By J. Mark Weiss
King County District Court Presiding Judge Harn and Judge Garrow made an interesting presentation concerning a controversy surrounding the imminent redistricting of the King County District Court. Due to statutory requirements, the District Court has been gradually shrinking from a high of 26 judges. There are 22 judges remaining, but one more position must be eliminated this election cycle. The controversy is about which judge will go. Under the applicable statute, the decision will be made by a districting committee, which will include a KCBA representative.
A simple majority of the judges are proposing to split the South District into Southeast and Southwest Districts, each with five judges, retain the Seattle/West District, which would continue to have five judges, and split the current East District into a Northeast District with five judges and a Shoreline District with one judge. The net effect is that the East District would lose a judge. The majority believes there are several advantages to this plan, including that it would provide the most representative judicial selection.
The East District judges do not agree that the cut should come from their ranks. To keep up with the current caseload, the East District already borrows South District judges. It can do this because the South District has more judges than it has courtrooms. The district reports that nearly 60 percent of the countywide District Court caseload is in the East District. The East District handles over 40 percent of the civil cases.
The majority plan would require additional South District judges to commute to the East District to handle the caseload. The East District judges assert that judges sitting in the East District should be elected from the eastside. They propose that the boundaries remain and that the cut come from another district.
There also is a dispute concerning caseload statistics. The eastside judges want to support their argument with caseload statistics and accuse the presiding judge of refusing to release the available statistics. The presiding judge responds that meaningful statistics would not be helpful, because the figures would differ depending on the data element reviewed. In other words, the figures would be different if one looked at where the defendant resides, as opposed to where the plaintiff resides, or where an event occurred, or where a law enforcement agency is based, etc.
After hearing the controversy, the Board appointed a committee to study the issue and make recommendations before taking a position.
New Disability Insurance Benefit for KCBA Members
The KCBA is now offering better disability insurance benefits for members. The benefit can be used to supplement existing disability insurance and provides coverage where the insured is no longer able to work in his/her regular occupation. In addition to better coverage, the premium also is lower than the old disability benefit.
Diversity Manager Position
The Board approved a new diversity manager position. The diversity manager would work on the Future of the Law Institute, a program that identifies minority high school students who are interested in careers in the law and provides guidance and support so they can achieve their goals. The diversity manager also will support other diversity work of the KCBA.
This article discusses selected issues that were before the Board of Trustees at its March 15 and April 5 meetings. Complete minutes of these and other board meetings are available from the KCBA office. n
J. Mark Weiss is KCBA secretary/trustee. Weiss practices family law in Seattle. He can be reached at 206-622-6707.
