fix
Weighted according to time and judge activity,
Holewa said the 2017 caseload study doesn’t look at
raw case numbers.
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