Growing dockets, judicial vacancies and $104 million in further repairs to a recently renovated Brooklyn courthouse were highlighted yesterday in an address to colleagues by Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Addressing judges and lawyers at Bolton Landing on Lake George, Judge Jacobs said filings in his own court continue to be dominated by immigration appeals.

“Last year, filings from the Bureau of Immigration Appeals or BIA unexpectedly and substantially increased by 31 percent to 2,865 cases,” he told the gathering according to a text version of his speech. “Of the 10,200 BIA appeals filed nationwide, almost a quarter are filed with our Court.”

Read the Chief Judge’s Address.

Filings in the circuit’s six district courts were down 16 percent, but the chief judge said there was little comfort in the decline.

With large backlogs left from previous years, “there is almost no statistical change in the number of pending cases which stands at over 37,000,” Judge Jacobs said. “Disposition of civil cases in the district courts continues to lag due to the increase in those courts’ criminal dockets.”

As an example, Judge Jacobs cited the Northern District of New York, where criminal filings increased by 33 percent in a five-judge court that has had a vacancy for three years.

Median disposition time for civil cases in all of the district courts declined slightly last year, to about 10 months, he said, but for cases that do not settle it still takes more than 2 1/2 years to come to trial.

“Even in criminal cases, our courts’ disposition times are more than twice the national average of 6.8 months, reflecting the types of large, complex and multi-defendant criminal matters being handled by our judges,” he said.

To address this problem, Judge Jacobs said the Second Circuit Judicial Council met on Wednesday with the six district chief judges to develop measures to ease the pressure on the most congested courts, “including borrowing district and magistrate judges and providing temporary law clerks funded by circuit monies.”

The Second Circuit has one vacancy, with Southern District Judge Gerard Lynch now being considered by the U.S. Senate for that slot. But at least three more vacancies will open up over the next few months as Judges Guido Calabresi, Robert D. Sack and Barrington D. Parker take senior status. Judge Jacobs said all three judges plan to continue to take on “significant caseloads” in their new roles.

A fifth vacancy would open up if Judge Sonia Sotomayor is confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

There are three vacancies in the district courts, one each in the Northern, Eastern and Western districts. There is one vacancy in the Southern District Bankruptcy Court created by the retirement of Judge Adlai Hardin on May 1. The final vacancy in the Eastern District, where the elevation of Magistrate Judge Kiyo Matsumoto created an opening, will be filled on July 9 with the swearing in of Andrew Carter.

Construction Progress

Judge Jacobs said the steel framework on the new Buffalo courthouse is just about to be topped off and plans are under way to move the bankruptcy court, currently in leased offices, into the Dillon Courthouse across Niagara Square from the new building.

But there are problems in Brooklyn. The recently renovated historic courthouse and general post office building at Cadman Plaza, which houses the Eastern District Bankruptcy Court, has developed damage unrelated to the renovation.

“Shortly after the Eastern District Bankruptcy Court moved into its new space in September 2005, we learned that the slate roof leaked and that chunks of terra cotta from the façade of the 1933 building were falling down,” Judge Jacobs said. “I am told that a potential debtor almost received a ‘fresh start’ not envisioned by Congress when a piece of the slate roof dislodged and almost hit him.”

With slate tiles falling and pieces of the landmarked exterior falling off, scaffolding has been erected at the courthouse. Eastern District Executive James E. Ward said yesterday that “a lot of people knew it had to be done but it wasn’t included in the original project.”

The original renovations were budgeted at $222 million, but the project was plagued by overruns. By November 2004, the projected cost had ballooned to $318 million (NYLJ, Nov. 29, 2004).

Judge Jacobs said the stimulus monies received by the General Services Administration will cover the $104 million cost for additional repairs.

Meanwhile, he said the renovation of the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse in Foley Square in Manhattan has entered the construction phase and the court is working toward the goal of re-occupying the building by late 2011, the 75th anniversary of its opening.

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