New Jersey Superior Court case backlogs are at their highest in nearly a decade. As of June 30, the end of the court year, 33,564 cases have been too long on the docket — 23 percent more than a year ago — and they account for 16 percent of the total court caseload.
Yet, judiciary officials aren’t worried, because the statistics are heavily skewed by a breed of case that defies adherence to predictable completion times. Much of the backlog — set out in the courts’ annual management report released July 25 — is comprised of multicounty litigation (MCL).
