8th Circuit recipient of O'Toole award
, Richmond News Staff
11-18-2009
Three figures of Richmond’s judicial system Nov. 10 accepted high honors from Missouri’s Supreme Court.
Associate Circuit Judge Jim Thompson would say many more than the people handed the plaques that day helped earn the high court’s kudos.
Associate Judges Thompson and Kevin Walden and Circuit Judge David Miller accepted the 8th circuit’s first O’Toole for efficient case management and processing during fiscal year 2009. They also accepted the circuit’s eighth Permanency Award, which applauds the circuit’s success in timely child abuse and neglect hearings.
“Justice delayed is sometimes justice denied,” said Missouri Supreme Court judge Zel Fischer last Tuesday presenting the awards at the Ray County Courthouse. “The whole idea wasn’t to make hard and fast and strict rules, but to give judges guidelines.”
The O’Toole Award – named for late justice Daniel O’Toole – celebrates case-processing time standards established in 1997. Half of civil cases must be disposed within 12 months of filing, while 90 percent of civil cases should be disposed within 18. A given circuit must achieve five of the 10 total standards, and be within no more than 5 percent of achieving the remaining five.
That puts the 8th circuit of Ray and Carroll Counties in company with only 12 other districts statewide.
Ideally, those standards gauge the overall efficiency, productivity and quality of a team’s work. Miller and Thompson applauded the circuit’s team of clerks for helping set a pace for them to dispose of their caseloads.
“This is just a small token of the fine work (the clerks) all do,” Miller said. “One does not move a caseload without those who push, prod and help.”
Thompson added “But for the clerks getting files ready . . . We don’t respond unless we know there’s a problem.”
Supreme Court judge Mary Russell presented the Permanency Award, commending the 8th circuit team for achieving a perfect record: 100 percent of child and family hearings were completed within the state’s timeliness standards.
Statewide, out of over 36,000 required hearings regarding child safety and custody concerns, 98 percent were held on-time. That’s a one-percent improvement from the previous year’s benchmark – three percent from the year before that.
“When children come to the judicial system, it’s often through no fault of their own,” Russell said. “We’ve all been asked to achieve more with less but you still achieve 100 percent, you still achieve perfection.”
Walden thanked the state’s practicing Bar for its cooperation in helping achieve those standards.
“Without the cooperation . . . by the practicing Bar, we couldn’t conclude the cases, regardless of the prodding the court might give.”
Other Top Stories
