Anyone suing or being sued in New York state court should brace for delays in the adjudication process after the state’s Office of Court Administration announced that 46 judges are not being re-certified in a move intended to cut its budget to help the state manage expenses in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The move to not re-certify the judges, whose terms will end on December 31, is being made instead of laying off other staff, according to a letter sent by Chief Administrative Law Judge Lawrence Marks. The state has asked the court to trim 10%, or $300 million, from its budget for next year.
The courts are also implementing a “strict hiring freeze” and other cost-cutting measures. Marks said in his memo that the next fiscal year “will be more difficult” than this year, according to a published report.
Judges in New York are obligated to retire at 70 years old. Supreme Court judges between the ages of 70 and 74 are allowed to apply for a two-year re-certification. This year, the state received 49 such requests and is only granting three of them.
One collection law firm noted in a published article that the decision to not re-certify all of the judges who asked for it will result in “longer delays” and could lead more judges to retire if their caseloads increase. More courts will turn to mediation in an effort to help find resolutions instead of cases heading to trial, as well, the law firm noted.
“We predict an increase in the shelf life of a case,” the firm predicts. “More cases being filed in an already overloaded system means longer delays to adjudicate your debt collection case.”
