List Reports on US Judges With Biggest Backlogs
Some of the judges on a list for having the biggest backlogs of cases and motions may have good reason for the dubious distinction: They are handling multidistrict litigation, “which smothers the docket like kudzu,” Legal Times reports.
Topping the list of the largest number of pending cases (PDF) is Judge Harvey Bartle III of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, with 473 pending cases, the story reports. Most of his cases are personal injury actions that are part of multidistrict litigation.
The judge with the most pending motions (PDF), at 189, is James Rosenbaum of Minnesota. In previous reporting periods, he had three or fewer outstanding motions, but the number ballooned because of cases involving a 2002 train derailment that released toxic anhydrous ammonia.
Second on the list for pending motions is Judge Stephen Robinson of the Southern District of New York. Legal Times reports he is “hardworking, conscientious and well-liked, but the judge is also widely known for his inertia when it comes to making decisions.” Robinson, who became a federal judge in 2003, told the publication that the list fails to take into account the complexity of some cases and the backlog that new judges inherit.
Because of errors in reporting by the electronic filing system, the numbers are not entirely accurate. The reports, which list backlogs through March 2007, were taken offline after administrators in the Southern District of Florida found an error in the reported number of pending bench trials. Corrected reports will go online this week.
