Brooklyn Federal Court no longer the busiest

Court does more with less

February 9, 2015 By Charisma L. Troiano, Esq. Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Loretta Lynch presides over the Eastern District as attorney, AP file photo

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A report by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts shows that while Brooklyn may not have the busiest court in the district, its federal judges have a heavier caseload compared to other federal judges within the district and dispose of cases at a faster rate.

Released last week, the report revealed that in 2014 (fiscal year ending Sept. 30), New York federal courts saw a total of 27,589 case filings, with Eastern District courts (including Brooklyn and Central Islip) taking 9,050 cases.

Southern District courts (including Manhattan and White Plains), however, had the highest filing rate in the state with 13,318 case filings for 2014.

While the Eastern District may not have the highest level of case filings, it did dispose of cases at a faster rate with fewer judges on the bench than its Manhattan counterpart.

There were a total of 15 authorized judgeships in the Eastern District in 2015, a number that has remained unchanged since 2009. This figure does not include judges with senior status, for example, a spokesperson from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, on behalf of the federal judiciary, advised the Eagle.

In the Southern District, on the other hand, there are 28 authorized judgeships.

On average, an individual Eastern District judge handles 603 cases a year and presides over approximately 18 trials, compared to an average of 476 cases and 15 trials an individual Southern District judge may take on in a fiscal year.

Given the high caseload per judgeship, the Eastern District judges have the second highest caseload in New York — second to the Western District headquartered in Buffalo. Of all the federal courts in the country, Eastern District judges rank eighth in the amount of cases an individual judge may handle.

Eastern District judges also dispose of cases at a slightly faster rate than their Southern District neighbors. For non-trial civil cases, Eastern District judges took only eight months — from filing — to dispose of a case. Southern District judges, however, needed 9.2 months on average for full case disposition. Manhattan and White Plains fared better, however, in trial completion. On average, Southern District civil trials are completed in 32 months, while Brooklyn and Central Islip needed 33.5 months from case filing to trial.