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HAZE Temp: 38 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Thursday, December 5, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend November 19, 2002 Courts worker Wanda Cummons searches through stacks of small claims files in the Jackson County Justice Building. If voters don't pass the income tax increase Jan. 28, state courts plan various budget-cutting measures. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Courting trouble? If voters don’t pass the $313 million income tax increase Jan. 28, state courts may end small claims processing, reduce their misdemeanor cases and cut back on court hours By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune When Dee Pease couldn’t persuade Hertz car sales to put specialized wheels on her new Volvo as she expected, she sued for $365. "I had no alternative," the 61-year-old Gold Hill resident said. "It would not have been worth my while to hire a lawyer." Filing a small claim will be virtually the only vehicle of justice for approximately 67,000 Oregonians and Oregon businesses this year who cannot afford an attorney or do not want to hire one to recoup a small amount of money. But it’s justice that the state may no longer serve starting in March. Unless Oregon voters approve a $313 million income tax increase Jan. 28, state courts plan to process no small claims cases and less than half of misdemeanor cases from March 1 to July 1 next year. And Oregonians will be able to do their state court business only Mondays through Thursdays. To prevent layoffs, court staff will work a 36-hour week instead of 40 hours. Oregon Chief Justice Wallace P. Carson last month outlined the cuts, a result of the state Legislature’s budget balancing measures in its fifth special session this year. Oregon’s judicial branch lost 12.1 percent of its budget during the session, more than education (8.9 percent), Oregon State Police (8.8 percent) or human services (6.6 percent). Oregon’s Supreme Court, Appellate Court, circuit courts and tax court were cut by $8 million for the budget cycle, which ends June 30. Jackson County’s Circuit Court must slash $247,962 in operating costs. Those numbers could change again regardless of the outcome of January’s vote, altering the budget picture for courts. Anticipating budget problems, the state’s courts prioritized cases to determine which could be eliminated from the system. Violent felony crimes and matters involving children have the highest priority while "non-person" misdemeanors and small claims finish at the bottom of the list. The Jackson County District Attorney’s Office will continue to file misdemeanors that don’t directly involve a victim, and state courts will accept the paperwork for small claims. However, those files will just sit in a corner for four months, said Jim Adams, Circuit Court administrator. "I never thought I’d see the day when we couldn’t prosecute a crime," Adams said. "That’s going to be frustrating for us and the citizens, as well, if they know nothing’s going to happen," said Lt. Dewey Patten of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department. But criminals aren’t going to get out of jail free, police said. "The attitude of our department is we’re not going to ignore misdemeanor cases," said Medford police Sgt. Roy Skinner. Medford police have the option of sending all their misdemeanor cases to the city’s municipal court for prosecution. Many such crimes — shoplifting, for example — already are prosecuted in municipal court along with the city’s traffic violations, Skinner said. Ashland police also send misdemeanors to the city’s municipal court. Most of the county’s other small cities operate a municipal court for traffic and city code violations. Although the county’s justice court in Gold Hill and its auxiliary courtroom in White City primarily hear traffic violations, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department could route misdemeanor cases through justice court. Under Oregon law, justice courts also can process small claims. However, county administrators have not yet considered expanding the role of the county’s justice courts, said Deputy County Administrator Dave Kanner. Taking on small claims could considerably increase the justice court’s workload, said Justice Court Judge Bob King. If the financial situation worsens, and state courts lose the means to process small claims over the long term, the judicial system will ask the state to release it from that legal responsibility, Adams said. But how the state will fill the void of small claims — the true "people’s court" — is unclear, he said. "I don’t see how that’s justice for everybody, said 44-year-old Marc Zimmerman of Sams Valley. If he couldn’t have filed a small claim against Butler Ford, Zimmerman said he wouldn’t have known where else to turn to straighten out a contract with the car dealer. Zimmerman’s case is set for court mediation next month "I don’t believe depriving your average citizen an avenue to redress is the right way to trim budget woes," he said. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] . Cuts would come as caseloads are rising Small claims filings have increased by about 13 percent statewide and 21 percent in Jackson County over the past four years. Small claims cases are filed in disputes of $5,000 or less. The number of businesses filing small claims cases is increasing, particularly in Jackson County, said Jim Adams, county Circuit Court administrator. The struggling economy could be one factor behind the increase, he said. Nearly 6,100 small claims cases have been filed in Circuit Court from January through Nov. 13 this year, according to court records. Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S