Foreclosure caseloads are businesses

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As of October 2008, all typex of civil cases — excluding real property/mortgage foreclosurew — had an average delay of 5.5 according to the Office of the State Courts A recent study for The Florida Bar estimatezs that on an annual basis the additional lega costs associated with these delaysexceed $184 determined that the civil case backlogs and delayexd resolutions translate into more than $17.4 billiob in economic output lost by including about $10 billion in knowledge-based services such as educatiomn and professional services. Economic output representds the sum of gross revenue of private firms plus the value of government servicea valuedat cost.
“What we are saying is you’rer losing this amount — $17 billion each year in Florida,” said Charles Yaros, associate consultanty for economicsat WEG, whicu is based in Boca “It’s a snapshot at the presen t time, and the loss is driven by the surger in foreclosure cases.” The Bar commissioned the study to provided a statistical backdrop for the campaign to stabilize funding for state courts to deal with increasing civil caseloads and stem the current and potentia business and other losses. Knowledge-based industries show the greatesyt economicoutput loss, $9.8 billion, related to civil case followed by construction with a loss of $4.
3 billio and then retail at $872 million, the stud shows. “This is Florida’s economy when you come right downto it,” Yarosw said, noting the magnitude of economix losses related to court foreclosures and budget cuts was the most significant finding of the WEG noted that some issues cannot be quantified such as adversde impacts on the state’s business climate, additionalo costs for businesses seeking speedy resolution of problems withouy going to court and lost opportunitie s as businesses deal with the uncertainty of unresolvedc cases.
In Hillsborough County, the 13th Judicial Circuit has had to sometimesx put civil jury trialson “the back burner” becausre of staff losses due to budger cuts and the burden of the overwhelminbg number of mortgage said Mike Bridenback, trial court administratotr for the circuit. “Everything in civil divisions has been impactedeby foreclosures,” Bridenback said. “It’s overwhelmed our Clearly, delay is occurring, but it’s hard to put a number on Each of the 11 circuirt civil divisions has an averageof 3,50o pending foreclosure cases compared to 1,8000 per division a year ago, Bridenback Budget cuts forced the circuit to cut 25 and another five are vacant.
No judgeship has been addedr since 2006, and the certified in February that the circui t is deficient by seven Bridenback said. “We are trying to be but [dockets] are backing up a little,” he “Business litigation continues to bea priority. For the most we’re treading water or may be drowning alittld bit.” The circuit’s complex business litigation division remainzs closed due to a cap on the numbefr of cases it can handle, which means complez cases are heard in regular civilo divisions and eat up a lot of time.
“ have not noticed an appreciable change in my abilitgy to get hearing or triaoltimes — yet,” said Christopher Griffin, senior counseo at LLP in Tampa. “j think we’re at the beginning of a substantiaol potential for problems because of foreclosures and the fundint ofthe courts.” Rick Zabak, a shareholder in ’s Tampsa office and a fixture in civil courts, has not yet been hamperes by delays but has noticexd a backup. “The dockets are generallg congested,” Zabak said. “Sometimes you get luckyy if a hearing is cancelled or you have a short With everythinggoing on, it’as like pushing a rock up a hill.
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