Local Court releases Annual Report

The Circuit Judges for the Counties of Grand Traverse, Antrim and Leelanau (the 13th Judicial Circuit) released their annual report for 2011 this month.  It shows that out of a total caseload of approximately 3400 cases pending in the three counties, 231 were civil negligence cases and 582 were "other civil cases" [i.e., construction cases, debt collection cases, business disagreements, etc.].   There were 1300 domestic relations cases, about 500 juvenile code violations, 500-plus Personal Protective Order filings and another 400 miscellaneous cases.  By no means are our courts "swamped" with personal injury or negligence claims:  they make up less than seven percent of the caseload.

New filings during calendar year 2011 show a similar breakdown.  120 of the 231 pending civil negligence cases were filed during 2011, out of a total of approximately 2500 total filings for the calendar year.  That would make something under 5% of the year's filings civil negligence, or "personal injury" or property damage cases.  There were about 7 times as many  new "domestic relations" actions filed, four times as many juvenile cases, four times as many PPO cases, three times as many civil disputes of a different nature, and another 150 miscellaneous cases, including adoptions and appeals.