TRENTON — Foreclosure filings have doubled in the last year, creating a 163 percent spike in the number of unresolved cases, while criminal matters moved faster through the court system, resulting in a 13 percent decline in the backlog, according to a report the state Judiciary released today. Property owners filed 4,075 foreclosure actions between July 1, 2009 and...
A foreclosure sign is seen on the lawn of a home in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. in this 2008 file photo.TRENTON — Foreclosure filings have doubled in the last year, creating a 163 percent spike in the number of unresolved cases, while criminal matters moved faster through the court system, resulting in a 13 percent decline in the backlog, according to a report the state Judiciary released today.
Property owners filed 4,075 foreclosure actions between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010, a 97 percent increase from the 2,066 actions filed the prior year. The court sets a goal of completing these cases in a year, but because of the onslaught of cases, the "backlog" of cases not completed within 12 months jumped by 163 percent, according to the report.
Yet judges and court employees resolved 13 percent more criminal cases within their self-imposed time limit of four months, leaving about 6,300 cases unresolved compared to the roughly 7,300 pending a year earlier.
"The report demonstrates how hard our judges and staff have worked to maintain high-quality justice in a very difficult economy,’’ said Judge Glenn Grant, acting administrative director of the courts.
The addition of new a electronic filing system helped reduce a backlog by 30 percent in the busiest division known as the "special civil part,’’ where plaintiffs seeking less than $15,000 in claims filed 609,648 cases.
Judiciary spokeswoman Tammy Kendig said she didn’t know whether the public would be able to feel the impact of the smaller backlog involving criminal, small claims and family court matters.
"To the one person in court on one day, we hope we can expedite’’ those cases, Kendig said. "Every case is someone’s life on hold — that is what is in the back of our minds.’’
"We are doing more with less, and providing quality services while stretching our dollars thin,’’ Kendig added, noting the department has lost about 450 administrative employees since March 2008. The courts received a total of 1.12 million court filings in the last year, a decline of 1 percent from the previous year.
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