Courts Suffer Crush Of Cases Civil Suits Languish; Lawyers Push For Two More Judges

FROM FOR THE RECORD (Tuesday, July 22, 1997): Correction Incorrect organization: Richard Eymann is president of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association. A Sunday story on Spokane County’s backlogged civil cases incorrectly reported the organization’s name.

Several attorneys are tired of their civil cases sitting on the back burner at the Spokane County courthouse.

They’re threatening to file a federal lawsuit against county commissioners, saying too much time takes place between filing a lawsuit and the start of a trial.

Because criminal matters by law require priority handling, civil lawsuits can wait from one to three years before starting, said Spokane attorney Richard Eymann.

He and other attorneys hope they can nudge the commissioners into paying for two more Superior Court judges.

“Every law firm in town dealing with civil cases has examples of people - many of them older residents - waiting to get into court,” said Eymann, president of the Washington State Bar Association.

Those clients include people alleging personal injuries, broken contracts or malpractice claims.

Eymann said he and about eight lawyers will decide in the next few weeks whether to file the lawsuit.

They argue the state Legislature, in the last session, gave legal approval and partial funding for two more Spokane County Superior Court judges.

County officials agree that courts here are clogged with criminal proceedings that have mushroomed in the last three years. But commissioners say they’re not ready to be bullied into spending their share of the cost for the new judges.

Commissioner Phil Harris said he wishes the threatening attorneys had come to the county to plead their case before talking lawsuit.

“I’m not going to be intimidated by a bunch of attorneys,” Harris said.

He suggested that the suit would erode his support for finding money next year for one of the extra judges.

“If they file that suit, I’ll back off my plan to find that money (for one new judge)-in the next budget,” said Harris.

County officials estimate the cost of adding a courtroom, staff and paying for one new judge next year would total more than $240,000.

Courts in the state’s most crowded counties have faced similar problems balancing criminal and civil court actions.

In King and Pierce counties, for example, soaring criminal caseloads have caused civil suits to move at a snail’s pace.

In Spokane, civil attorneys like Roger Felice say they must deal with getting bumped from a scheduled trial date when judges are forced to jam a criminal trial onto the docket at the last minute.

“I’ve never had a civil case get canceled in any other Washington county,” said Felice, who’s considering joining with Eymann in suing Spokane County. “Over the past year, the county hasn’t even assigned a definite trial date for any lawsuit we’ve filed in the past year.”

All sides agree that the key problem is a heavy load of prosecutions. Criminal trials this year are expected to reach 180, up from 100 in 1992.

That year, 179 civil trials took place in Spokane County, compared with 148 last year.

“There have to be some options available in finding the money for the new positions,” Eymann said. “Why is Spokane County so far behind other counties in the state?”

Harris insists that the money spent fighting a lawsuit by civil attorneys would drain the very money they want the county to spend.

Eymann countered by suggesting the county would be paying far more in the end if it loses that suit than it would cost to add the judges.

“If the attorneys prevail, the county would also face the possibility of paying damages and attorney fees for the plaintiffs,” he said.

Eymann said any fees earned in a lawsuit would be donated to charity or to the county’s juvenile court.

, DataTimes